Family Safeguarding Plus (Domestic Abuse Services)

The Family Safeguarding Plus Model (FSPM) is designed to improve the main statutory children's social work services from the assessment of vulnerable children through to children that are the subject of children in need or child protection plan and those children who first come into care. Family Safeguarding was developed by Hertfordshire County Council in 2015, where it has delivered a radical impact in improving outcomes for children and their families whilst also significantly reducing demands and costs for the county.

The model has been independently evaluated as being very effective, complimented by Ofsted, and is being replicated by at least 12 other English local authorities. Key to its success is the initial intensive support provided to both children and the adults in their families.

FSPM will implement changes to the Children and Families Assessment Teams (CAFAT) and statutory Family Solutions Services (FSS) teams within the Children, Education and Families Directorate. FSP will not significantly change the current early help and targeted support services within CEF but it will consider the interdependencies with these services and others such as the Looked After Children/Leaving Care teams and the Children with Disabilities service.

Business Need These changes are required to address the significant rise in service demand for statutory children's social work services. The National Audit Office report published in January 2019 outlined the national picture as one of increasing demand over the last five years.

The Oxfordshire position is like the national one where we have seen an increase in referrals and interventions. The NAO report points to the characteristics of domestic abuse, parental mental health and drug/alcohol abuse as the key drivers of demand.

A similar pattern has been seen in Oxfordshire and it is acknowledged that, although the current service model is good at managing the demand it does not address the root causes. The FSPM is predicated on multi-disciplinary joint children's and adult teams.

The model will therefore be implemented by building on the skills mix of current Children's Social Work teams by adding adult mental health expertise, domestic abuse specialist, and substance misuse workers. Tenderers can apply for one or both Lots