Agenda item

To receive a report from Paul Sutton, Assistant Director, Youth & Service Development on Homeless 16/17 Year Olds.

RECEIVED a report from Paul Sutton, Assistant Director, Youth & Service Development and Joseph Fitzgerald, Families & Adolescent Support Team Manager.

NOTED:

i)                 The Family and Adolescent Support Team’s (FAST) primary objective is to promote and safeguard the well-being of the young person and prevent family breakdown and homelessness.

ii)               The service focuses on two main areas of work: Firstly, it aims to provide a rapid family support service to vulnerable young people aged 11 to 15 and their families, where there is a risk of family breakdown. In this aspect of its work the team undertakes intensive work with families for up to 9 months.

iii)              Secondly in regard to 16 and 17 year olds it tries to prevent homelessness through use of mediation etc. and if young people cannot stay at home then support them into independent living.

iv)             The overarching principle of the FAST is that children and young people are best looked after within their families and it endeavours to ensure families stay together and fundamental to that work is building individual and family resilience.

v)               Joseph went on to speak a bit more about the service and advised that the FAST is a small team, made up of three social workers and a triage officer.

vi)             The key to this service is mediation and in view of this case loads are kept low in order to carry our intensive and targeted work.

vii)            The number of referrals into FAST has reduced significantly in the last year. This is firstly as a result of significantly reduced capacity to a change in the way the service is now set up. Secondly there has been a significant decrease in the numbers of young people approaching FAST for accommodation. The reason for this is that FAST has been delivering a consistent message to young people and families; that a full and comprehensive assessment of the young person and family’s needs will be carried out before any decision is made on eligibility for supported accommodation

viii)           The service has got much better at targeting the appropriate young people effectively and is now focusing much more on family work. The team is not turning young people away but is working well to keep more young people at home within the family unit, which is a very positive outcome as evidence shows that young people do much better at home. Where however this is not possible the young people are closely supported into independent living.

ix)             Charts were provided within the report detailing information on the numbers of referrals to the FAST over the past three years, and the resulting outcomes of these referrals as a result of the work undertaken by FAST.

x)               The Adolescent Support Team (AST) is currently looking to create another team to focus solely on the 11 to 15 year olds, leaving Joseph and his small team to concentrate solely on the 16 and 17 year olds.

xi)             16 and 17 year olds who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness can self-refer to FAST or can be referred from other agencies e.g. Colleges, Youth Offending Unit and Single Point of Entry (SPOE) etc.

xii)            11 to 15 year olds can be referred to FAST by Children’s Services Referral and Assessment Team, once an assessment has been undertaken if it is assessed that there is a risk of family breakdown which could lead to a young person entering the care system.

xiii)           As can be seen from the data provided, the FAS Team are successful and becoming increasingly so in preventing family breakdown and ensuring young people remain at home.

xiv)          Case studies were provided as an illustration of the type of work FAST undertake with young people and their families at risk of homelessness in order to support them to live at home (as in case study 1), or to return home to the care of their families after a period of time in supported accommodation (as in case study 2). Discussions took place around the case studies and it was agreed that the information provided was most interesting.

The following questions/comments were raised:

Q. How do you manage young people who are desperate to get out of home but aren’t really able to?

A.  The young person is treated as a child in need. We work with them in an aim to increase their independent living skills. We work closely with their social workers and assessments are reviewed every six months.

Q. How do you filter which referrals you accept, given the fact that with reduced resources you no doubt have to be more stringent in this process?

A.  All 16-17 year olds who self-referred are accepted. With regards to 11-15 year olds these young people will be referred through the SPOE (Single Point of Entry) Assessment Team. Where the referral has not been accepted as a social worker case mediation has been agreed for the younger groups. We have become much better with our data so we are now better assisted to refer the right people to the right place at the right time.

Q. Is the gender/ethnicity of the Social Workers important when working with and engaging with the young people? For example would a female young person find it easier to talk to a female Social Worker?

A.  Yes this is an important issue as often a young person will find it easier to talk to a Social Worker from a different ethnic origin than their own. This also applies to male/female Social Workers when a young person might feel more comfortable discussing their issues with someone of their own sex, or vice-versa. The engagement that takes place is very much relationship based social work so this is a key aspect.

Q. What do you feel has attributed to the reduction in 16-17 year olds being placed in supported accommodation?

A.  A few years ago it was recognised that the cultural message was that a 16-17 year old could just turn up at the Council and get housed. The system in place was viewed as a way of getting accommodation. The message is now clear to young people that, although they can still refer themselves to the service we will listen but we will also talk to their parents, offer support, mediation and other intervention measures before offering supported accommodation. This has very much helped change the cultural way of thinking amongst young people.

Q. Councillor Levy felt confident that the current model is working well. However are there any concerns that Councillors should look at going forward or any particular challenges where member support is needed?

A.  We have a good equilibrium at the moment. Judicial reviews had posed a difficulty in the past but we now have far better assessments in place and far better recording of information. This has enabled us to demonstrate that a young person had made an informed decision regarding their situation and the offers of support that had been made when they were 16/17 years old. This has greatly assisted in addressing the issues around judicial reviews.

Q. What does the service need to ensure that no young people fall through the net?

A.  Any young person coming into care is very costly therefore realistically it is in our interest to keep young people in the family home, which evidence proves results in much better outcomes.

The Chair thanked Paul and Joseph for a broadly very positive report.