There have been significant developments around the expanding use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) in North East Lincolnshire over the past twelve months.
A major push in training the Children's Workforce (with the doubling of training sessions from one a month to two a month) has meant that there are more practitioners out in the community with a knowledge of Common Assessment, how it is employed in North East Lincolnshire and how it can already be demonstrated through case study and statistical analysis to be an invaluable tool in helping to support and co-ordinate the 'team around the child'.
Along with a basic one day training course, which represents an introduction to CAF, there are other training courses available through the local authority on the role of the lead professional, organising and managing multi-agency meetings and assessment.
To date, between 1500 to 2000 of the children's workforce (of 6000+) have received training in CAF and the role of the lead professional.
This has led to over 400 CAF referrals being made since inception of which 270 have been made since October 2007. This demonstrates a marked rise in the rate of CAF referrals from an average of fewer than 10 a month for the first two years of its use in North East Lincolnshire, to an average of over 30 a month for the last eight months.
Whilst practitioners have been getting used to the Common Assessment Framework out in the community, a lot of work has also been going on behind the scenes in the way that CAFs are recorded and tracked.
In North East Lincolnshire the Education Management System is used to record and track CAFs, which also gives instant access to a wide range of statistics that demonstrate which services are originating CAFs, the reason for the assessment and ultimately the outcome of the interventions. The CAF team are working closely with representatives from the Local Safeguarding Children Board and local Children's Services social workers to align the CAF reporting codes with the existing Child in Need (CIN) Codes. This will give a much clearer picture in future as to which children and young people are having their situations managed under CAF and which are being managed as CIN. Work between agencies on a broader understanding of the Thresholds within the Child Concern Model means that the criteria for referring upwards are clearer as are the protocols for moving a child or young person from CIN to CAF.
The CAF team continue to work closely with colleagues on issues around ContactPoint, eCAF and Information Sharing.
If you require any further information and access to the CAF web pages please visit www.nelincs.gov.uk/isa.