Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Network
July/August 2010 Newsletter
Welcome to the July/August edition of the PMHCWN newsletter. We hope you’re enjoying a relaxing summer.
This issue includes feedback on our successful ‘Good Practice in working with families - keeping the whole picture in mind’ Study day in Birmingham and an update on the work of our 20-strong committee.
We also have the latest news on the changes so far introduced by the coalition government which have an impact for those working throughout adult mental health, CAMHS and the children’s sector and those using these services.
Network news
Network Aims And Objectives
Vicky and the PMHCWN steering group met in June to discuss vision, strategy and goals for the development of the Network. This special session was facilitated by Tina Training (www.tinatraining.co.uk) who brought a helpful outside perspective to bear. Members are currently looking for a name which reflects the aim of the network: to improve the lives of children by becoming the recognised source of expertise on mental health in families affected by parental mental ill-health, through training, good practice guidance, research and publications. The best idea will win a £50 prize so please submit your ideas to Vicky.nicholls@scie.org.uk c.c. SPN@scie.org.uk.The winner will be chosen by the steering group and announced in September.
Future funding
The Network is actively seeking funding to support our work beyond March 2011 when our contract with the Department for Education comes to an end. We have a specialist sub-group from our steering group concentrating on identifying funders and developing funding bids. If you have expertise to offer or know of current funding sources which may be relevant, please contact us at the emails above.
Social Perspective Network (SPN) AGM September 7 2010
This year’s AGM will be held at the London Voluntary Resource Centre in London. Speakers will include Hári Sewell, independent consultant, former executive director of health and social care in the NHS and writer and speaker in his specialist area of ethnicity, race and culture in mental health. To let us know that you are attending the AGM please email Tayo at SPN@scie.org.uk.
SPN is also inviting members; service users; carers; professional staff and academics, to stand for the Executive Committee. This involves about three meetings per year in London and willingness to take part in email advice and ideas with staff and other members. If you are interested please email the co-chair alleyn.wilson@talktalk.net for more information.
‘Good Practice in working with families – keeping the whole picture in mind’ Study Day
The long-awaited study day in central Birmingham exploring good practice in working with families where there are issues of parental mental health, was a vibrant and hugely enjoyable event. Although slightly smaller than originally hoped for – we had fifty participants – everyone brought lots of energy and ideas and the day was buzzing. The opening speaker John Burnham brought a light touch to his talk, getting everyone thinking and talking with his ideas and experiences of working with families over many years, and bringing in his own recent experience as a son having to wear a different hat when his father needed support from dementia services. He was followed by Angela Hill who gave a moving account of her childhood and young adult years when her mother developed mental health difficulties and she had to take on a caring role for her siblings. One of the hardest things, that we still hear all too often from children (see SCIE Social Care TV films – Cait’s story – below), was that nobody explained to her what was happening or what was the matter with her mother.
Later workshops included the dynamic Amina south Asian women’s support group who brought inspiring stories of how members’ lives had been turned around by their involvement with the group, including feeling empowered and having much more positive relationships with their children and husbands. NMHDU has an excellent report (PDF file) on Amina by Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya and Ajmal Hussain.
We were also lucky to have Hugh Constant from SCIE who gave us a witty and lively account of the Think Child, Think Parent, Think Family implementation sites. More on SCIE’s resources further down. Participants’ evaluations were glowing, with the overwhelming majority of people rating the day as either excellent or very good in terms of administration, content and relevance to their daily practice. The full report of the day will be available on the website in September.
PMHCWN website
We are currently looking for a volunteer to help us update and overhaul our website which currently contains much valuable information but is sorely in need of a review! The person needs to have some experience in website development, social media and a broad understanding of mental health and the family and children’s social care worlds.
We need someone who can work from home and who is available as soon as possible.
If this might be you please contact Vicky Nicholls on 07967 175016 or at: vicky.nicholls@scie.org.uk We also need some photos of families that reflect their and our diverse identities and make-ups to enliven the site. If you have any you and the subjects of the photos would be happy to be made public, please send them to us.
Coalition Government Announcements and Reviews
News from the Department of Education
Nick Clegg Launches Families Task Force (June 17)
Nick Clegg unveiled coalition Childhood and Families Task Force - aim is to develop coalition govt's family policy. Report from the Guardian.
Speech From Nick Clegg On Supporting Families On Libdems Website.
Children’s Commissioner research into children and families and resistance in safeguarding social work
Families and young people have spoken out about their encounters with social work and child protection services in a report recently published by the Children's Commissioner for England. The study aimed to find out why families resist social work intervention and find more effective ways of engaging them. Interviews and focus groups highlighted that families are likely to feel powerless and fear the stigma attached to being involved in child protection services. Being labelled as ‘reluctant’ or ‘resistant’ to social work can be frustrating and requires a more open and flexible approach.
Children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson said that in cases where mistrust is likely to play a significant role a system that understands what it is like to be on the receiving end of child protection is needed. Some of the difficulties in involving enough children and young people for the research reflect the potential problems in the interface between social work and complex families, and the report authors comment that:
‘There are issues of trust between children and researchers which must be addressed and those whose experience may be most helpful to the understanding of work with complex families will not be easily found.’
Read the Family Perspectives on Safeguarding report.
You can read an update about action taken since the publication of the report here.
Munro review of children’s social work and child protection
Improving families’ perception of the social work profession would help to develop trusting relationships between both parties, and the Munro review of children’s social work and child prtection practice is a key opportunity to bolster confidence in the profession. Although the formal date for submitting evidence to the review has passed, the team have assured us they will still consider evidence submitted at this time. They are particularly looking for examples of identifying and helping children in need, especially responsibility-sharing across agencies; strategies for assisting skills of social workers; shared learning that counteracts any leanings towards a blame culture; and efforts to improve transparency that could increase public confidence in safeguarding.
So if you have innovative examples of good practice, how they were made possible and what obstacles had to be overcome, submit them to the review without delay. Guidance on how to do so can be found here
and for a child-friendly version of the purpose of the review and how to submit evidence via the Childrens’ Commissioner click here.
SCIE is submitting evidence to the review and, in addition to individual agency responses, the Network will compile and submit any evidence sent to us from Network members by the end of August.
Carers’ Strategy Consultation
The Government is refreshing the Carers Strategy with a view to producing, before the end of the year, a plan for 2011 to 2015. This will set out the key activities upon which the Government - working in partnership with Local Authorities, the NHS, the voluntary sector, local communities and carers - can focus from April 2011 onwards.
View the letter to stakeholders from MS(CS) seeking views by 20 September 2010, on the key priorities, supported by evidence of good practice, on what will have the greatest impact on improving carers' lives in the next four years. It also contains a template for stakeholders to complete when sending their responses.
If your organisation does respond we would welcome a copy of your response so we can compile views of the network on this often neglected area
SCIE NEWS
SCIE Social Care TV
Three new films bringing to life stories of families experiencing problems relating to mental health difficulties. For a brief review follow this link.
Visit this link to view the films.
SCIE Good Practice Framework
SCIE’s new Good Practice Framework is an easy-to-use way of sharing practice ideas and outcomes with visitors to the website. This web resource is a new way to record and share information about what providers find works in social care. The Good Practice Framework also allows you to benefit from other people’s examples. The much-loved PMHCW examples of Building Bridges and the Greenwich CAPE Project are already up there. To submit your own example of good practice for consideration, and to find practice examples, visit the site here.
EVENTS
Whole family working for young carers conference – Children’s Society
Details of two key events in September
OTHER NEWS AND RESEARCH
Children’s distress in care proceedings delays
Vulnerable children are being trapped in unnecessary limbo, according to new research from Barnados which made the national news last week. The report highlights that children can be trapped in care proceedings for an average of 45 weeks, giving rise to unnecessary uncertainty and insecurity at what is already a very vulnerable time in such children’s lives. PMHCWN is dismayed that children are suffering this hidden harm and backs Barnados call for strong government action to ensure a maximum time of 30 weeks and improved links between the legal and social work professions to ensure there is greater confidence in social workers’ professional expertise, rather than the current skewed reliance on outside expert witnesses.
Benefit changes may harm children
Changes to housing benefit will increase the number of vulnerable children at risk of abuse and neglect, Family Action has warned.
Government launches review into the effectiveness of early intervention
The government has launched an independent review into how early intervention projects can improve the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children.
HW: Workforce statistics show drop in health visitor numbers
The number of school nurses and health visitors in England has fallen in the past six months, figures from the NHS Information Centre show.
BBC: Motherly love 'breeds confidence'
Babies whose mothers shower them with affection are better at coping with stress when they get older, researchers say.
Kings Fund report on GPs in maternity care
A report out this month by the King’s Fund: ‘The role of GPs in maternity care - what does the future hold’, suggests that GPs could take a more active role in delivering high quality maternity care by sharing responsibilities with midwives and obstetricians, particularly for women with ongoing medical conditions.
The NCT commented that as childbirth is a natural process, a social model of care is preferable and midwife-led care should be offered to all women. PMHCWN backs this as a choice for women, recognising that some women will benefit from the involvement of a GP or require other specialist help including for their mental health or substance misuse issues:
A father's hidden despair
The mental health of fathers is rarely acknowledged or discussed, but it can have an adverse impact on child development, as University of Chester and Cheadle Royal Hospital’s consultant psychiatrist Professor Ben Green attests.
PP: Fatherhood Survey Review of fathers’ involvement in children’s lives and children’s well-being.
We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter. We welcome news and other contributions on policy and service developments whether local or national. Please send to: SPN@scie.org.uk.
Vicky Nicholls
PMHCWN Coordinator
