Self-Directed Support for children and families in or near care

Tim Keilty - In Control Scotland

“Search for capacities, seek connections, be open to yes....”

John O’Brien

The ‘Serviceland’ goggle

New Improved

Guaranteed to erase common sense from first use. Comfortable, ergonomic design, lasts the whole shift without any chafing. Special discounts for individual budget holders.

‘Dunoon you say? Sounds like a classic case of

Placementitis’

Dunoon

Whitley Bay

Carlisle

•Strong steering group •Some cracking social workers •No nonsense approach to personal budgets

Amy

Before Developing an enhanced reputation, running out of placements and options, predicted ‘U’ grades, Young Offenders Insititute the next logical step – a childhood in care and a future as a ‘care leaver’ After Building a positive reputation, happily (sometimes precariously) at home, ‘C’ grades at GCSE, a new positive circle of friends, attending college, planning her next steps in life as a young adult.

10 months on; £120,000 £11,960

£108,040......

Four years on; £3,000 per week x 52 x 4 = £624,000 £200 per week x 52 x 4 = £41,600

£582,400

Joe and David

•5 children •3 already looked after •2 boys ‘hanging on’ •Hungry •Poor housing •Last chance at school •Being evicted •Long, long history of involvement •Mam, loves the kids and they love her •The ‘pull’ of home (described in negative terms) •Parenting programmes, care orders, parenting programmes, “I know you love your kids but you are not quite good enough...’ •Not to underestimate the risks...which are significant.

“If he’d been cast a different lot in life he’s capable of oxford...”

£800,000 per year........

What do you want to do when you leave school? What do you like doing now? What floats your boat? Miracle questions, magic questions, solution focussed brief therapy, etc, etc, etc

Peter

I just want to hang around with my mates....

Look - I know you don’t like

caravans, neither do I, but the social worker said it was a good

use of a personal budget

The creativity trap...

2 hours per week! £36 per week Less than 2% of placement fees. Returned home - still at home.

Search for Capacities;

•In the young people

•In the communities they BELONG to •In yourself as a worker and your colleagues

A Gifts Poster

A parenting programme or £400 to do the banger up? - Both might work!

Plans which benefit the whole family;

.......seek connections....... •Opportunities for friendship, love, belonging

A Relationship

Map

“Broken bottles broken plates Broken switches broken gates

Broken dishes broken parts Streets are filled with broken hearts

Broken words never meant to be spoken Everything is broken.”

- Bob Dylan

Some young people experience a long string of ‘Honeymoon periods’

Budgets used to maintain relationships from previous placements, or to visit parents in Prison...

“Communities are

reservoirs of hospitality”

-John O’Brien

Open the door and

have a geez

Be open to yes - don’t take no for an answer

For you to feel more able to cope?

To make the mornings easier?

To get you to school?

To get you from -10 to -8....

What would it take?

What are you going to do?

Thoughts / ideas

• What can I do now?

• What needs to happen but needs a bit more thinking about?

• What I’m really challenged by?

“Money talks, it says strange things” – JJ Cale We haven’t developed a RAS – we use a sensible view of what the current or likely spend is/would be. Often astronomical. People know the cost of plans, control the direction, recruit staff according to their person specifications, take direct payments where suitable, come up with their own solutions, tweak, adapt and change plans to suit changing (often chaotic) situations.

What does it take?

Trust Balanced with safety and risk, trust in young people, trust in families, trust in workers. Freedom For people close to people to make decisions about money. For workers to try something, work freely, build different relationships. Values Some good person centred planning – guiding conversations in the right spirit with the right values.

What does it take?

Bravery With the budget With the risk Control over Resources at the Right Level Control over budget – freedom to spend Control over staff – deploy differently Strength Ability to challenge quickly people who go off track Insistence that the agreed plan is followed Stick with it when things get tough

What does it take?

What have we learned? (or what had we forgotten)

It works – sometimes! Don’t plan in a crisis – you can’t Build a bit of capacity for the detail of plans

Buy in from everyone involved is key, one bad apple....... Honesty about the outcomes and stories is appreciated. Don’t give young people on the edge £80 in one go..

Hallmarks of our (limited) success in Middlesbrough •A strong steering group with all major players attending and increasingly ‘getting it’ •Great social workers and some good providers waiting to do things differently •Strong sense of ‘trying to do the right thing’ and using that to check when we have failed. •External ‘expertise’ support and capacity

Mechanics

Approaches

Values Social Justice is the point.

Honesty, trust, transparency. Belief in people and their

capacities. Willingness to let go of control and foster it in

others.

How you demonstrate your values by the conversations you have in

people’s front rooms – and how you follow through on actions and

promises. Personal accountability and connection.

RAS and all that, Option 1 and Option 2, process, planning etc...

Adapted from The Simmons Triangle © Heather Simmons ‘Not that......triangle again.....’ – Tim Keilty

What are the ingredients for success in Middlesbrough? •Leadership and support •Nearly two years of plugging away •A flexible, responsive in house team •The mechanisms in place to pay money to people •Years of experience in spending on different things

Where could it all go wrong?

Unnecessary rules and scrutiny of the money Questions about the money – ‘what about the bed? It’s government money’ Process over results