Innovation in Practice

Positive Choices

Focusses on women who have suffered the trauma of more than one child being removed from their care and offers them a different perspective and choice.

This is a different initiative as the focus is adults, with the targeted outcome being to prevent those pregnancies, which may lead to children requiring alternative care. University of Essex has worked alongside Suffolk CYPS, undertaking research and offering strategies to further develop on proven positive outcomes.  This has received interest from other local authorities who are following the model with our assistance.

Make a Change Team (MaC)

Oversee the response of social work teams to child exploitation.  This includes child sexual exploitation, missing from home or care, being involved with drug running/gangs, trafficking, radicalisation. Within the Innovation Programme, the team joined Barnardos in delivering services to those at risk of, or suffered Female Genital Mutilation.

MaC has responsibility to ensure all teams provide consistent assessments of all forms of exploitation. An overarching view of practice enables them to intervene and address any gaps and support social workers in direct work with young people at highest risk of exploitation. Workers offer continuity where perseverance may assist in a disclosure.

The team work alongside other agencies to provide a multi-agency approach, examples include: Tactical and Tasking Co-ordination Group focussing on those most vulnerable due to being missing and the Vulnerable to Radicalisation Panel who intervene with young people involved with extremism.