Hertfordshire’s Families First Partnership Programme update
The Families First Partnership Programme has welcomed a new project sponsor at Hertfordshire County Council, as Janet Jones has been appointed as the new Director of Children and Families, with a with a remit to oversee the delivery of the national children’s social care reforms in Hertfordshire, in addition to leading the council’s services which work to keep children safe and support families to stay together.
One of Janet’s primary tasks on coming into the role has been to appraise the delivery model being put forward to implement the national reforms in Hertfordshire. “This programme presents a once in a generation opportunity to strengthen how we work together to support children and families,” Janet reflects. “Great progress has been made already within the programme, under complex and shifting circumstances, that has laid strong foundations to build upon. I’m looking forward to working closely with partners over the coming year to deliver a sustainable model of seamless support for Hertfordshire’s families.
As part of the appraisal process, Janet has been taking time to understand the detail of the programme’s development and the modelling underpinning the arrangements for the Multi-Agency Child Protection teams and transfer points for children.
Our programme Subject Matter Experts are currently working to map out details around how to deliver on the multi-agency element of the social care reforms. Subject Matter Experts are organisational leads from health, education, children’s social care and police who work collaboratively in the multi-agency programme team. Their role is to co-design local children’s social care and safeguarding arrangements to reflect the national reform requirements, feeding in views, perspectives and ideas in and from their professional communities.
This involves leading communication, engagement and consultation with their own agency colleagues, and contributing to the programme’s decision-making about new models and ways to working which help and protect children. The SMES are:
For more information about the Families First Partnership Programme, contact your organisational SME.