Jane Tunstill

Enhancing the delivery of safeguarding services: A role for volunteers?

• Summary: This article reports findings from an evaluation of the Volunteers in Child Protection (ViCP) pilot study commissioned by Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and conducted in two English authorities. The study examined expectations, experiences and identified benefits for three stakeholder groups – families, volunteers and social workers; and offered an opportunity to explore the implications of developing an expanded role for volunteers, within child protection services. The study sample comprised the first 14 families in the two authorities to be matched with a volunteer, and including the respective social workers and volunteers, in all 21 individuals were interviewed at two points in time. • Findings: Conclusions to be drawn are that the ViCP project was successful at recruiting and mentoring volunteers to work with families with complex needs; and their contributions suggest that local authority social work could draw on such initiatives to provide support functions. Its inputs could mitigate the negative effects of frequency of change of social workers, and help reduce the increasing dominance of a narrow model of child protection. • Applications: 1) There is an inevitable inter-dependent relationship between the culture of local authority children’s services departments, including the point at, and frequency with which, social workers can access supplementary family support services, from a voluntary sector agency such as ViCP. 2) A ‘shared ownership’ model of social work (Laming, 2009) is explored whereby mentored volunteers help to broaden and enlarge the evidence-base on families to enable improved decision-making and risk assessment.

Constructing and sustaining Sure Start Local Programme partnerships: lessons for future inter‐agency collaborations

This article outlines the experience of the first 260 Sure Start Local Programmes of developing interagency partnerships in their areas. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data collected between 2000‐2005 by the implementation module of the government‐commissioned National Evaluation of Sure Start. Following a resume of the aims and design of the Sure Start Local Programme initiative, a description of the implementation module methodology and an overview of existing knowledge around inter‐agency collaboration, five factors are identified which impacted on the partnership‐building task. These comprise: the nature of partnership history; clarity of purpose; the extent of strategic commitment at the highest levels; trust among partners; and the characteristics of the national workforce. The article concludes by highlighting the continuing relevance of these issues to the new collaborations required by the UK governments Every Child Matters agenda, including the work of childrens centres.

Making the most of children centre management data: a researcher-practitioner partnership approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a collaboration between independent researchers and an English local authority to develop a framework for understanding and measuring outcomes in children centres. Design/methodology/approach – The project was based on developing a system for collecting quantitative and qualitative data that would reflect the multi-dimensional services delivered by children centres. This was called the Early Intervention Performance Outcomes Framework. It utilised the concept of interim outcomes and in so doing the aim was to create a system that would provide evidence for the difference these services could make to children and their families’ lives. It was also important for the system to enhance and not detract from service capacity in a period of austerity. Findings – The paper reports on the project when it had generated its first year of data. The paper describes the overall success of the project, the on-going challenges it faces and provides some examples of how i...