A government-funded social work teaching body is launching an initiative to improve child protection in England and Wales, by including parents with experience of the child protection system.
The project will hold its official launch in Birmingham next month, at an event which it hopes will attract families who have been, or are currently inside the care system.
The Social Work Teaching Partnership West Midlands (SWTP) has created what it calls a “Parent Partnership Programme” which aims to develop “a more supportive, collective and compassionate approach to child protection”, according to the event’s invitation page.
The event will act as the official launch for the scheme, and will feature the experiences of professionals working with parents who have been in the care system in the United States, information on how parent partnership can reduce the need for children to be in care, as well as develop better support for families, and how to foster better cooperation between parents and social workers.
The invitation says that some of the speakers at the event will include parents who have experienced the child protection system. Additional speakers confirmed are Professor Andy Bilson, a spokesperson from ATD Fourth World, and members of the Camden Family Group Conferencing and Southwark Parents Panel.
The event will feature speeches, interactive workshops and a decision making panel.
The organisers are actively encouraging families to attend this event, as well as social work managers and practitioners, with a view to developing the parent partnership scheme further once the launch has been held.
The Social Work Teaching Partnership West Midlands is one of 23 accredited social work teaching bodies funded by the Department for Education to raise the level of education and training for social work students.
The 23 partnerships incorporate 113 councils, 54 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and 32 private, voluntary and independent (PVI) partners.
SWTP West Midlands is made up of local authorities, children’s trusts, NHS trusts and universities.
The Partnership also has a newsletter it sends out, which can be subscribed to through Coventry City Council’s E Mail Alerts Service.
Teaching Partnerships were set up in 2014 to improve social work education, and an evaluation of their impact is set to be published by the Department of Education in March 2020.
An interim report was published in July 2019, which found that while cooperation between social workers and academics had improved in some cases, the sector continued to face ongoing challenges.
The scheme’s launch takes place on Tuesday, February 25 in Birmingham’s Old Library, from 10am – 4pm.
You can access the invitation and register to attend here.
How do I share link to put this on my Twitter account As an ambassador to Nottingham CSA
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Andrew, I think you may have found that out as I’ve spotted your tweets but do say if you still need to know, with thanks.
LikeLike
Andrew, you can also retweet the article as I’ve tweeted it from my Twitter account (@SobukiRa) if easier.
LikeLike
Thank you Natasha for this informative and hopeful article. I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Bilson and I hope very much to attend this event and raise awareness of its occurrence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“will feature the experiences of professionals working with parents who have been in the care system in the United States”.
is this a typo ?
LikeLike
No
LikeLike
So how does that fit in with the UK SS ?
LikeLike
Models are similar and I assume there’s some crossover in terms of experience.
LikeLike
I understand that there has been a successful project running in the USA I believe New York where parents with lived experience of social services have worked with social workers and the result has been a significant reduction in children taken into care as the culture has changed and trust and confidence has grown. I believe a pilot had been set up in Scotland based on the New York Model and my hope is it can be replicated across the U.K.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Kate, thanks for your comments. Can I ask you about your background? Are you a parent with experience of the child protection system, a child welfare professional, both or other? Thanks.
LikeLike
A criterium of emotional harm need to be abolished. please SW help police to tackle 30000 youth gang members, and home 135000 homeless children
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi I hope you can help me I have just reserved my ticket for the launch even for https://researchingreform.net/2020/01/02/child-protection-experienced-families-invited-to-launch-event-for-parent-partnership-scheme/ and I wanted 3 tickets for myself and my partner and my friend however it would only let me register 1 ticket so I tried to register other tickets straight after mine and it now says sold out is there any chance I could get 2 more tickets for them please?
Many Thanks Donna x
LikeLike
Hi there, you are still on RR’s site rather than the event organiser’s. Please click on the link below, scroll right down to the bottom, click on contact, and from there you will need to select “contact the organizer” at the very bottom of that box. x
LikeLike