SMART and Outcome
focused planning
Ground rules/introductions
• Respect one another
• Fire escape
• Confidentiality
• Be mindful of assumptions made in language used
• Switch mobile phones off / on silent
• Active participation
• Naive questions welcome
• Introductions
2
Learning objectives
• To discuss and agree what makes a ‘good’ CIN/CP plan
• To consider how Restorative Practice can improve our planning with
families
• To outline the importance of co-production when working with
families and agreeing plans.
• To consider what makes a SMART and Outcome focused plan and
practice drafting one.
Current context
In research we frequently observe social workers doing a visit because
they are meant to do one within a certain timescale (the “stat visit”).
Their computer is literally flashing at them, they do the visit, fill in the
form and the computer stops flashing. But the visit itself is often
characterised by a purposelessness that leaves worker and family
confused about what is happening (Forrester Zombie Social Work
2016).
Current context
To me this is symptomatic of a system which has
developed an obsession with effective
management, without sufficient attention to the
wider values and aims of the service. It is like a
zombie social work - moving and busy (very, very
busy!) without any sense of being truly alive
(Forrester 2016).
Today’s focus
Why and how we plan our work with
families?
5-Question Framework for Analytical Thinking
• What is the assessment for?
• What is the story?
• What does the story mean?
• What needs to happen?
• How will we know we are making progress?
Brown et al (2012)
Plans
Group Exercise:
In groups of three or four, discuss:
•Why are plans important?
•How do we ensure families engage with plans
and find them meaningful?
•What does working in partnership mean to
you?
Why are plans important?
• To highlight the desired outcomes for the child
• Help focus and target professional involvement with children and their
families
• To agree a clear guideline alongside/with parents about their role in
making positive changes for their child.
• To clearly define the agreed objectives alongside the parents and YP
• Provide a tool for reviewing the effectiveness of the interventions and
changes – prevent drift, prevent delay in escalation
• Help professionals understand their role within the Child’s plan
• Enable transparent working with families
• To highlight to the family what will happen if the plan is not successful in
achieving the aim.
Importance of effective planning
• Making plans to support individuals and families is a core part of
social work activity. As stated in the statutory guidance for the
Children Act 1989, ‘Assessing the needs of children and deciding how
best to meet those needs is a fundamental part of social work” (p11).
• Research from 2012/2013 Ofsted inspections highlighted that
“Despite the overall and steady improvement in the quality of
assessment, inspectors found that 21% of subsequent plans for
support did not clearly demonstrate the help that children and their
families would receive and how the best interests of the children
would remain the greatest priority.” (The quality of assessment of
children in need of help)
What makes a good plan?
• The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families
now superseded by Working Together 2015, stated that plans should contain
the following elements:
• The objectives of the plan.
• What services will be provided and by whom?
• The timing and nature of contact between professionals and families.
• The purpose of services and contact.
• The commitments to be met by the family.
• The commitments to be met by professionals.
• Specification of those parts of the plans that can be amended or
renegotiated and those that cannot.
• What needs to change and what goals need to be achieved?
• What is unacceptable care?
• What the contingency plan will be if the plan is not felt to be working and
especially if this results in the risk of harm to the child increasing?
What we need to consider when drafting plans?
• What is the aim of the plan?
• Does parent understand? Is the parent and child (if old enough) agree
with the plan? Did they play a role in drafting the plan? Does it deal
with the families priorities if they want things to change?
• Who will explain the plan to child? (Muench et al 2016)
• What does the child want to achieve?
• Has plan created change, what does child say?
• Does the plan address the risks?
• Who ‘owns’ the plan?
The aim or goal of the plan
• In a CiN plan, the ‘aim’ should summarise briefly why the child and family require
support or other services and what this is hoped to achieve. For example:
“This CiN plan is to provide support to Jazmine and to help her family meet her
needs, whilst her mother addresses her drug abuse.
• In a Child Protection plan, the risks that have led to the plan being required should be
clearly set out; the plan should also state whether the child has previously had a child
protection plan or been subject to any care orders. For example:
“This CP plan is to help protect unborn baby Carter from his/her mother’s use of
crack cocaine and from severe domestic abuse by her boyfriend, Jack Price. Ms
Carter’s two older children, Shane and Shannon Denton, now live with their
maternal grandmother under residence orders, due to similar concerns.”
How to work with Children in need
Each child should have their own assessment and
plan. SCRs have shown that Children have not
been treated as individuals and their individual
needs, nutrition and sleeping arrangements were
not recorded by professionals (Brandon et al
2013).
Co-Production
• Research is clear that services for families are most effective when
they really work alongside and co-produce with children and families.
(Arney and Scott, 2010).
• There is a difference between co-production and participation:
participation means being consulted and having the opportunity to
give your perspective whilst co-production is different in that it means
the service user and carer are ‘equal partners and co-creators’ (SCIE
2012 p.19).
• Unfortunately in practice a number of parents and carers have
reported feeling of “humiliation” and “intimidation” when asked
about their attendance at their Child Protection Conference. (Buckley,
Carr and Whelan 2011).
Co-Production
The Health and Care Professions Council’s Standards of Proficiency (2012a) include as part of
Standard 14 the requirement that social workers must:
‘Be able to prepare, implement, review, evaluate, revise and conclude plans…in
conjunction with service users and carers” (Standard 14.3, p13).
Childs plans should:
1. Involve Children and their parents in the development of their plans, and
their review
2. Professionals should consider the plan from the perspective of the child,
parents and wider family members.
3. As far as practicably possible, the core social work values of choice,
independence and personal welfare should be promoted in a meaningful
way
What does co-production look like for Social
Workers?
• Genuine co-production exists when there is a positive relationship
between professionals and the service user and they have a joint
approach and responsibility to plan and ensure that support is
delivered by and with whole families (Shulman et al 2011)
• This means - Sitting with the family after you have completed your
assessment, and drawing up a plan together based on the needs that
you both identify.
• Reviewing the plan alongside the family. How is the plan working for
them? Can they identify positive change? Do all the professionals
agree what positive change would look like? Do the family also agree?
Why is meaningful participation so important
‘Without listening to children and understanding how they experience
the world how can we determine what will ensure their protection and
enable them to grow into healthy adults?’ (Schofield and Thorburn
1996)
All decisions relating to a child should take their wishes and feelings
into account considering their age and understanding (Munro review
2012)
Participation can be seen as a protective factor for vulnerable children,
leading to increased levels of confidence, self-esteem and self worth
(Schofield 2005) and maltreated children who do not feel involved may
be left with feelings of powerlessness (Bell 2002).
Why is parent’s participation so important?
• Children Act 1989 working in partnership with parents is a key
principal
• Most children who we work with do not end up in care (19% of those
on a CP plan end up in care)
• Even of those children who do go into care 50% return home
• Importance of avoiding ‘othering’, ‘them and us approach’ or ‘we are
only here for the children’ (Featherstone et al 2015).
Group exercise 2
• Does co-production of plans happen for the families you and your
team work with?
• If not why not? Are there good reasons why this is not possible?
• What are the benefits to co-production?
• What are the barriers to co-production? How might we overcome
these?
Restorative Practice
Restorative Practice
• Justice – responsive – repairing harm and relationships when
something has gone wrong
• Practice – proactive – how we do what we do, anything that builds
connections, develops community, relationships and the above
Key Themes
• Relationships
• Personal Responsibility
• Respect
• Communication
• Emotional well being
• Community
• Individual needs
The traditional approach
Traditionally when something goes wrong, we ask:
• What happened?
• Who is to blame?
• What punishment or sanction is needed?
The Restorative Approach
In a restorative approach when something goes wrong, we ask:
• What happened?
• What harm has resulted?
• What needs to happen to make things better?
‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has
taken place’
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
The importance of language
What do we say?
Verbal/non-verbal
How do we say it?
Verbal/non-verbal
What are we trying to achieve?
Does what we say or do help?
Challenge
Four ways…
To
With
Not
For
Support
Adapted from: Wachtel T & McCold P in Strang H & Braithwaite J (eds), (2001),
Restorative Justice and Civil Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Group exercise
• How would it feel for service users to be worked ‘with,’ ‘to’ , ‘for’ or
‘not’?
• In your teams do you think you work more ‘with’, ‘to’, ‘for’ or ‘not’?
What impacts on how you work with families?
Affective Statements
When you...
I feel…
What I need is…
•
•
•
•
•
Non judgemental
Separate the behaviour from the person
Express feelings and the reason for them
State request clearly
Request not demand
Outcome Focused Planning
Achieving Outcomes
• Achieving a goal/outcome is about getting from point A to B. From point
A, you create an action plan that gets you to point B. Sounds fool proof,
except the action plan isn’t 100% valid. That’s because you’re setting the
plan from point A. You haven’t even been to point B, so how do you even
know if it’ll get you to B?
Outcome
• Think of something small that you would like to achieve. A goal.
• Individually spend a couple of minutes imagining yourself in that
place. What does it feel like, smell like, sound like and look like. Look
all around it, really taking in every detail of it.
Outputs/Steps/Actions
• With your outcome/goal in mind
• Spend a couple of minutes thinking about the steps you need to take to get
you there.
• Notice any barriers and how they might be overcome.
• Now consider what the gaps are, what do you need to achieve this. What
are the steps you need to take and what do you need to help you with this.
What priority/order do they need to be in?
• How will you know when you have got there?
• How would someone else know you had got there?
• Discuss as a group what you notice collectively.
• Feedback to the whole group one of these per table.
Outcome Focused Planning
1.
M and K to engage in domestic violence recovery programs, either
separately or together. This is in order to prevent C ,N & B witnessing
domestic violence and abuse and the emotional harm that this would
cause to them.
2.
M to continue to protect the children and ensure that K has no
contact with C & N. This should be reviewed for B at the next conference.
This is to protect all three children from the emotional harm of witnessing
K behaving aggressively toward himself or others.
3.
M to make sure that none of the children see her intoxicated
and aggressive. This is to reduce the risk of her being emotionally abusive
toward the children and ensures their physical and emotional safety as her
parenting capacity will not be compromised.
The potential benefits of an outcomesfocussed approach
Group Exercise
• Spend 10 minutes in small groups thinking about the potential
benefits of an outcomes-focussed approach. What are the benefits
for:
•
•
•
•
Children and young people
Parents
Professionals
Organisations
Some benefits of an outcomes-focussed
approach:
The approach:
• Gives the child a voice in saying what is important to them in their lives
• Helps to clarify the responsibilities of those involved including parents, staff
and the child
• Supports practitioners to be clear about the purpose of interventions, and
specify how long interventions should take. This can prevent a dependency
on support
• Enables greater clarity about what will make a difference in the person’s
life
• Maximise a solution-focussed approach to practice which recognises
strengths and resources (Wilkens 2012)
• Requires a shift in power relationships, maximising
the involvement and participation of the person using
support in shaping the nature of the support offered
and their part in the plan
• Facilitates conversations about what is possible and
supports creative thinking
• Encourages reflection and evaluation, creating a more
meaningful purpose for review activity
SMART planning
• What is a SMART plan?
• The concept of SMART planning originated in the field of
management studies but is now considered relevant to other fields as
well (Doran, 1981). Doran noted that:
‘Despite all the literature and seminars dealing with effective
objective setting and writing, the fact is that most managers
still don’t know what objectives are and how they can be
written” (p35).
SMART Plans
Specific - What is expected? Why? Who is
involved? Where it should happen? What might
be the requirements and constraints?
Measurable - How much? How many? How will
we know if it is achieved?
Attainable – Is this realistic? How can this be
achieved?
Relevant - Does this seem worthwhile? Is it the
right time to do this? Will this achieve an
improved outcome for the child?
Timely – When does this need to be done by?
Consider the child’s timeframe and the level of
risk associated.
David Wilkins 2013
• Importantly, Doran noted that not every objective in every plan can
be made to comply with all five criteria but the aim should be for as
many objectives as possible to comply with as many of the criteria as
possible. Doran concluded that the more of the criteria an objective
complies with, the SMARTer our planning will be.
Exercise
• For each of the following, are they better described as a goal or an
objective? If an objective, would you consider it to be SMART or unSMART?
1. Mrs Bee needs help and support to live independently in the community.
2. Micah needs additional support at school especially in English and History.
3. Abu should attend all four of his scheduled medical appointments over the
next 10 weeks.
4. Tamila should not be discharged from hospital until she is medically-fit to
go home.
5. Josh needs to feel safe and secure at home.
6. Elena-Fatima needs to gain at least 500 grams in weight within six weeks
from today’s date.
Reviewing your plan
• Your family’s plan should be an evolving process that develops with the
ongoing assessment; an evolving process in which though and action are
reciprocal.
Thought
Action
• Actions are guided by thought and the consequences of actions and noted,
considered and fed back in order to influence further action.
• Plans need to be reviewed in order to measure their effectiveness. How
will you know if you are making progress? How will you gather the
necessary information? What does this information tell you?
• Plans that have been developed with family's and professionals should be
simple and understandable for them, and easily reviewed by everyone.
Their perception of their progress might be different but open and honest
working with families should result in plans that show the progress and
areas for development.
• The notion of a ‘fridge plan’.
• A SMART plan should enable professionals and family's to quickly gather a
clear understanding of where progress has and hasn’t been made. Where
progress is limited, consider why. Was the plan achievable or does this
need to be broken down into smaller steps? Is the plan achieving any
improvement in the outcome for the child? Are there new aspects of the
child’s circumstances that need to be addressed?
Contingency planning
• All plans need to outline the contingency plan – what will happen if this
plan doesn’t achieve the aim?
• This has to be individualised to the child. A contingency plan cannot simply
state “The Local Authority will take the case to an Initial Child Protection
conference”.
• Consider your contingency plan with the family – who in their family can
provide support if needed? Can they provide care? Do we need to
complete assessments with these family members now, to enable the
contingency plan to be truly effective? What would the child do if they
needed help?
• Your contingency plan might change as your assessment and plan develops
– this would ideally be reviewed every time you review your plan.
Gloucestershire Plans
About my life
1)
2)
3)
Parental capacity
Child’s
developmental
needs
Family and
environmental
factors
What are we worried
about?
What do we need to
see?
What are we going to
do?
Why?
By who and when will it
be achieved?
Exercise
• Consider a family that you are working with
• In pairs can you write a plan for the child and family
• Remember:
•
•
•
•
•
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
Feedback and consider whether the plan is SMART