Improvements in parental emotional well-being during home visiting support: What works for whom?

Home visitors can support parents who have low levels of emotional well-being. While support may be effective for some families, the circumstances in which it is effective are less well understood. Longitudinal administrative data from Home-Start UK were analysed to identify how the nature of support was related to changes in parental emotional well-being, and whether these effects were the same for families with different risk factors. Sub-groups were identified of people experiencing problems with various aspects of emotional well-being: mental ill health (n = 1,289), social isolation (n = 1,413) and low self-esteem (n = 1,400). Multiple linear regression models were used to explore the relationships between the nature of support and the rate of improvement. These effects were considered in subgroups of families with domestic violence problems, disabled parents, a disabled child, large family sizes or multiple risks. More frequent visits and support being provided by paid workers, as opposed to volunteers were related to faster improvements. Paid worker support was particularly related to faster improvements in families with domestic abuse, disabled parents and multiple risks. However, volunteer support seemed just as effective for large families and those with disabled children. These findings have implications for those providing and commissioning home visiting services

Home visiting support for parents in adverse situations: The nature of support and parental emotional well-being

Evidence suggests that for some families home visiting support can be effective for enabling parents in adverse situations to cope with their emotional well-being and other issues. However the circumstances in which home visiting is effective are less well understood. The administrative data from one home visiting organisation, Home-Start, was analysed to identify how the nature of support, adverse family situations and the interrelationship between them were related to changes in parental emotional well-being. The effects of adverse situations were explored by looking at individual risk factors, multiple risks, levels of need and life events that occur during support. Variables describing the average rate at which parental emotional well-being improves over the course of support were developed. Multiple linear regression models were then used to explore the relationships between the nature of support and the family’s situation and that rate of improvement. Several aspects of the way support was provided were related to faster improvements; including more frequent visits, and support being provided by paid workers. Longer individual visits were associated with families improving more slowly. These different aspects of support affected families in different adverse situations differently. Paid worker support was particularly related to faster improvements in families with domestic abuse, disabled parents and multiple risks. However volunteer support seemed just as effective for families with disabled children and large families. Overall the family’s situation was only very weakly associated with the rate at which emotional well-being improved. Though effects were small, families with more malleable risks were more likely to improve more quickly: Domestic abuse was associated with faster improvements whereas large family sizes, disabled parents and parental mental health problems were associated with slower improvements. Bereavements occurring during the course of support also slow down the rate of improvement

Social Media: social workers’ views on its applications, benefits and drawbacks for professional practice

Awareness about current use of social media in social work and its benefits and drawbacks is lacking. An online questionnaire collected data from a sample of 569 participants within social work across different local authorities. Nearly a third (30%) of participants said that they had used social media to ‘look up’ families they support, while less than half (47%) felt adequately trained in using social media in practice. Participants felt social media helped practice by facilitating communication both with professionals and with service users, but hindered practice by disseminating a negative portrayal of social workers, and by enabling users to identify them online, making them vulnerable. Opinions varied on whether it was acceptable to ‘look up’ families. Results highlighted a digital difference in social work with both age and professional role being influential in the way social media is used. Findings indicated a need for clearer guidance to enable a standardised code of practice, awareness of this guidance needs to be raised and the guidance regularly updated

The views of local authorities in England on how to prevent children being in care

Purpose: The rates of children looked after by local authorities in England have been rising for more than two decades. This study was conducted to determine what approaches local authorities have adopted that they perceive to be the most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. It also considers how they evaluate these approaches and how they assess cost-effectiveness. Methods: An online survey was distributed to leaders of children’s social services departments in England in 2018 (n = 152). Findings: Sixty (39.5%) local authorities completed the survey. Respondents were asked to select up to three types of services or approaches they deemed most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. The most popular was a whole-system approach selected by 81.7%, with Signs of Safety most commonly cited. This was followed by edge-of-care services (61.7%), early help (56.7%), family group conferences (43.3%), parenting programmes (18.3%), short break services (15.0%) and “other” services (20.0%). Local authorities who had experienced increases in the numbers of children in care were more likely to discuss approaches introduced relatively recently. Whole-system approaches and parenting programmes were the approaches most likely to have had independent evaluations. Whilst most local authorities reported the use of economic analysis methods as part of their evaluation, there was insufficient detail for a full assessment of cost-effectiveness. Originality: This paper provides a description of contemporary attitudes amongst leaders of children’s services to approaches that aim to keep children out of care. It also describes approaches taken by local authorities to evaluation and assessing cost-effectiveness