Widespread and serious failures found at Sandwell
Serious and widespread failures in child protection, looked-after children and adoption services have been found in an Ofsted inspection of Sandwell children’s services.
Rating the authority’s children’s services as ‘inadequate,’ Ofsted said that some of the services had deteriorated since the last inspection. While most of the recommendations from the 2015 Ofsted inspection had not been [...]
Ofsted heaps praise on Rotherham for turning services around
A “systematic and rigorous approach to improvement” has turned children’s services around in Rotherham, Ofsted has concluded.
The last Ofsted inspection in 2014 identified widespread and serious failures for children in need of help and protection and children looked after. This came after an independent report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham estimated that around [...]
Expert’s Corner: Terence Simmons on evidence based assessments
Terence Simmons, independent social worker, trainer and quality assurance consultant at WillisPalmer says, “it is unethical not to use evidence based practice when deciding if a child should be removed from home”.
“Children come to the attention of local authorities because somebody somewhere wanted to alert child protection services about a child being potentially in need. [...]
Significant improvement highlighted at Cumbria
Cumbria children’s services have been rated as ‘requires improvement to be good’ after receiving three inadequate Ofsted grades in the past three inspections.
Adoption and leadership were rated as ‘good’ while children in need of protection, looked-after children and services for carers were rated as ‘requiring improvement to be good’ in the Ofsted inspection of the [...]
High caseloads at Buckinghamshire slammed by inspectors
High caseloads and a high turnover of staff have been cited as problems at Buckinghamshire children’s services as it has been rated inadequate by Ofsted.
The high turnover of social workers, high caseloads in some teams and poor recording have all been significant contributory factors to the slow progress of children’s plans, and have led to [...]
What is evidence based practice and why do we need to use it?
Harriet Jannetta, head of operations at WillisPalmer, on why evidence based practice is essential for social workers.
The Social Work Policy Institute defines evidence-based practice as: “A process in which the practitioner combines well-researched interventions with clinical experience and ethics, and client preferences and culture to guide and inform the delivery of treatments and services.”
What [...]
