Children and young people will be empowered and directly involved in their personal planning. Practitioners will be asked to ensure that all plans include comments from children and young people and that where this is not possible, observations are made and interpreted as to the feelings and emotional states of the children/young people. There will be evidence in plans of creative and innovative ways of gaining the views of children and young people who may find it hard to communicate verbally eg through the use of signers, talking mats, observations etc. Audits of child’s plans will show evidence of children’s views in 98% of plans. On-going HoASS AMBER Opportunities for engagement with children and young people at all levels will be created and taken. Initially engagement with children through the Highland Children’s Forum will be organised, as part of the formal evaluation of the Highland Practice Model. Evaluation report By December 2014 HCF and Policy Officer GREEN Children and young people will be involved in consultations and engagement with service providers, to help develop and shape policy and practice. Opportunities for engagement with children and young people at all levels will be created and taken. Initially engagement with children through the Highland Children’s Forum will be organised as part of the formal evaluation of the Highland Practice Model. In addition, Practitioner Engagement will also inform children’s views Evidence of engagement with children, young people and their parents/carers, will be reported to the Leadership group termly. On-going HPM Group AMBER Re-launch the HPM guidance, once this has been updated to take account of changes in structures and emphasise the need to include the child/young person at every stage. This will be emphasised with team leaders and managers. Guidance updated By October 2014 PO Social Care GREEN Progress since last plan Evaluation of HPM – Child’s Plans ongoing, led by Policy Officer and Highland Children’s Forum Final evaluation and future priorities FHC4 Outcome (12) Families are valued as important contributors and work as equal partners to ensure positive outcomes for
Actions Measures / evaluation Timescale Lead BRAG Develop staff training around attachment, resilience and child development. Link additional training into work already on-going around the development of emotional literacy, promoting positive relationships, parenting and the early years’ framework. Consider the gaps in CPD available for staff and create a programme of training at different levels to support this development for staff in children’s services. Training programme will be developed and delivered as an on-going part of CPD within children’s services. By August 2014 and On-going HoASS to coordinate GREEN Trial training with a group of practitioners and evaluate this to inform the required changes, before including these changes and rolling out training across Highland. Use various training media to provide a range of options for staff, including face to face training, long and shorter courses, video links, written material etc. Training trialled with Early Years staff initially By September 2014 HoASS to coordinate GREEN Progress since last plan Initial training provided to early years staff in nurseries and partner centres during Oct 13 and Feb 14 inset days. Final evaluation and future priorities