Bridging the Adult-Family Service Gap
All agencies for children, young people and families, including universal services like Children’s Centres and schools, will be used by separated family members, some with more complex difficulties, whether visible or not. Targets usually include trying to reach them in some way.
There is also a range of specific services for adults (for example addiction, homelessness, offending and mental health services), many of whose clients are separated parents. However there are two paradoxes we urgently need to address:
The engagement paradox
- Struggling parents avoid services and officialdom wherever they can, especially family and social services, for fear of losing their children to care; while
- The adult services they do engage with will tend to prioritise a specific adult problem rather than being child-centred or helping the person work through their parenting or separation issues.
The skills and roles paradox
- Non-specialist staff at universal services may lack information or confidence, or be fearful about working with parents with complex issues, or may be told that it is beyond their remit; while
- Staff at adult specialist services may not be confident or informed about working with parenting issues, be told it is beyond their remit – and some specialist services focus on women only
The result has been that it has not been anybody’s job to intervene early in separation conflict with this client group. They may well therefore only begin discussing their parenting situation when a crisis has arisen and Social Care services or the family courts become involved.
This might be overcome by:
- ·Managers and practitioners in family, adult, youth, voluntary and specialist separation services building effective working relationships and working jointly in face to face work with service users where needed.
- Each practitioner being trained and prepared to be the first to engage parents with complex needs on child-centred separation issues and liaise effectively with other services. This includes both universal and family services, and those working for adult specific issue services that might not have traditionally considered this their remit
- Leadership from strategic groups, managers and leaders, but also by practitioners taking responsibility to advocate and negotiate this with their managers and colleagues.
- Specific projects or initiatives targeting this area of separation