A joint inspection of services in Dumfries and Galloway for children and young people subject to compulsory supervision orders while living at home with their parents has found clear strengths in the partnership’s approach, with some areas for improvement.
Inspectors from the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education in Scotland found that most children, young people and their families benefited from positive and caring relationships with frontline staff in social work, education, youth work services, health and third sector organisations.
The inspection reported that dedicated staff made a positive difference to the lives of children and young people.
The meaningful involvement of children and young people was a key strength of the partnership. Youth workers played a key role in effectively elevating the voice of care experienced young people.
A range of third sector organisations provided valuable support for families across the region and multi-agency collaboration at a strategic level was effective.
However, the inspection also found that the partnership was not consistently gathering data on the impact of services and approaches.
Also, due to local reach and capacity of services, there were some gaps in service provision leading to inequity of support.
There were also recruitment and retention challenges across all agencies. In social work this was having an adverse effect on continuity of staff, their relationships with families and joint working.
Inspectors also noted that the partnership was not consistently ensuring there was meaningful involvement of parents.
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “There are clear strengths in the delivery of services in Dumfries and Galloway and the Care Inspectorate and its scrutiny partners are confident that the partnership has the capacity to make changes to service delivery in the areas that require improvement and in which they can directly influence change. This is based on factors including the strength of relationships between staff and the children and young people, and the effectiveness of approaches to hear their views.
“We will request a joint action plan that details how the partnership will make improvements in the key areas identified. The partnership should consider the potential benefits of other improvement support to further embed self-evaluation activity. Progress will be monitored and supported.”
The full report can be read here.