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Loading ...The families first for children (FFC) model currently being tested in 10 areas is set to be rolled out to all local authorities, the chief social worker for children and families has said.
The planned nationwide expansion of the approach – which involves enhancing early help for families, involving family networks more in decision making and establishing specialist child protection teams – was revealed by Isabelle Trowler in a post on LinkedIn.
She was responding to a post on the launch of the FFC ‘pathfinder’ – the term used to describe the testing of the model – in the London Borough of Redbridge, one of the ten testbed areas.
Approach ‘set to be rolled out across all local authorities’
“Another launch of the pathfinders – now set to be rolled out across all local authorities and with new £££ on the table too,” she said. “The pathfinders are coming up with great design ideas about changing how we work with families – more help for families, greater protection for children.
Her post puts flesh on the bone of the government’s announcement of a £250m children’s social care prevention grant for councils in 2025-26 in a local government finance policy statement issued last month.
“This new grant will lay the groundwork for children’s social care reform, enabling direct investment in additional prevention activity through transition to family help,” said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), in the statement.
The families first for children approach
FFC has four elements:
- Family help: establishing local multi-disciplinary teams, merged from targeted early help and child in need services, to ensure families with multiple needs receive earlier, joined-up and non-stigmatising support to enable them to stay together.
- Multi-agency child protection teams: setting up multi-agency child protection teams, with cases held by social worker lead child protection practitioners and also including representation from health and the police.
- A bigger role for family networks: involving the wider family in decision-making about children with needs or at risk, including by using family network support packages to help children at home.
- Stronger multi-agency safeguarding arrangements: this includes an increased role for education, alongside health, police and children’s social care.
The introduction of family help – one part of four FFC elements – was the key recommendation of the 2021-22 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, led by now Labour MP Josh MacAlister.
Family help the key recommendation from care review
He called on the then Conservative government to invest £2bn in the approach over four years which, along with other measures, would mean that the care population was 30,000 lower in 10 years than would otherwise have been the case, MacAlister claimed.
However, the Conservatives instead decided to test the approach from 2023-25, backed by about £37m, through the FFC pathfinder.
This prompted criticisms from both MacAlister and children’s charities that delaying reform would be costly to both children and the public finances.
The Conservatives also commissioned a five-year evaluation of FFC, which is being carried out by the National Children’s Bureau and research bodies Verian and Alma Economics.
Existing Labour pledges
The Labour government has already pledged to implement the other elements of FFC besides family help, in a policy paper, Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive, published in November 2024.
It promised to legislate to require councils to set up multi-agency safeguarding teams, involving representation from the police, health and education, to investigate child protection concerns and manage cases.
The DfE said the details of how the teams would work would be shaped by the evaluation of FFC.
It also pledged to mandate councils to offer families in pre-proceedings a family group decision making (FGDM) meeting, enabling them to be involved in decisions about their children’s future, where this is in the child’s best interests.
Thirdly, it said it would legislate to require representation from education in local safeguarding arrangements, at strategic and operational levels.
Children’s Wellbeing Bill
These measures will likely be included in the forthcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill.
Further details of the rollout of family help will likely be set out when information is published about how councils should use the children’s social care prevention grant in 2025-26.
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Support is crucial in helping families to change thus preventing children being placed in care. However I am sad to say often when parents ask for help they are judged and their children are removed this does not promote honesty and a good relationship between service user and worker. I know this from personal experience and I am a retired social worker.
This is the issue. No new models will be effective untill those who need help can approach the people responsible for helping them free from an assessment process which is effectively relentless cycles of assessment and criticism no actual tangible support creating a defensive approach then labeled as disguised compliance.
The child protection system needs total change it’s not working. This approach is again focusing on other professionals not the actual family generating more and more referrals but not on the actual support systems the child/family needs.
I’m not sure what it will take for social workers to understand that to hear the voice of the child you need to meet them build a relationship with them hear and believe them. The same goes for their families.
There is no point sitting round a table with police who have often had no contact go who has often only seen anyone in the family for 10 min max a few times in their lives and education who often are dishonest to hide their own failures and abuse when it comes to SEND but not actually speak to the child. That’s just gossip and speculation not the voice of the child.
Local authorities need to consider the impact on families where children have experienced harm in the care of la staff that their responcibility’ is still primarily to protect that child and it should never be acceptable for any social worker manager or director to instruct staff to witholr information about abuse in their care to protect the organisation.
I have no trust in social care after professionals covered up abuse recorded in his record as ‘xxxx xxxx has taken legal advice do not discuss the incident with xxxx family’s
If that’s acceptable practice in sexual abuse the profession is pointless
What good is this for children in situations where the families themselves are both abusing the children in their ‘ care’ and presenting a united front to hide their criminal behaviour?
This is just a green light to families who choose to abuse their youngest and most vulnerable members and will be exploited to the full by the families in question.
Meanwhile, the children will be failed and ignored by the authorities who are supposed to protect them ; which is exactly what happened to me.
You really need to get a grip on yourselves and put children at the front and centre of what you do instead of pandering to the ‘ families’ who subject them to deliberate neglect and abuse.
I don’t understand why the chief social worker wasn’t visible anywhere yesterday with the coverage of the verdict of the trial of the Sara Shariff case. There was a clear expectation when the CSW role was created that this would also include being an authoritative voice in the media. I thought that the Children’s Commissioner did well yesterday doing interview after interview but Rachel De Souza is not a social worker. We need a much greater presence from those in social work leadership positions in the midst of child abuse tragedies such as Sara Sharif.
While this is true for some, not all abuse their children.
I’ve been in the system and it done more damage than good. (I needed to be care) but it failed in a massive way.
Many out of the system themselves with no support systems in place, those victimised by having children because they themselves left the system, are reasons and a recipe for disaster for many.
Just because one abuses their children doesn’t mean all do and just need help. So instead of ripping children out of parents arms when all they need is help is surely a great thing.
All thesepledges/policies are already in existence. hat is needed is more funding, increased recruitment to ensure safeguarding is thoroughly protected and followed through. Frontline professionals very often threatened with violence in many violent settings and rely on police presence and support, without which will lead to massive resignations leaving vulnerable children families exposed to neglect and harm.
Nothing new here. I agree with you. I have worked in such teams and services . Properly fully funded and organised they are really effective. Social Work goes round in cycles that come and go due to political leanings and funding issues . Sorry to seem cynical but after 45 years working my message is as above; let’s do it.
Isabelle trowler has been in post nearly 12 years and I’m not sure what she actually has achieved over that time. I attended one of her talks and when issues of pay and case loads were raised with her she said (I’m paraphrasing) “that’s not my job to raise that”.
Promises time after time yet children are still hurt both physically and mentally.We need to get a firm grip on absenteeism from school,it should be a place of safety .Who better to see what’s happening to a child than a teacher who sees that child daily as in primary school or at least a few times a week in Secondaey school .When will the register of home schooled children happen and will it mean these children are seen by a social worker or similar on a very regular basis .Our children are being failed time after time and someone apologises and says it won’t be allowed to happen again ! Social workers have too big a case load to be professionally inquisitive or look at the evidence in a searching forensic way
This as brought a tear to my eyes reading this. At last families will get help and not be judged harshly when asking. I’ve lost 3 beautiful grandchildren and one great grandchild , all through not listening to anything said by the loving family and being snatched away . Terrible what’s happened.
On the other hand there is not adequate activity to stop real violent abuse on children. Personally in my 60’s I recognise when a child is being abused. Do they take notice of an older person with life skills ? No unfortunately not and the poor kids I’ve known of get left to be abused.
I think families with difficulties that facing harsh and lack of money and food will think twice to contact social services as if a child does want revenge on parents for not buying”x or y” toy, can just go to school and said “mommy or daddy slaped me”.With so many missing care workers , and lack of a geniune and transparent platform thigs can go Bad very easy.Easiest way to see somebody family is online platform.Second, just look how children react near so called “abuser”.Children do not lie.They can mask, hide etcWe need to be more open and if this person was in this position for 12 years-Isabelle Trowler and there are no significant positive effect, remove her.I think those jobs should be fill by actual social workers that seen thousants of situations.And patter should be made by all involved including parents.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
As a recently ex social worker, I’m now merely a parent of a child who has been utterly destroyed by education and placed at significant risk of harm by the local authority in their thoughtless planning for him.
They hate that I’m an informed parent but I have no power and no respect now I’m not a professional.
There is zero evidence of families first and definitely no evidence of child centred decision making.
I will challenge the system publicly. I had the pleasure of meeting Isabelle Trowler a few years ago. I like her stance… but she needs to act fast because the system is utterly broken.
Social care should be centralised into a government body not with local authorities. At the moment we are at the mercy of LA budgets, cliques within LAs which promote bullying and harassment leaving the social worker scared to voice their opinions. Until the culture changes the government can implement as many new processes and procedures as they like but things will not change. We need radical measures not sticking plasters
Working Together and the Munro report 2011
Hopefully the end of the Signs of Safety Model.
Families First dogma is what is exposing children to cruelty and murder at the hands of birth or step parents.