Effective Interventions
Utilising the family network approach
"Improving attendance is everyone's business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families." (Working together to improve school attendance)
The Family Networking Approach (FNA) helps professionals hear the individual voice and create bespoke and tailored solutions.
A young person's aunt identified in a Family Network Meeting that he liked to grow plants. As part of the plan to encourage regular attendance the school arranged for the young person to bring his plants in to school and to care for them there. This has resulted in regular attendance from the young person. - Pastoral Worker
The Family Group Conference and Family Networking Advisory Service are committed to working with schools and other partners to promote good school attendance and punctuality across Norfolk.
The four principles of the Family Networking Approach are:
- Everyone has a network and we can find out about that network and the strengths within it if we ask.
- Networks help develop and maintain a sense of belonging and identity. This approach is to strengthen the network around families.
- Connected networks = Positive Outcomes, boost health, attainment and achievement outcomes through promoting trusted adults and strong relationships.
- The network can help with planning and decision making. You can facilitate this opportunity and work together to bring about change.
Following on from an initial conversation with the young person and their network around attendance the young person was in school every day since the conversation with no need for any escalation from school - Designated Safeguarding Lead
The Family Networking Approach and its principles feature in the staged intervention pathway for the management of school attendance from emerging worries to where a more targeted intervention is needed.
At a Universal level using the Family Networking Approach forms a framework for conversations with parents/carers. It helps settings understand the network around a child/family.
Where there are low level and emerging needs the family network can be accessed and utilised to support the identified needs. This can broaden the family's support network and enable the network to take more ownership. Creating a shared plan to meet needs can support the child or young person to engage with school and learning.
Within early intervention the Family Networking Approach enables settings to identify and mobilise networks to plan around what support they can offer a child, young person, and their family to assist with regular attendance. This may be in the form of a Family Network Meeting.
When targeted intervention is required and enforcement considered i.e. an Intent to Prosecute letter is issued, the offer of a Family Group Conference is promoted to families. A Family Group Conference is a family-led meeting in which family and friends network come together to make a plan for a child. The process is supported by an independent co-ordinator from the FGC & Family Networking Advisory Service, who helps prepare the family for the Family Group Conference and chairs the meeting. Children are usually involved in their own Family Group Conference, often with support from someone who knows them well. It is a voluntary process and families cannot be forced into one.
Family Group Conferences enable power and responsibility to be more evenly shared between the family/community (informal) and professional/agency (formal) networks.
The Family Group Conference and Family Networking Advisory Service is available to support Norfolk schools and settings in embedding and utilising the Family Networking Approach.
If you would like more information on our Service Offer or Family Group Conferences please email: FNA@norfolk.gov.uk.
Further information about family networking is available at Family Networking (justonenorfolk.nhs.uk) .