Stockport Council is to stage an online ‘show and tell’ of its Family Context digital tool for social work and child protection services.
It is running the online event from 10.00-11.10 am on Wednesday 13 September to explain how the data solution can be used to ensure more young people are well looked after by their families and fewer end up in care.
The tool provides social workers with a snapshot of agencies working with a family and their contact details, significantly reducing the time it takes to gather this information from two to three hours per assessment to around 20 minutes, freeing up more time to spend face-to-face with families.
It also provides a more extensive range of data sources at the beginning of the assessment and helps services to coordinate support.
Time savings
Cllr Jilly Julian, Stockport’s cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “The Family Context tool saves thousands of hours of social worker time, making the most of our resources and allowing our frontline workers to spend more time face to face with families.
“All local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable children, and a significant benefit of this digital solution is that it creates new insights that can identify risk and lead to better decision making.
“We hope that other authorities will adopt Family Context. If you have similar needs and challenges, please join us for our showcase.”
The Family Context project explored ways of providing comprehensive contextual information for frontline workers to let them know which services are engaged with a child’s family. It was funded through the Local Digital Fund and developed in collaboration with public sector partners, aiming to create a solution that should allow other local authorities to replicate the tech.
Further details and registration for the event are available here.
