Family intervention project | Berneslai Homes

Article: Family intervention project

What is the Family Intervention Project?

The Family Intervention Project (FIP) is carried out by a team of nine officers.  The team includes an FIP manager, six key workers and an administration assistant. The project offers services seven days a week and provides both dispersed (support in alternative accommodation) and outreach (support within clients’ own homes) family support.

Berneslai Homes currently carry out the project, as well as providing management services for residents who live in the council’s housing. We have been identified as an appropriate provider as we have a strong track record in working in partnerships and have been a vital part of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Neighbourhood Safety Unit.

What do we do? 

We provide both joint interventions and individual one-to-one support to help families deal with antisocial behaviour.

We will also make sure that all partners involved with the family take the action we have recommended, so that we can hear both the parents’ and the children’s views and meet their needs both individually and as a family.

The support plans we use will involve a wide range of different services, from practical help with day-to-day tasks to more complicated interventions to deal with what is causing the antisocial behaviour.

Types of interventions we provide:

• Individual support and counselling
• Parenting skills and support
• Anger management
• Communication skills
• Dealing with difficult situations
• Workshops to build motivation and self-esteem
• Social skills and life skills
• Budgeting and benefit advice
• Tenancy workshops
• Making sure people use their leisure time in a beneficial way

The referral process

Families are currently referred to the FIP through the Neighbourhood Safety Unit (NSU). However, the family must give their permission before they can be referred. At the moment, the main way of being referred to the NSU is through the Safer Neighbourhood Teams Multi Agency Action Groups. At this stage, programmes between all appropriate services are agreed for families and individuals who are causing the most damaging levels of antisocial behaviour in our neighbourhoods. This ensures all other relevant service providers will also be involved in designing and providing intervention programmes to deal with specific needs and problems.

The project aims to meet the needs of families who:

• are in danger of losing their homes through being evicted;
• are facing other serious action, such as having their tenancy being made less secure;
• have a past reputation of causing antisocial behaviour and who are well known within their communities because of this;
• have a child or children excluded from school; or
• have or are likely to have an antisocial-behaviour order application made against one of their members, especially where the
• application is being made because of their behaviour within the community.

Our Referral and Assessment Panel assesses referrals against the criteria. The panel is made up of representatives from Berneslai Homes, Childrens Services, Adults Services, the Neighbourhood Safety Unit, Youth Offending Team, Probation, the Council’s Education Services department, and South Yorkshire Police.

Our beliefs

Through the Family Intervention Project, we can target the small number of households in Barnsley who are responsible for a high percentage of the antisocial behaviour we are coming up against.

Our aims

The main aim for the Barnsley FIP is to:

‘reduce the occurrences and impact of antisocial behaviour caused by the client family.’
 
We aim to deal with:

• the antisocial behaviour itself by setting agreed standards; and
• the causes of the behaviour by jointly developing appropriate support.

With this aim in mind, we will monitor our work to identify whether there has been a clear change in the family’s or the individual’s behaviour and how this has affected the surrounding community.

We aim to achieve the following.

1. An overall reduction in the number of complaints of antisocial behaviour we receive about the family we are working with.
2. A reduction in the likelihood of serious action being taken against the family.
3. A compliance rating given to the specific contracts we have set up. This rating comes from monitoring the family’s achievements in line with the tasks set in the contracts.
4. An improvement in school records, including behaviour, attendance and educational achievement.
5. An improvement in ‘opportunities’ for the family as a whole and also the individuals within it.
6. A client family rating of the main service provided by the key worker. This is feedback the family provides about whether we have done what we said we were going to do.
7. A client family rating of the intervention programme and its separate parts.
8. A client family self-assessment of the likelihood for change.
9. A core assessment of the likelihood for change. This means assessing the risks and what is likely to influence change.
10. A reduction in the public funds needed to support the family and the community around them.      

Referals to the Family Intervention Project are made through the Neghbourhood Safety Unit. For further information email: neighourhoodsafetyunit@barnsley.gov.uk  

Useful information

• A guide to dealing with domestic abuse