Contact for the Brighton & Hove, Portsmouth and West Sussex programmes: Programme Manager, Lis Gohrisch – 07739716126 – Email lisgohrisch@daybreakfgc.org.uk

Contact for the Wessex and Kensington and Chelsea programmes: Programme Manager, Richard Chalmers – 01202 86 24 51 or 07980 985597 – Email richardchalmers@daybreakfgc.org.uk

Brighton & Hove Daybreak Programme

Daybreak in Brighton & Hove is managed by Lis Gohrisch, our project manager, and Rachel Barry, our Senior Practitioner. The Brighton & Hove programme has been running since September 2003. It is funded by the Brighton & Hove Children & Young People’s Trust to take referrals. Families can also contact the project themselves to ask for a FGC. The aim of the project is to:

• Enable families to make their own plans to help keep everyone safe.
• Promote reunification of existing looked after children with their families.
• Provide a FGC for a child or young person who is at risk of becoming looked after by the Local Authority.
• To divert children from the court process where possible in accordance with the Public Law outline.

The Brighton & Hove Daybreak project places a big emphasis on the children and young people having their views heard at the meeting that is planning for them. Children having an FGC in Brighton & Hove have the option of having an independent advocate and about 70% of children over five choose this option, other children presented their views themselves or with the support of family friends or known professionals.

In 2007 we commissioned some independent research about the impact of advocacy on all participants experience of the FGC process and on outcomes. Copies of the research document Under the Table or at the Table are available directly from Daybreak.

Some of the project’s outcomes include:

FGCs have supported families and professionals in tackling both “major” issues such as where children should live, how they can be safe, basic issues of physical care, and more “minor” issues that greatly affect children’s emotional well being such as good contact with family members and the detail of how family time and care is organised.

All children for whom emotional and/or physical health was an issue and all children for whom safety was an issue had their plans agreed by attending service providers.

The project continues to receive a high number of referrals for unborn babies and are able make plans for these children to remain safely within their families.

100% of children referred because of a request for LA accommodation remained within their immediate or extended family while 95% of children already accommodated had plans to return to live with the immediate or extended family.

“Everyone presented their thoughts and was given every opportunity to be heard.” – A relative.

“My views were included a lot, because the plan includes my worries which were drinking, arguments, housing, patience, money and writing.” – A child.

The Brighton & Hove Daybreak Programme is based at:

Maritime House, Basin Road North,
Hove, East Sussex BN41 1WR
Telephone 01273 384900
Email admin@daybreakfgc.org.uk

Portsmouth Daybreak Programme

The daybreak Portsmouth Family Group Conference Programme is managed by Lis Gohrisch. The project is growing rapidly and this year we aim to take 78 referrals through Children’s and families Social care.

The service is based on the principles that:
Children and young people are generally best looked after within their own family.
The child or young person’s welfare is most effectively promoted by working in partnership with families.
Families sometimes require assistance in developing their own capacity and to build on existing strengths.

The key aim of the project is to:
Enable families to make their own plans to help keep everyone safe.
Provide an FGC service for children and young people who are at risk of becoming looked after by the local authority.
Provide a FGC to existing looked after children in order to promote reunification with their families if it is safe to do so.
To divert children from the court process where possible in accordance with the Public Law outline.

The Portsmouth project is proud that we have a high number of children and young people who attend their FGCs. Feed-back from these children and young people indicate that they felt safe and listened to during their conference and that they were happy with their FGC plans.

We are also proud of the fact that for all children for whom safety was an issue had their plans agreed. 90% of children who were referred because of a request for LA accommodation remained with either their immediate or their extended family and 95% of children already accommodated had plans that addressed them returning to live with a member of their family.

The Portsmouth Daybreak Programme:

Daybreak Family Group Conferences
West Lodge,
Leylands Farm
Colden Common
Winchester SO21 1TH
Telephone 02380 696644
Email headoffice@daybreakfgc.org.uk

Wessex Daybreak Programme

The Wessex Project is run by Project Manager Richard Chalmers.

The project was set up in 2003 in response to a partnership of three local authorities, Bournemouth, East Dorset and Poole, wanting to offer this service to families. The project is funded equally by the partners who all have representatives on the steering group which meets quarterly. At present we are targeted to take approximately 54 referrals in total from the three partners and we have a team of 10 co-ordinators to whom we allocate these cases.

Our referrals cover a wide range of situations such as:
Children in crisis.
Child protection issues where the child’s wider family can be given the opportunity to make plans which will keep the child safe.
Avoiding children becoming looked after.

Protecting children and victims in families with domestic violence Finding ways to return looked after children to safe and supportive family environments.

These are just a few of the areas in which we have received referrals.

The programme works successfully with family members locally, nationally and internationally following all leads and engaging with all family who want to and can offer help and support.

We provide training regularly for the Social Workers who can refer to us and also to other agencies who attend the Family Group Meetings to give information and offer resources to the family.

In Wessex we are very pro-active in ensuring that the child / young person’s voice is heard and listened to at the Family Group Meetings. To ensure this we offer children / young people several options including the provision of trained Independent Advocates. The outcomes from the meetings held so far have been very positive, showing that families can and will engage in this process and this in turn has produced some great outcomes for children, families and the local authorities. For a more in depth look at the project please follow this link to our most recent report.

Kensington and Chelsea Daybreak Programme:

This programme is managed by Richard Chalmers.

This is a new programme which has taken a wide range of referrals from Children and Families teams, Youth Offending and Education Social workers. These referrals have covered Children and young people on the edge of care, Children in need and the rehabilitation of young offenders after a custodial sentence. These referrals are co-ordinated by a small and very experienced team of co-ordinators based in London.

Contact the Wessex and Kensington and Chelsea Daybreak Programmes:

Richard Chalmers
Arena Business Centre
9 Nimrod Way, Ferndown,
Dorset BH21 7SH
Telephone 01202 86 24 51 or 07980 985597
Email richardchalmers@daybreakfgc.org.uk

West Sussex Daybreak Programme

The West Sussex FGC programme was established in 2008 following a successful pilot in 2007 which was based on 12 referrals. In 2008/09 the project accepted 60 referrals but this year we are looking to accept 120 referrals. The desired outcomes of the service mirror those of the Every Child Matters agenda and the aim of the service is to:

Enable families to make their own plans that will help keep everyone safe.
To provide an FGC for children and young people who are at risk of becoming looked after.
To provide an FGC service for existing looked after children in order to promote reunification with their families where it is safe to do so.
To divert children from the court process where possible in accordance with the Public Law outline.

This rapid growth of the project is a reflection of the positive outcomes we achieved for children, young people and their families in West Sussex in 2008/09. 98% of children referred because of a risk of family breakdown remained placed with either their immediate or extended family. 65% of children who were looked after by the LA had FGC plans that addressed returning to live with a family member.

The project is managed by Lis Gohrisch and the conferences are set up and facilitated by a pool of independent coordinators.

For the West Sussex Daybreak Programme contact:

Daybreak Family Group Conferences
West Lodge,
Leylands Farm
Colden Common
Winchester SO21 1TH
Telephone 02380 696644
Email headoffice@daybreakfgc.org.uk