This is the final evaluation of the Integrated Family Support Service (IFSS) which started in 2011.
Funded by the Department for Education and National Offender Management Service and run in partnership between Pact in the South of England and Wales and NEPACS in the North East, the service is staffed by a combination of two roles; community based Integrated Family Support Advocates (FSAs) and prison based Integrated Family Support Workers (FSWs). The aim of the IFSS is to ensure early intervention for service users by local authority services, access to all of the local resources to which service users are entitled, better and more efficient access to support services, FSAs and FSWs worked together to decrease the chance of reoffending and intergenerational crime and to a build a bridge between prison and community. This good practice guide brings together the learning from the IFSS and is aimed at those working in family support services, local authorities and prisons, as well as those interested in commissioning family support services. It consists of substantive research with staff and service users. Case studies, learning outcomes, feedback and key issues in developing good practice are reported on in the seven key areas of:
1. Awareness raising (e.g. training quality, context and specificity).
2. Early interventions (e.g. linking to existing early intervention strategies, information sharing between and merits of different organisations e.g. prisons and children's services).
3. Efficient service delivery (e.g. positive working relationships between workers, families and prisoners).
4. Achieving cultural change (From the bottom up).
5. Improving family relationships (e.g. not just as a means of reducing reoffending, importance of family days and links to the community).
6. Service user involvement and peer support (e.g. appropriateness, training and skills gained by families).
7. Staff supervision and support (e.g. importance of locality, expertise and strategic placement).
Please read the report on the Pact website, or download the full report below:
Click here