Multi-agency working

Multi-agency working is about different services, agencies and teams of professionals and other practitioners working together to provide the services that meet fully the needs of children, young people and their parents or carers.

Some children’s families, including refugee families, can have complex needs which may impact adversely on children’s health, development, well-being and learning. Many early years settings, including integrated settings such as Children’s Centres and Early Excellence Centres, are responding to the wider needs of all children by working together with other services, to help refugee families establish themselves and integrate into local communities.

Not all early years settings will be able to respond to every type of problem a family might encounter, but they are well placed to identify potential difficulties and help them find the support they need. For refugee families, early years settings are a vital point of contact in a local community, which can also connect them successfully to a range of other services that can assist them, such as health, housing and employment.

Good practice

The holistic multi-agency approach to meeting the needs of children is an essential element of Every Child Matters: Change for Children. This means achieving better coordination of the work of agencies that have traditionally provided discrete services to meet different aspects of the needs of children, young people and their families. Refugee children and families will benefit from early years settings working effectively with local partners and services.

Ensure services are provided to everyone

The Principles of early years education in the foundation stage and the guiding Principles of Sure Start acknowledge that services are for everyone, and that no child should be excluded or disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, special educational needs, disability, gender or ability. However this does not mean that the same service is provided for everyone.

Refugee families often have different needs, which early years settings should recognise and respond to. The wider needs of refugee families, such as those related to health, housing, immigration and employment, may impact on children’s well-being and development. Early years settings will need to consider how they build on existing services for families or deliver more targeted approaches to ensure that the needs of refugees are addressed.

Develop the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge

The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children's Workforce sets out the basic skills and knowledge needed by people (including volunteers) whose work brings them into regular contact with children, young people and families. It aims to enable multi-disciplinary teams to work together more effectively in the interests of the child. Key proficiencies include skills in multi-agency working and sharing information.

Further guidance on good practice in multi-agency working is provided in the Common Core Prospectus .

Develop partnerships with outside agencies and services

Many early years settings have developed partnerships with agencies and services to ensure that the diverse needs of the local community, including those of refugee families, are addressed. For example, some schools through their extended school services, work in partnership with local Citizens Advice Bureau and Law Centres, and have set up advice surgeries for parents. Many integrated settings will already have worked to make health services for children and families more accessible.

Signpost additional sources of help and support

This can ensure that early years practitioners do not give advice in those areas where they lack information and expertise. It is, for example, an offence to provide advice on immigration matters unless one is registered with, or granted a certificate of exemption by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). The OISC website has an Adviser Finder search facility to locate immigration and asylum advisers in different parts of the country.

Build up knowledge of local services

Early years settings can build up their knowledge and understanding of the range of organisations that work with refugee children, families and communities. Having an awareness of what kinds of services exist locally, they can be effective in directing families towards them and can make information on local services available in the setting by:

• Creating attractive and well-maintained displays for parents with leaflets and posters about local services. Some refugees will find translated information particularly helpful. The Refugee Council provides a range of translated resources for refugees
• Ensuring that refugee parents and communities can make use of the school’s ICT facilities
• Suggesting websites such as:

Multikulti and Refugee access which provide translated and culturally appropriate information on employment, health, housing, immigration and welfare benefits.

Health for asylum seekers and refugees portal (HARPWEB), Citizens Advice and Advice UK which provide search facilities to locate local advice services.

The Mapping the UK project, being developed by the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK (ICAR),which provides information about asylum and refugee issues as they relate to specific cities and towns in the UK.

• Compiling information on local services. Schools can assemble this information in a format that is accessible to staff, which might include:
• The name of the service
• The service provided
• Contact details: address, telephone number, email, website
• Opening times
• Whether interpreters are provided and the method of referral.

A downloadable local services information template (.doc) may be helpful to early years settings wishing to assemble information on local services that work with refugees.

Case study

Bayswater Families Centre (.PDF)

BFC is an NCH project and is supported by Westminster City Council, Westminster Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Westminster’s Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. Over several years the centre has developed its work with refugee and homeless families and now provides comprehensive family support, early years provision, advice, advocacy and access for families to mainstream provision.

Bayswater Families Centre offers an holistic range of services to refugee and homeless families living in bed and breakfast, hostel, or temporary accommodation in the North Westminster area. The case study outlines how the centre develops co-ordinated approaches to promote children’s well-being and address complex family needs. Strong links and partnerships have been built with many different services and agencies.