Focus on Practice in Three London Boroughs: An Evaluation

This document describes an evaluation of the Focus on Practice program, a change initiative aimed at improving children's social care in three London Boroughs through systemic practice and innovation. The program's objectives were to establish a new cultural norm among practitioners, reduce repeat clients, and decrease the number of children in care by implementing training, coaching, and systemic changes. The Thomas Coram Research Unit conducted the evaluation using mixed methods such as interviews, surveys, and data analysis. The findings revealed a positive shift towards systemic thinking, enthusiasm for the provided training, and a reduction in placement costs, despite some challenges in recording practices and innovation barriers. Recommendations included hiring family therapists and investing in recording system improvements. The evaluation highlighted cultural changes and better value for money, but suggested that further analysis is necessary to assess long-term outcomes. Additionally, the document reports on a separate evaluation that found positive cultural shifts and improvements in staff recruitment and retention, while also identifying challenges with case recording and IT systems. The importance of systemic training was underscored, with a recommendation to mandate it for new staff. The Department for Education clarifies that the views in the report are those of the authors and not necessarily representative of the Department's position. **This summary was written by an AI model and therefore should not be considered a definitive summary of the report. If you are aware of inaccuracies, please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.**

Description

• Lead department: Department for Education (DfE)
• Evaluation stage: A complete evaluation report
• Other departments: No other departments listed
• Evaluation types: Process evaluation
• Process methods: Other
• Grant information: This intervention is not distributing funding via a grant
• Government Major Project information: This intervention is not a major project
• Policies: No policies provided

Event Dates

• Event Name: Publication of final results
• Event date: July 2016

Evaluation Costs

• Cost: Not provided

Evaluation sharing

• Link(s) to published report(s): Yes
• Links to evaluation plans: No link provided
• Findings: Not provided
• Permission to share confirmed: Yes