Abstract
This paper follows several case studies where the children’s services departments of English and Welsh local authorities have fundamentally redesigned the way they worked following the application of the Vanguard Method (Seddon, Systems thinking in the public sector, 2008), a particular form of systems thinking. After first studying the way the children’s social care service worked as a system, the social workers in these authorities were able to demonstrate the way that government-prescribed IT and performance measures were restricting the way they could do what was shown to matter to the children in their care. The paper will document how, after being granted ministerial permission to suspend the use of their old performance measures and IT, a new set of operating principles was developed and employed. The redesigned system has shown encouraging early results. Evidence from these case studies (following Yin 2009) is presented in the form of recorded operational improvements and statements from participants. The paper will be of topical relevance to all involved in social care in the light of the government-commissioned Munro Review (Munro, The Munro Review of child protection: final report, 2011). The issues discussed will also be germane to the many other public sector partner agencies involved in the delivery of social care services (e.g. police, health, housing associations).
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Notes
‘Baby P’ was a 17-month old British boy who died in London after suffering more than 50 injuries over an 8-month period, during which he was repeatedly seen by Haringey Children’s services and NHS health professionals.
Victoria Climbié was an 8 year old Ivorian girl who was tortured and murdered by her guardians in 2000. Her death led to a public inquiry led by Lord Laming. The Laming report, published on 28 January 2003, found that the agencies involved in her care had failed to protect her, and that on at least twelve occasions, workers involved in her case could have prevented her death, particularly condemning the senior managers involved.
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Gibson, J., O’Donovan, B. The Vanguard Method as Applied to the Design and Management of English and Welsh Children’s Services Departments. Syst Pract Action Res 27, 39–55 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-013-9281-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-013-9281-0