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| a specialist service for traumatised
children and their families
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| What
is Family Futures? |
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Family
Futures was established in 1997 in order to develop a specialist
service for children in adoptive families, foster families and
families living with children who have experienced separation,
loss or early trauma. It is now recognised
as a world-class centre of excellence, specialising in therapeutic
work for children who have experienced early trauma and who
have attachment difficulties.
Family Futures also offers a wide
range of training programmes, seminars and workshops for therapists,
social workers and parents; and has produced various books and
videos.
Family Futures’ services are based on the following
assumptions:
- that the child’s needs should be at the centre of the
adoption process
- that early trauma severely affects a child’s
ability to form secure attachments in new families
- that adoption
or a permanent family placement is the preferred option for ‘looked
after’ children who are unable
to return to their birth family
- that parents,
children and families require a comprehensive and integrated
assessment, followed by a long term support service, which provides appropriate therapy
- that positive change is possible if
the needs of the child are seen in a developmental perspective
and if their parents and families are properly supported
| What services does Family Futures offer? |
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Family
Futures offers an integrated multi-disciplinary assessment
and therapy programme for children who are adopted, fostered
or who have experienced early trauma and attachment difficulties.
Family
Futures offers the following:
Therapeutic Service:
- a free consultation to parents and professionals
- a comprehensive child assessment
- an integrated family assessment
- an intensive treatment programme (a Tier 4 Service)
A Consultation Service to Local Authorities and CAMHS teams:
- to enable service development in line with the Adoption Support
Agency’s guidelines
- case specific consultations
Training Service:
- a training programme designed for Social Workers, Psychologists,
Therapists and other allied professionals, as well as for Parent
Mentors
Publications:
- training videos
- books
- monographs
| Who are we? |
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Our multi-disciplinary therapeutic team comprise
the following:
- Parent Mentors
- Social Workers
- Therapists
Our team of consultants comprise the following:
- Teacher
- Paediatric Occupational Therapist
- Educational Psychologist
- Paediatrician
- Adult Psychiatrist
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Nutritionist
- Child and Family Psychotherapy Consultant
| What do we do? |
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Family Futures offers an
integrated multi-treatment service for families with children
who have experienced early trauma and are exhibiting attachment
difficulties, impaired executive functioning and challenging
behaviour. Our process of engagement with children and their
parents begins with a free consultation, where parents and
professionals can learn more about our work in order to make
an informed decision about a referral.
If agencies wish to proceed, a Phase One Child Assessment
would be completed by a multi-disciplinary team. In the light
of that assessment, an agency may wish to refer the child
and their family to a Phase Two Integrated Family Assessment.
This would be followed by a Third Phase intensive therapy
programme. Our multi-treatment programme encompasses:
- Dyadic attachment therapy
- Family Theraplay and family therapy
- Parent mentoring and a parent support programme
- Educational appraisal and school liaison
- Couple counselling
- Individual therapy
- A range of specialist interventions designed to enhance
nutrition, neurodevelopment and sensory integration.
| Why do we do
it? |
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There is now a large
body of research and theoretical evidence for the profound
long-term impact that repeated early trauma has on a child’s
development. The impact of pre-birth and post-birth toxic environments,
birth trauma and illness, neglect, physical and sexual abuse
and multiple separations, singularly or in combination cause
impairment to a child’s
psychological, neurological and physiological development and
impacts on every aspect of the way they see themselves, on
the way they view the world in which they live and which dictates
how they learn and assimilate new ideas. Such complex,
profound and long-term problems require a complex and holistic
approach which Family Futures has pioneered and developed.
| Who
can refer?
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- Parents
- Social Workers
- Children’s Guardians
- Solicitors
- Paediatricians
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Therapists
- Schools
- Health professionals
| Does it work? |
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An evaluation of the
first 5 years of our work, showed that only 6% of families
referred to Family Futures for the treatment programme broke
down, compared to a national comparison of 30%. This we are
proud of especially since the children with whom we work
at Family Futures are all in the high risk group, i.e. those
children whose placements are at most risk of breakdown.
Indeed one of the criteria for a referral of a family to
Family Futures is often because the placement is at the point
of breakdown.
Over
200 Government and Voluntary Agencies UK wide have used Family
Futures services.
Children attending Family Futures come from
all over the UK, from John O'Groats to Lands End.
Families referred to Family Futures showed the following
characteristics based on Form E data.
NUMBER OF RISK FACTORS IDENTIFIED IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF
CHILDREN ASSESSED AT FAMILY FUTURES
Risk Factors comprise of the following
(as reported on Form E which under reports trauma):
Emotional Abuse / Neglect
Sexual Abuse
Physical Abuse & Domestic Violence
Alcohol and Drug Abuse in birth family
Mental Health problems in birth family
PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN REFERRED TO FAMILY FUTURES THAT ARE
ADOPTED AND FOSTERED
| Age
at Final Removal from Birth Family |
Percentage
of Children
referred to Family Futures |
Age
at Referral to Family Futures |
Percentage
of Children referred to Family Futures |
| 0 - 6 |
85% |
0 – 6 |
16% |
| 6 - 12 |
15% |
6 -12 |
58% |
| 12 - 16 |
0% |
12 – 16 |
26% |
Direct Services Vs Core Costs Ratio
Family Futures is committed to the policy of open access to
enable anyone in adoption today to gain information, advice
and an adoption support service.
| Who's who? |
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Staff:
| Alan Burnell |
Registered Manager (Social Worker) |
| Christine Gordon |
Court & Expert Witness Services Manager
(Parent Mentor & Social Worker) |
| Jay Vaughan |
Therapy Services Manager (Therapist) |
Caroline Archer
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Publications Editor |
| Dee Bamford |
Parent Mentor |
| Ann Kitson |
Parent Mentor |
| Elsie Price |
Social Worker |
| Wendy Daniel |
Social Worker |
Liz Williams
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Social Worker
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Griselda Kellie- Smith
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Consultant Therapist |
Louis Sydney
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Clinical Supervisor (Therapist) |
| Roz Read |
Therapist |
| Eugene Ellis |
Therapist |
| Elizabeth Wickham |
Therapist |
| Charlotte Khan |
Trainee Therapist |
Marion Allen
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Education Specialist |
| Sally Hillman |
Family Services Co-ordinator |
| Lyn Vince |
Facilities Co-ordinator |
| Joanne Collett |
Training Services Co-ordinator |
| Laura Alayo |
Finance Manager |
| Katherine McLoughlin |
Intake & Assessment Co-ordinator |
Shannen Wong
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Accountant |
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Consultants:
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| Dr Jeanne Magagna |
Consultant Child & Adolescent
Psychotherapist, BA, MA, PhD |
| Dr Richard Lansdown |
MA, PGCE, DipPsych, PhD,
FBPsS, Chartered Educational & Clinical (Child)
Psychologist |
| Dr Dan Hughes |
Trainer/Consultant Psychologist,
PhD |
| Dr Deborah Hodes |
Consultant Paediatrician |
| Dr Neil Harris |
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist M.A., M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.Psych, U.K.C.P. Registered Psychotherapist |
| Lucinda Bevan |
Consultant Nutritionist |
| Tessa Scully |
Occupational Therapist |
| Dr Maurice Greenberg |
Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist,
ADB,Mphil, FRCP, FRCPsych |
| Adrian Briggs |
Local Authority Policy and
Practice Consultant |
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| Where
are we? |
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Family Futures Consortium
3&4 Floral Place
7-9 Northampton Grove
London N1 2PL
For more details, please see CONTACT page
| Are
you unhappy with our sevice? |
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Here’s What You Can Do
Sometimes we get it wrong!
Family Futures’ Complaints Policy
was developed specifically to embrace the following principles:
- All service users will have access to the policy including
children, who have a separate complaints policy and procedure.
- The policy will be transparent
- Complaints will be handled with efficiency and concluded
within 28 days
- Complainants will have the right of appeal
- Confidentiality will be maintained at all stages
The Process
Stage 1 - Informal: If a parent or guardian is unhappy about any aspect of Family Futures’ service provision / operation, the initial action is to discuss the matter informally with the Director of Therapy Services at Family Futures who will endeavour to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of the complainant. Ideally a meeting will be held.
Stage 2 - Formal: If the complaint remains ‘active’ i.e. unresolved, the Director of Therapy Services completes a Family Futures’ Complaint Form which is then given to the Office Manager who copies it to the Registered Manager who will commence a formal investigation which will explore the complaint in greater detail. This is likely to involved speaking with staff of Family Futures, obtaining statements, considering the child’s or service user’s record and gathering other sources of information. In some cases where ‘wires have been crossed’ an explanation may resolve the matter.
Where the complaining party remains unhappy with the explanation, they will be invited to complete a Service User Complaints Form by the Registered Manager. The Service User Complaints Form will be available from the offices of Family Futures via the Office Manager. If the complainant has a communication problem then the Office Manager will respond appropriately. Complainants will be invited to write down full details of their complaint and what outcome they would like to see done to resolve their issues (if writing is a problem, assistance will be offered). The Registered Manager will give full consideration to what has been written.
The management team will formally respond in writing within 28 days with Family Futures’ position statement to the complainant, clearly setting out the:
- original complaint
- the range and content of the investigation
- content of any statements obtained
- the management team’s conclusion.
The commissioning authority will be sent a copy of this report.
If the complainant is unhappy with the formal response, we will pass the file to our Independent Person with a request for him to carry out an independent enquiry. Our Independent Person is Mr Roger Weissman: telephone 07957 657721; email roger.weissman@lineone.net.
Stage 3 - Independent Review: The Independent Person, Mr Roger Weissman, will then be sent the complaint file and carry out an independent review. A report will be completed within 28 days. The report will have clear conclusions and recommendations. A copy of this report will be sent to the Complainant and to the Directors of Family Futures. The Directors of Family Futures will be obliged to comply with these recommendations.
If the Complainant is still not satisfied, the Complainant is free to engage their commissioning agency’s complaints procedure, or contact Ofsted, who inspect our organisation on behalf of the government.
Ofsted
NBU, 3rd Floor
Royal Echange Buildings
St Ann's Square
Manchester
M2 7LA
Tel:
08456 404 040.
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