What is Futures/Hold My Hand
Futures is a small multi-disciplinary team within Children and Families services that work with young parents under the age of 25 who have experienced the loss of an infant through care proceedings. Hold My Hand is an extension of the Futures service, working with young parents under the age of 25 who are experiencing a pre-birth assessment.
The circumstances in which young people may be considered to work with Futures/Hold My Hand will not necessarily be clear cut, but will fall within the following parameters:
- aged under 25 years
- undergoing a pre-birth assessment with the local authority, or
- experiencing care proceedings for their baby/infant, or
- their baby/infant is not returned to parental care following the outcome of care proceedings
The over-arching aim of the Futures/Hold My Hand service are to:
- reduce the incidence of care proceedings and recurrent care proceedings for parents aged 25 and under
- improve the life circumstances of young parents who have experienced care proceedings
- improve the physical, emotional and mental health of young parents who have experienced care proceedings
- improve experiences of pre-birth concern/proceedings processes
- improve access to effective pregnancy and perinatal support
How Futures/Hold My Hand works
The service uses the Leeds Practice Model, with formulation at the core, to develop a shared understanding. Work is led by the young person. The team provides intensive intervention and support to young people (female and male), with the programme individually tailored based on need. Intervention is centred around the young people and the systems and networks around them.
This work is relational, with the first eight weeks of the programme focusing on developing a relationship conducive to high support and high challenge. This includes understanding and intensively supporting young people to stabilise their own lives, so they feel secure enough to begin to make the changes towards their desired outcome of being a parent.
The work includes practical support as well as psychological approaches to understand and address concerns that may prevent the young person having care of their child. Futures works in the context of considering the impact of socioeconomic factors, working to increase protective factors and the transition to parenthood.
Futures/Hold My Hand is a trauma-informed service and works collaboratively to identify clear ways forward, addressing concerns from social work and creating a context to enable change. Working with the Futures/Hold My Hand team is not statutory; it is a young person's choice if they want to work with the service.
The duration of intervention from Futures/Hold My Hand is dependent on individual need; the average length of time that is conducive within this work is around 18 months.
Partnership working
Whilst referrals into Futures/Hold My Hand will usually come directly from area social work teams, it is recognised that strong multi-agency working is essential to this work. Effective pathways and points of consideration for the team to be involved are being continuously developed.
The team aim to identify a sustainable network of formal and informal support around each young person/ parent throughout the work, regardless of the outcome of any statutory processes. This might include social work, Family Group Conferencing, midwifery, family and friends and any relevant third sector organisations.
Regular reviews for the young parent are built into practice routines and will include all practitioners and services that are supporting the young person wherever possible.
In relation to post-birth support, where the recommendation from the pre-birth assessment is for the baby to remain with a parent, Futures/Hold My Hand involvement can only safely be sustained when social work remains actively involved. Any withdrawal of social work input will need to be mutually agreed with the support network.
Key contacts and more information
Any practitioner who requires guidance or additional information about how best to support a young person/ parent can access a consultation space by prior arrangement. For more information, please contact futures.team@leeds.gov.uk.
To make a direct referral, please contact the Hold My Hand team manager Karen Kirby via email karen.kirby@leeds.gov.uk or phone: 07891 270 097.
Research on the experiences of parents going through recurrent care proceedings can be found through the following links:
- Broadhurst et al (2017) - Vulnerable Birth Mothers and Recurrent Care Proceedings - final report, a research project conducted by Lancaster University and the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research
- Claire Mason - Born into Care - Developing Best Practice Guidelines for when the State Intervenes at Birth
- Nuffield Family Justice Observatory
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