Partnership

A large body of experience and research provides clear evidence about many of the key determinants of successful partnerships. The focus is to achieve better outcomes through improved service delivery. Partnership working has come a long way in recent years. There is now a consensus that effective partnership working is essential in order to design, develop and deliver personal services for those requiring support and assistance to optimise their independence and happiness. The most important features of an effective partnership are engaging the right people and ensuring they function as a genuine team.

The government frame work, Every Child Matters (ECM) places great importance on partnership working. The five outcomes for ECM are

Integrated working is achieved through effective collaboration and co-ordination across all services and sectors including voluntary who work with children, young people and their families. These sectors could be housing, police, health, child-minders, community groups or early year’s workers. The above services are a fundamental role for both children, families and carers who may need the support of these agencies .Multi- agency Collaboration is crucial in partnership working, to support better outcomes for children and their families. Integrated working brings many benefits to delivering a more improved service by:

The features of effective partnership working are to ensure there is good communication between all parties that ensure a high standard of care is delivered to the individual involved at all times. It ensures each party is covering all area’s and that all needs are met and that all partys have a good knowledge of who is delivering what to the individual and the contacts they have if other issues may arise and the access they have to these.

To improve partnership working we all have to focus on the purpose of our job role which is to provide best care and support to improve individual’s life, health and wellbeing. Standard ways to maintain good partnership working are as follows-

Partnership with parents is essential when working with children, the setting comply with the EYFS a statutory framework used as a guidance. The EYFS requires settings to work co-operatively with partners and build relationships not only to support the children

Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professions to provide an integrated way of working to support children, young people and families. It is a way of working that ensures children and young people who need additional support have exactly the right professionals

Outcomes, decide on a course of action and carry it out, evaluate/ review results of

• Some clients may speak a different language or use sign language, this will be difficult for me to deal with because they might find it offensive if I ask them to speak in English or write down what they are trying to tell me.

A partnership is an arrangement between two or more groups, organizations or individuals to work together

Organisational barriers can be unclear structures so adults do not know who to communicate with, inefficient communication systems and lack of clarification of what each persons job role is within the setting. Attitudinal barriers are conflicts between adults, lack of consultation, lack of motivation or positive attitude to work or different views about practice. Personal barriers are adults with personal problems such as relationship issues, health issues such as depression and close friendships among colleagues. Language and culture barriers can be things like adults who have English as an additional language, poor explanations resulting in confusion and different cultures having different expectations of communication. |

Partnership is driven by a desire for collaborative advantage and can offer many positive outcomes, like benefits for staff and services such as less replication between different service providers. It helps them see others point of view and it keeps them from being selfish, it helps young people interact with others to achieve a goal, and it helps them develop socially. It’s important to work in partnership with others so that all agencies can share information and concerns about children and young people in their care, it also helps to keep the children safe and away from harm.

The multi-agency team work together to support the child and their family sharing information in meetings, identifying problems and trying to solve the problems as soon as possible. The practitioner should have regular contact with the other professionals to provide the child and their family with a better service. (The Department for Eduation ,2012 www.education.gov.uk, 2012) The practitioner and other professionals will share ideas and comments, the diversity of the different professionals that the practitioner will be working with will benefit the child and their family. The other professionals will have different experiences and will be likely to offer more information and solutions to help the child and their family. (Tassoni.P et al, 2007).For example a practitioner is working with other professionals to meet the needs of a child that has special needs and this child will be starting primary school soon and the practitioner is working with someone who is a SENCO worker (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). They have got to work out a solution on how best to meet this child’s needs by involving the child in as many activities as possible and encouraging the child to be as independent as possible by making the

Partnership is when two or more organisations work together, showing cooperation and collaboration. This can provide better care and support for service users. For example, different funds working together, instead of working individually and stressing. Another example, a social worker and the health visitor will need to work together, share ideas and use different skills to develop a support plan that will benefit children and families. This also promotes multi-disciplinary working. Partnership thus can reduce conflicts and enhance team working skills as professionals can work together, sharing responsibilities and ensuring need led approaches are met and set. This can be done by reviewing care plans and offering support.

Review work throughout the work process and at completion to ensure that it has been performed properly.