Coventry City Council’s Reunification Project

Coventry Family Valued places an emphasis on the importance of investing in relationships, and working “with” families, rather than “doing for” or “doing to”, keeping children and young people at the heart of everything they do. This emphasises that families are part of the solution.

The focuses of Coventry Family Valued are:

• Relational and restorative practice
• Strengths-based and solution-focussed
• Trauma-informed
• Rethinking formulation
• Elements of signs of safety
• Family-led decision making
• Child-friendly Cov

The Reunification Project was implemented as part of Coventry Family Valued. The project was developed to support children returning home when it is safe to do so. The council knew the cost of accommodating a child and wanted to more creatively use these resources to bring families back together.

Young people gravitate back to their parents so the council wanted to support them to safely do this at a time when more support can be provided.

At the start of the project, there were 735 young people looked after in Coventry (excluding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children) and the council wanted to explore where reunification could be an option for families, whilst implementing intensive support.

Key principles:

• working ‘with’
• these children would be in care until 18, and then supported to 25 if not reunified,
• so, reunification support should be given for as long as it takes
• relationships are key

Cohort 1 went live in May 2021. It included 11 young people (from 9 families) who were looked after and open to Through Care. 7 were males and 4 were females, and 7 were living outside of Coventry. 8 were living in residential care, 2 in fostering and 1 in supported accommodation.

Between the young people, there had been 87 missing episodes in the time they had been looked after. They had been accommodated for an average of 5 years. To date, 10 out of 11 are now back living with their families full-time. 6 x Care Orders have been revoked and another application is being made.

The council supported the transition from being looked after to returning home. This has included assessments, safety planning and a responsive approach to families.

Practitioners built honest and trusting relationships with the families. Many of the families have limited faith in the council and the team needed to prove they would do what they say they would. This included confidence building work with the parents, and working restoratively and relationally with families.

Children’s services completed therapeutic informed interventions with the parents in order to help them safely parent their children. They also strengthened the family network and built the team around the child, using Family Group Conferences, and completed assessments using the NSPCC reunification framework.

Case Study 1

• Sibling group of 3, R- 17-year-old female, G- 16-year-old female, B- 14-year-old male
• Became looked after in 2019 largely due to mother’s substance misuse, moving around the country and exposure to domestic violence.
• Once looked after, the three children were separated and lived across the country in areas such as Blackpool, Birmingham and Lincolnshire. Though they saw each other regularly, their relationships were impacted by this.
• The irony was not lost on the council regarding their journey in care being one of moving around the country, which is part of the reason why they were removed from mother’s care.
• All 3 children are now back in their mother’s care. Mother has always worked well with the council and has shown she can be proactive when managing the risks. Mother is now abstinent from substances.
• As of January 2023, Care Orders have been revoked

Case Study 2

• Two brothers, now aged 10 and 8. Removed from parents care due to domestic abuse.
• Following parents separating, both were assessed as part of the reunification process.
• Mother engaged well with the assessment and it was deemed safe for the children to return to her care.
• Mother completed lots of work with a Children and Family Worker in preparation for the children coming home and we were able to engage her in this process.
• First step was moving together into residential care.
• A clear transition plan was implemented and the boys moved home in September 2022, where they continue to live safely under a Care Order. 

There was extensive impact on children and young people: reduced missing episodes, improved mental and emotional wellbeing, stability in their education, better relationships with social care and professionals, remaining part of their family, and reduced duration in care.

The programme also led to a wider culture of reunification within Children’s Services, of reviewing regularly whether it is safe and possible to reunify a child with their family.

There was also an impact on families of increased understanding of how trauma and attachment had an impact on their children, increased confidence in managing difficult situations and in their parenting, improved relationships with professionals and Children’s Services as a whole, improved long term relationships with each other, and being Family Valued.

Direct outcomes:

• 44 children reunified and 19 further working towards reunification
• So far saved over £4 million
• 12 Care Orders revoked, 2 more in progress
• All children at home are education, employment or training
• No missing episode for a child since returned home
• Contributed to wider culture change in Children’s Services around working ‘with’ families
• Work highlighted in Home Again Report (NSPCC and Action for Children) published January 2024 

One parent who has been supported to have her son return to her care after a number of years of him living out of city said, “the support has been really good and we have been supported with every aspect from practical to emotional”. 

Another mother thanks the team each time she has a visit and has credited the support with the increased confidence she has in her own parenting and ability to deal with the challenging behaviour her son can sometimes present.

A father who had a particularly difficult experience with social care previously, has accessed the support available to him and said the work had “changed his life and made him a different person”. This has ultimately allowed his children to safely return to his care where they are currently doing well. 

Another parent attended Court for the discharge of the Care Order for her 14 year daughter who had been placed for adoption as a young child. At the conclusion, she thanked the team and said she “really appreciated all of the help”. 

I can see some changes in the way things [Children’s Services] work and people want to change and they care about me” – Young Person

I liked that I knew more about my social worker [from her one-page profile] without having to ask her. It helped me to talk to her” – Young Person

The more they believed in me, the more I believed in myself” - Parent

Number of initial Family Group Conferences:

Number of families subject to ongoing care proceedings:

Number of children in care (excluding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children)

• Getting ‘buy in’ from other agencies – not always having the trust or belief in the parents where children had previously been removed
• Education – identifying appropriate resources for young people with complex needs to attend in and around the Coventry area
• Trust – due to the removal of their children, the parents have had fractured relationships with the council. The council have had to make relationships and taken time to do this in the first instance, taking interventions at the pace of parents
• Getting the children and young people home was easy, keeping them home is the challenge! 

• Expansion to the staff team which has enabled the council to work with more families
• Lessons learned from reunification for preventing admissions to care
• Reviewing what service will look like as they continue to reduce admissions to care

For more information contact Matt Clayton, Strategic Lead for Children in Care, Children with Disabilities and Care leavers - [email protected]