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CWDC - responds to Every Professional Matters report

29 Jan 2010 01:39 PM

Following the publication of the Every Professional Matters report by the Children's Services Professional Network, the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) counters the suggestion that specialist disciplines will become marginalised through integration.  

Access to workers with specialist expertise is essential for children and young people and properly used integrated working processes will ensure that all relevant practitioners are called upon to meet these specialist needs, insists CWDC.

Deirdre Quill, Director of Integrated Workforce at CWDC, says: Specialists have a vital role to play in the One Children's Workforce. Integrated working is not about merging roles to save cash, but about ensuring all relevant professionals, specialists and volunteers are drawn in and work together to ensure that the child's needs are met, as early as possible. It is about putting the child or young person and their own specific needs at the heart of the process. 

With a truly integrated approach, practitioners should be able to quickly identify the child's needs, which professionals are best placed to deliver support, who should drive the process and ensure the delivery of a tailored action plan to meet the child or young person's needs.

It is vital that specialists continue to work closely with children and it is important that they share relevant information and interact with other professionals and volunteers. Working and communicating more effectively together are key factors to early intervention and preventing problems from escalating. 

CWDC believes that integrated working is vital to ensure that children and young people will gain access to the full range of services they need.  Aiming to encourage and support people working with children and young people in England to work together more effectively, the CWDC has a range of resources available to make it much easier for practitioners to work together. Products include: 

  • Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
  • Support for the lead professional
  • Tools and guidance around integrated / multi-agency working
  • An induction toolkit to introduce workers to integrated working
  • CWDC Share! Multimedia resources that showcase case studies of integrated working from across the workforce

Further information is available on our integrated working pages.

Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact:

Melissa Loughran - CWDC Press and PR Officer on 0113 290 4166, or at comm_officer3@cwdcouncil.org.uk

Lucinda Frostick - TurnerPR on 01306 730 319, or at Lucinda@turnerpr.co.uk

2. The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) leads change so that the thousands of people and volunteers working with children and young people across England are able to do the best job they possibly can.

We want England's children and young people's workforce to be respected by peers and professionals and valued for the positive difference it makes to children, young people and their families.

We advise and work in partnership with lots of different organisations and people who want the lives of all children and young people to be healthy, happy and fulfilling. For more information visit: www.cwdcouncil.org.uk