Local Evaluation of Children's Services Learning from the Children's ...

A number of evaluations described how partnerships had effectively introducedprojects focusing on early intervention and drawing in traditionally ‘hard to reach’groups. For example, a Wave One evaluation report suggests: ‘…a large number [ofprojects] have focused on reaching commonly excluded groups and in supportingthem to access mainstream services’. Similarly, a report of another Wave Onepartnership states that: ‘…some projects were using the Children’s Fund tospecifically target children often excluded from mainstream provision. These includedprojects whose primary focus was raising awareness in order to foster understandingand integration’.Some evaluators also described how drawing upon the skills and expertise of thevoluntary and community sector has been a particularly important factor in effectivelyengaging and addressing the needs of traditionally excluded groups. For example, aWave One evaluation report describes how voluntary and community organisationshave been able to offer alternative approaches to those of the mainstream:… families and children are prepared to work with Children’s Fund services thatare non-stigmatising, voluntary and non-compulsory, flexible and accessible. Asa result services have developed a variety of methodologies and approachesthat meet the needs of children and young people and in some instances theirfamilies.Similarly, a Wave One evaluator suggested that voluntary/community-led Children’sFund projects were able to provide more flexible services than the statutory sector:…there is some evidence that voluntary or community sector led projects tend to bemore flexible in the timing or ‘coverage’ of the services they offer when compared tostatutory led projects (e.g. 50% vs. 18% were accessible at weekends).Other evaluations describe how developing collaborative arrangements with otherlocal initiatives and/or agencies has been important to the success of Children’s Fundpreventive services. One evaluation report, for example, describes how thecollaboration between Children’s Fund and other local preventive strategies such asSure Start and the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy gave impetus to the work ofChildren’s Fund funded outreach workers who have successfully offered support tothose families who are not normally in contact with any formal services. A furtherexample of this is given in a Wave One evaluation report that describes a familysupport service which is successfully ‘fostering closer working between agencies in50Chapter 4