This section of the Scale-Up Toolkit is for people interested in developing plans for individual young people. When young people are at risk of, or experiencing, extra-familial harm, professionals need to come together and work with those young people, their parents/carers and wider network, to create plan to keep them safe.
Contextual Safeguarding Scale-Up sites have amended existing assessment and planning processes, as well as introduced new ones to build welfare-led plans that create safety around young people. We call these new plans 'alternative planning processes'.
In this part of the toolkit you can access a range of practice resources and guides to use when developing plans for young people affected by extra-familial harm. On this page we explain what alternative planning is and why you might want to consider it. There are three further pages below:
- Assessments with individual children and young people: This section includes practical resources on how to consider contextual factors when assessing young people’s needs, and to weight the influence on contexts on young people’s safety
- Context weighting: This section includes a context-weighting guide and tool for use in meetings to visually show the contexts where children are safe and contexts in need of response. Use this tool to support developing plans which are focussed on contexts
- Planning meetings: This section includes resources, advice, and case studies on how to develop plans for young people affected by extra-familial harm. We have pooled together learning from our test sites to share ideas about how to: chair planning meetings focused on extra-familial harm; build safety plans that target contextual factors; and involve a range of partners in creating safety around young people
Why is focussing on contexts in individual cases important? What are some key considerations for professionals working with young people at risk? These resources and guides can be used when developing plans for individual young people affected by extra-familial harm.
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Guidance: Things to considerThis document provides guidance for those thinking about developing alternative planning pathways for young people at risk of harm outside the home -
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Podcast: Risk Outside The Home conferencesIn this podcast, Professor Carlene Firmin talks with two senior leaders in local authorities that have been piloting alternative pathways for individual young people facing harm outside the home -
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Webinar: Why consider alternative planning?In this webinar, Professor Carlene Firmin talks about the alternative planning for individual young people facing extra-familial harm -
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Case study: working with young peopleThis case study shows how building a trusting relationship with a young person can help to build safety in their friendships and community.
This section includes practical resources on how to consider contextual factors when assessing young people’s needs, and to weight the influence on contexts on young people’s safety
This section includes a context-weighting guide and tool for use in meetings to visually show the contexts where children are safe and contexts in need of response.
This section includes resources, advice, and case studies on how to develop plans for young people affected by extra-familial harm.