7
Patricia O'Kane and Sean Brown
Putting the Child at the Heart of Court Proceedings
Aim
80% of Armagh based Guardians will
complete their interventions
consistently by September 2019.
Why is this important to service
recipients?
NIGALA safeguards the welfare of children in
Court Proceedings - Children NI Order (1995)
and Adoption NI Order (1987).
In 2018 NIGALA the Court appointed Guardians
in respect of 1181 children (0-18years).
Agency remit is to provide a child focussed,
quality service. This project addressed the
importance of ensuring a consistent approach that
gives prominence to the child's wishes and
feelings, balanced with the Guardians
professional assessment of their best interests.
What are we doing and why?
Baseline Data which informed QI Project
Rationale: address inconsistencies in practice:
Review existing intervention options
Refine and test revised options
Focus on small scale change and "meaningful
measures"
Prioritise and achieve a focus on interventions
related to the child
Outcome measures
The team focussed on recording a small number of key
measures i.e. interventions.
Recorded less and focussed on activities which "add
value" and make a difference to children and young
people.
What Have We Achieved (Guardian
Feedback)
"having a system that has improved my
recordings has not only resulted in the
standard of my practice being better but
also I have found that having my recordings
on the system has relieved my stress levels"
Guardian B
Learning and Next Steps
Embed changes in practice
Further PDSAs to refine and
improve practice
Embed QI methodology in
NIGALA and continue on our
journey!