Fame claims online milestone in children’s services

A website set up to promote collaboration in multi-agency working, particularly around children’s services, has said that it has reached a milestone in traffic, now receiving 1,000 unique visitors per month.

The Framework for Multi-Agency Environments (FAME) website www.fame-uk.org is a national project set up with support from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). FAME is focused on developing a regional framework for supporting services in implementing multi-agency working, and has been successfully supporting many organisations and Local Authorities in information sharing.

The FAME project was originally one of 23 National Projects for Local e-government commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The goals of the FAME project are to produce regional roadmap for multi-agency working in children’s services, together with a regional demonstrator platform and regional business plan for multi-agency working.

Children’s services were chosen because of their dependence on effective multi-agency working, spanning local authority inter-departmental cross-over and covering many other organisations involved in healthcare, education and social services, relating to children. The area is also facing huge changes as preparations are made for the introduction of the national Child Index and Children’s Trusts.

The aim of FAME is to provide support to help local authorities, their intermediaries and other public sector and voluntary organisations to effectively tackle issues of joint working and information sharing, in order to improve services to some of those who are most vulnerable or at risk.

Multi-agency information sharing can improve outcomes, such as in common assessments, where joined up working becomes a practical solution. Implementing the Child Index is also a common problem for all regional councils and agencies, with potential for project management resources to be shared. Partnerships could manage research, development and dissemination in order to share and reduce costs.

FAME has recently supported the work of a number of voluntary sector organisations that work with children at risk, alongside the public sector, including Barnardo’s, by helping them address the challenges of developing multi-agency working and information sharing within their organisation.

According to FAME its most popular resource is its Readiness Assessment Tool has been downloaded more from an audience of all around the world. The website is designed to help encourage the sharing of knowledge and learning improve joint working within children’s services.

Julie Moller, assistant director of Children’s Services for Barnardo’s North East, says; “The FAME team has supported us in the development of our thinking through our discussions with DfES [Department for Education and Skills] and other organisations we work alongside, regarding the national child index and the local index in Gateshead and Newcastle."

Pat Cummins, also of Barnardo’s North East and Chair of the Gateshead/Newcastle Passport to Service project believes the Every Child Matters Agenda depends on agencies working together in the interest of children and families on the pooling of energy, knowledge and expertise to achieve better outcomes for children.

Cummins said FAME provides. “A federated model where agencies keep their own information and are able to share with appropriate regard for the client’s wishes and with agreed protocols sounds a good deal more safe, rational and desirable than the most common picture of a huge database."

Roger Vaughan, visiting professor of the Newcastle University Business School and a member of the FAME team comments; “Local Authorities have so far concentrated on their own internal partnerships. As the Children’s Trust agenda rolls out, cross agency information sharing is increasingly important to get the most benefit from the new Child Index and Common Assessment Framework. FAME is working on solutions to provide the infrastructure to enable this to happen.”

According to the team behind FAME work is now underway on "a regional demonstrator which will provide the tools for multi-agency partnerships to address key practical issues such as information sharing, working within organisational structures, the legal implications and cultural requirements of implementing change".