Supporting communities to keep children safe
Hounslow Council, UKWith raising numbers of referrals for children at risk, the council is under pressure to review and collaborate with communities. Their aim is to keep children safe in the first place, by supporting families better.
Digitising the referral process is a quick way to safe time for the service. By doing user research we have found that the vast majority of referrals was not due to an immediate high risk for child wellbeing, but to get more support and monitoring around a family.
We designed a service model, giving referrers more guidance and direction online to find the right support for the family.
While designing specific service interactions, we co-created a future vision for the service to show how communities and the council can work better together at points of struggle. And to be there when things escalate to keep the child safe.
Connecting services for early support
Process
Interviews with families, social workers, service managers, referrers from institutions as well as members of the public
Facilitating synthesis and ideation sessions
Developing clickable prototypes and testing with service teams
Workshop to develop content for digital referral form
Discovery & Alpha
Storyboard of future service vision
Mock ups and clickable prototypes
New service model
Outcomes
"We love how our future service vision is so much bigger than an online form. This way we make sure we are not just processing concerns, but offer the wrap around support that communities need to help children and struggling families."Service manager