6 - 2015 | Triangle

With our suite of Family Stars widely used across early years and family services, we are continuing to develop and respond to organisations using the Star, with new tools for services in Scotland as well as for families with babies and very young children.

Our Family Star tools are used by leading voluntary services and over 50 Local Authorities, including the Family Star Plus which was developed with Leicestershire County Council to better match the requirements of the UK Government’s Troubled Families Programme, and My Star for children, developed with Family Action, Action for Children, Westminster Council and Coram. We are always looking to respond to our clients and to help organisations to use the Stars as effectively as possible, and so we are about to publish two new tools within the Family Star toolkit.

The first tool has been developed thanks to Fife Council in Scotland, with additional input from Dumfries and Galloway Council, and is designed to support Scottish services in using the Family Star Plus in the context of the Scottish Government framework: Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC). Each outcome area on the Family Star Plus has been aligned to the GIRFEC well-being indicators (SHANARRI – Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included) with bespoke Flashcards and detailed guidance to support Scottish services report to commissioners against the GIRFEC framework using Star data. These are available now, at no extra charge, for services with licences and training – just get in touch on info@triangleconsulting.co.uk.

The second tool is the Family Star (Early Years), a variant of the Family Star designed specifically for use with parents with babies or young children aged 5 and under. It has been developed in collaboration with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Early Help and Children’s Centre Services. It includes a specific outcome area looking at child development, whilst also being a ‘briefer’ format than the other Family Stars, making it ideal for less intensive interventions with parents, including drop-in groups and other children’s centre work with some one-to-one support.

Family Star (Early Years) will be available from the end of June 2015 for services with training and licences for all workers and managers using the Star. For services already trained and licensed to use the Family Stars, no additional training or costs are required. For more information or to register your interest in the Star, please get in touch via info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or on 020 7272 8765.

Do you work with people involved in the criminal justice system? Do you want to capture and report outcomes information whilst also supporting positive change? We are currently piloting the new Justice Star with a wide range of collaborators and are looking for a Youth Service in the UK to join us.

With over 20 versions of the Outcomes Star available, we are delighted to be working with 10 collaborators to develop a new addition to our family of tools: the Justice Star, for people involved in the criminal justice system. Our collaborators span three continents – UnitingCare West in Australia and the Fortune Society in New York, combined with Leicestershire Police, Sodexo Justice Services, Lifeline, The Shaw Trust, North London Forensic Services, Lancashire Women’s Centres and Barnardo’s Family Support Services in the UK.

Thanks to the input from our collaborators, we are now at pilot stage and have navigated a number of choices and debates both with collaborators and within Triangle ourselves. Our collaborators were keen to have one version of the Star if possible, and so our multi-discipline team here at Triangle have brought 12+ years of experience to the ‘jigsaw puzzle’: creating a tool for young people, parents and women; incorporating a focus on accommodation and work both in the community and in custody settings; working bottom up whilst matching to the 7 UK Offender Pathways; and bringing consistency, colour and clarity throughout the development.

The pilot Justice Star is now being rolled out with our collaborators, and is relevant for people on short-term custodial sentences, approaching release or in the community1. Although we are delighted with the variety of collaborators we are working with, the testing of the pilot Star specifically with young people is limited. Therefore we are looking for one to two Youth Offending teams or similar, in the UK, who would be interested in working with us – collaborators need to cover some costs and train workers involved in the pilot. Please get in touch with us at info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or 020 7272 8765 for more information.

Full publication of the Justice Star is scheduled for early 2016 – we’re looking forward to the feedback and learning from our collaborators and would like to thank them again for their investment and involvement so far.

1 The Recovery Star Secure was developed in secure settings and is relevant for people on long-term sentences. More information available here.

Month: June 2015

New Family Star tools for Scotland and Early Years

New Justice Star™ – youth collaborator needed!