Dafydd Paul of Gwynedd Council’s Children and Supporting Families Service was invited to present to Association of Directors of Social Services Wales’ national conference for Heads of Children Services. Taking the theme of Munro’s Final report where there was reference to ‘risk principles’ and Munro’s challenge about how social workers should be judged. She notes (paraphrased) that ‘social workers should be judged, not by the outcomes of their decisions, but by the quality and consistency of decision making.’ The emerging challenge to Local authorities was ‘how do you assure quality and consistency of decision making?’ Dafydd was asked to present information about the Risk Model and Assessment Tools as several Local Authorities in Wales were investing in or considering to implement the Risk Model. The presentation was warmly received with opportunities to both discuss the benefits of the Model with Dafydd but also with their peers as several Authorities who were present had emerging experiences of using the Model.
