My Family Plan - Family advice

A My Family Plan (MFP) can help you with :

Child anxiety and mental health
Bullying
Parental conflict
Parenting support
Sibling issues
School attendance
Young families
Additional needs (SEND)
Separated parents
Housing and finances
Parental ill health

What is a My Family Plan?

A My Family Plan (MFP) is a way of supporting you and your family with any challenges you might currently have. This can be for any family member where their difficulties impact your child/ren, or difficulties for the child/ren themselves.

You have agreed to be part of a MFP when you sought help and support to manage these challenges. Someone in a professional role (who will become your Lead Professional) has spoken with you about which services and agencies could best help you and how to make sure this all stays on track.

Having a MFP means that your Lead Professional whom you know and trust will help you to get the best type of help before any crisis happens to you and your family. Research tells us that this is the best way of working, rather than dealing with things at a later stage.

What happens next?

Now that a MFP has been agreed, the Lead Professional will arrange a meeting for you and the agencies who are offering to support you with the current difficulties. This usually takes place in school or a similar setting so that you are familiar with the venue. You can bring someone else for support if you feel you need to.

During the meeting everyone will share what actions they can take to help move things forward. They will have a timeframe in which to do this and will be clear with you about why each action is useful.

You will then agree a review meeting date and time to make sure actions have happened and think about any changes. You can check in with your Lead Professional as much as you need to between your meeting and your review.

"Having a MFP means that your Lead Professional whom you know and trust will help you to get the best type of help before any crisis happens to you and your family."

How long will the MFP last?

This can be hard to answer, as it depends on how many challenges you are facing or how much there is to discuss. However we would not want the Lead Professional to keep the MFP in place for any longer than is needed. Usually one or two reviews are enough.

To close a MFP, a review is held to make sure that all actions are completed and everyone attending agrees that progress is being made. If you also agree, the plan can end. If you feel things start to change for the worse after the plan has ended, you can speak to your Lead Professional again to restart the MFP or refer yourself to Children & Family Services for further support. They may also suggest that the MFP is restarted.

Your Lead Professional can get advice from a consultation service within Children & Family Services to make sure they are managing your MFP in the best way.