Jane Dunne, the Service Manager at Coventry Family Drug and Alcohol Court writes about winning the Public Sector Children’s Team Award at the 2018 Children & Young People Now Awards.
In 2018, the Coventry FDAC were nominated for the Children and Young People Now awards. The team were asked in the nomination to define what the FDAC model was and how the team were contributing to positive outcomes for children/ young people and their families.
Put forward as one of five finalists in the category for public sector team of the year award, the Coventry FDAC team won the award. The award was acknowledgement of the Coventry FDAC team and the work of the Children Services in continuing to embrace and invest in FDAC. As a fun gift, the operational lead brought us mugs with the award picture printed on it and we have used the award to market the team, hoping to attract additional funding and expand the team. Coventry children’s senior leadership team are exploring how the model can be applied to pre and post proceedings work and we have high hopes of working with our neighbouring authorities.
Since winning the award, the team have been featured on the City council website as award winners, Her Honour Judge Watson has acknowledged FDAC’s achievement with the local solicitors and judiciary, and Sir Andrew McFarlane commented on our good practice on his most recent visit to Coventry courts. Radio 4’s Law in Action, hosted by distinguished legal journalist Joshua Rosenburg, highlighted the work of the team and the journey of one of the FDAC graduates on 12th February 2019.
The award, and the subsequent publicity and praise of the work is a recognition that FDACs across the country are not only making changes to children and families lives but can change the face of how care proceedings are managed. The team are proud to represent the collective FDAC community of practice and our peer teams, and the work of those who were involved in the former National Unit, and we hope that by raising the public profile, the FDAC community of practice will grow.
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