Child Protection Practitioners Forum Neglect Reflecting on Practice

Child Protection Practitioner’s Forum Neglect: Reflecting on Practice

Falkirk File Reading Exercise Early identification and response to Childhood neglect

Falkirk Case File Reading Exercise • Focus on practice in the last 18 months • Intervening early- how well services identify vulnerable children and families • Considering the help provided at an early stage to prevent difficulties arising or escalating • Responding to Child Protection Concerns – gathering evidence of the alertness of staff across services to signs that a child may need protection and the actions taken to ensure a child is safe

Falkirk Case File Reading Exercise • Developing and Maintaining Chronologiesuse of chronologies in identifying and assessing risks and needs • Assessing Risks and Needs- how staff across services collaborate • Planning, reviewing and implementing- how effectively staff implement agreed plans and effectiveness of arrangements to review and update plans

Falkirk Case File Reading Exercise • Involving children and parents in decision making- is there evidence of staff promoting families involvement • Impact and outcomes- is there evidence that children and young people feel there has been an improvement? • Impact and outcomes for parents, carers: -helping families become more resilient -Increasing parents confidence and competence to meet their children’s needs

Care Inspectorate guidance to support review of practice through case file reading Principles • Content in each completed template is about that child only. • When completing strengths, areas for development and other comments- be evaluative and succinct • Examples provided for illustration to give an idea of the type of information required. • It may take you longer than you think to read the files and pay attention to the guidance

Care Inspectorate guidance to support review of practice through case file reading 6 point Scale • Excellent - answer ‘yes’ to all statements where appropriate, all areas very strong • Very Good - answer ‘yes’ to all statements where appropriate. No weak areas, practice of a high standard • Good – Answer ‘yes’ to almost all statements, where appropriate. Practice is of a good standard in most aspects although there a few weaker areas. • Adequate – answer ‘yes’ to most statements. Practice is of an acceptable standard but there are some weaknesses. • Weak – Cannot answer ‘yes’ to more than half of the statements • Unsatisfactory – answer ‘yes’ to only a minority of statements. There are major weaknesses.

File Reading Exercise- Random Case File Sample • Reading files across the age range of children from 0 -17 years • Less than half the cases read related to children and young people who were Looked After. • 11 children were currently on the CP Register • 8 had previously been on the CP Register and 4 had been re-registered in the last year. • 23 cases had a Lead Professional involved. • Alongside neglect, a significant number of children and young people were affected by parental substance misuse, mental ill health and domestic abuse.

File Reading Exercise- Random Case File Sample Intervening Early reflected in 22 cases Strengths Good partnership working evident: recognition of the need for additional support at an early stage, appropriate information sharing and timely and effective provision of early help Areas for development • Clarification within records of the specific role of agencies involved with families • Records management - filing

File Reading Exercise- Random Case File Sample Responding to Child Protection Concerns reflected in 22 cases Strengths • Robust and timely response to concerns, effective multi-agency working, risk assessment and planning. • Good information sharing

File Reading Exercise- Random Case File Sample Developing and Maintaining Chronologies The chronology in 18 out of 23 cases held by Lead Professional and 9 out of 23 held by other agencies were evaluated as fit for purpose. Area for development • Improvement required in recording significant events, actions and outcomes • An integrated chronology being held in the files all of relevant agencies involved with a child or young person.

File Reading Exercise- Random Case File Sample Impact of service provision and support on parental resilience and confidence Strengths Positive relationships being made with parents or persistence towards achieving this. Support leading to evidence of parents increased confidence, better understanding of child development and ability to prioritise children’s needs.

File Readers Experience: Key Findings What worked well? • Working in pairs with colleagues from another service • 3 days protected time • Well organised

File Readers Experience: Key Findings Personal Learning • Better informed about what makes a good record – being less descriptive • More aware of different agencies recording requirements • Recognise the need to be more explicit in assessments and report writing regarding children and young people’s needs • Reinforced the need for improvements in the use of Chronologies- not being used as a tool for analysis • Underlined the importance of filing/ organised record keeping.

File Readers Experience: Key Findings Advice for CPC and future file readers • Great idea to include frontline staff • Use of Care Inspectorate template – helpful to have standards to work to • Be prepared for hard work and make sure you are familiar with evaluation guidance • It’s easy to be too critical v’s don’t defend the indefensible

File Reading Exercise: Recommendations • Team Around the Child: Develop quality assurance mechanisms to ensure consistency of practice in relation to the provision of early help, assessments and planning • Chronologies: To improve the quality of single and integrated chronologies; ensure reference is being made to guidance and that they are being used as a tool that informs assessments and decision-making.

File Reading Exercise: Recommendations • Quality Assurance: Continuing job for Managers and Supervisors to ensure standards are met in relation to chronologies, assessments and plans, particularly in relation to families receiving voluntary support and early intervention. • Working with hard to reach and resistant families: Continue to focus attention on effective partnership working, utilising relevant guidance i. e. Unseen Child. Persistent practice supported by SMART plans

File Reading Exercise: Recommendations • Plans: Improving plans by ensuring they contain SMART actions • Children and young people’s views: Ensuring all assessments include information related to: ‘What does this mean for this child or young person? ’ – refrain from using not applicable when children are viewed as too young to provide their view. • Improvement Framework: Using lessons learned from this exercise and from file readers experiences, adopt an approach that supports the ongoing development of current and future frontline multi-agency file readers