LSCB Briefing See the adult see the child

LSCB Briefing: See the adult, see the child 7 February 2018 Judy Daniels Head of Safeguarding and Care Planning & Principle Child and Family Social Worker (PCFSW), LBR Children & Families Service & Lesley Perry Business Manager, Redbridge Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) & Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB)

Learning together – Ground Rules • Allow everyone space to participate • Be prepared to share your knowledge, skills and experience with others • Be additive, not repetitive • Respect difference and embrace diversity • Confidentiality • Self-care • Jargon ‘bust’ • Use the ‘park’ sheet for added value!

Learning Objectives By the end of the briefing, attendees will have: • Knowledge and understanding of the Redbridge LSCB & SAB Joint Working Protocol and how this can be enacted in practice. • An understanding of the context of safeguarding children within families, protective factors and parenting capacity. • Confidence in identifying and responding to concerns about a vulnerable child or young person at risk when working with an adult. • An insight into the different agencies working with children, young people and their families and how these interact. • How to make a child protection referral in Redbridge.

Introduction & Scene Setting The children behind the adults • Children of adults with: - mental ill health - physical or learning disabilities - substance misuse • Children living in families with domestic abuse • Young carers • Unborn children • Families living with poverty, homelessness, worklessness • Families with parental involvement in criminal activities

Joint Working Protocol • What is it? • Where did it come from? • Who is it for? • How are we getting the message out?

Protocol – Principles (1) • Gather and record information at first contact about the presence of children under 18 in the adult’s household. • Give explicit and recorded consideration of the welfare of children in the household. • Make a referral to Children’s Social Care is there is any cause for concern. • Share information relevant to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of the child(ren). • Discuss concerns with the child or young person’s parents/carers and seek consent to share information – unless they have reasonable cause to believe that to do so would place the child at risk of significant harm. • Contribute fully to joint risk assessments about the family.

Protocol – Principles (2) • Participate in and provide information to any Child in Need meetings or Child Protection Conferences. • Be familiar with the multi-agency threshold document for children and young people for referrals to early intervention or child protection. • Follow through on any referral made by ensuring you receive information about the outcome. • Escalate concerns if there is a disagreement between professionals via the LSCB Escalation and Resolution Policy. • Report any concerns to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) about a person that works with children and young people who is or has behaved in a way that could harm a child; committed an offence against or related to child; or is a posing a risk to children and young people.

Working Together Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play in safeguarding children – ‘safeguarding is everyone’s business’. Partnership working in child protection SCIE (Social Care Insitute for Excellence) Film (7 minutes)

Safeguarding Children (1) • A child is defined by the Children Act 1989 and 2004 as anyone who has not yet reached their 18 th birthday. • Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015 (page 5) as - protecting children from maltreatment; - preventing impairment of children’s health or development - ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and - taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Safeguarding Children (2) • The Children Act 1989 s 31 introduced the concept of significant harm as the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention in family life in the best interests of children. • Harm can be categorised as physical, emotional, sexual abuse or neglect. • Children in need are those defined under s 17 of the Children Act 1989, who are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development or their health or development are likely to be significantly impaired without the provision of services, or who are disabled.

Parenting Capacity Exercise: • What do we mean by parenting capacity? • How does parental capacity to safeguarding and promote welfare impact on other elements of the Assessment Framework? • Where might you see this in your work? Discuss in pairs/threes with use of Assessment Framework.

Safeguarding Children Assessment Framework

Families with Multiple Needs • Key factor that impacts on parenting capacity is combination of parental Mental ill-Health/Domestic Violence/Substance Misuse (previously referred to as the ‘Toxic Trio’). • Can lead to emotional abuse or neglect – and potentially death. • Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) often comment that: - children in families are not seen often enough by professionals involved; - aren’t given the opportunity to voice their feelings; - parents preventing professionals from seeing the children; - focus being on parents and their issues, rather than the child that is suffering The voice of child: learning lessons from Serious Case Reviews, Ofsted, April 2011

Break

Working with Parents/Carers Things to consider and be aware of when working with parents/carers: • Disguised compliance • Professional curiosity • Professional dangerousness – including professional fatigue and collusion • Think the unthinkable

Case Study Hamzah Khan, Serious Case Review, Overview Report, Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, 2013

Local Thresholds • ‘Are you worried about a child? How to access early help, and thresholds for referral to children’s social care (LSCB, June 2016) • Quick Guide to Multi-Agency Thresholds • Level 1 - Universal Services • Level 2 -Children with additional needs • Level 3 - Children with complex multiple needs • Level 4 - Children with acute needs

Early Help & Child Protection Thresholds LEVEL OF NEED Children and young people are experiencing or are likely to significant harm experience RESPONSE Level Four In an emergency concerning the protection of children contact the Police. Children and young people with complex needs where there is concern that parenting is compromised Level Three Refer immediately to Redbridg e Child Protection and Assessment Team (CPAT) for consideration ofneed for a strategy discussion to determine whethere may be a risk of significant harm. Refer to Redbridge Child Protection and Assessment Team (CPAT) for screening of needs; initial / core assessment to identify appropriate services Children and young people with additional needswhich require a coordinated multi agency response or Children and young people with an additional need which would be met through the provision of services but are otherwise progressing across the remainder of the five outcome areas Level Two Complete CAFin conjunction with other professionals working with the child/family or Refer directly to appropriate agency or to multi agency early intervention panel Children and young people with no additional needs who are progressing across all given outcome areas Level One Children access universal services e. g. schools, children’s centres and primary health care

What to do if you are concerned about a child Contact the Child Protection and Assessment Team (CPAT) via: CPAT. Referrals@redbridge. gov. uk Tel: 020 8708 3885 (Monday to Friday, 08: 00 to 17: 00) 020 8708 5897 (Emergency Duty Team – after 17: 00 and at weekends) Complete a Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF) If a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999

Sometimes we don’t agree … Disagreements between professionals and agencies can arise at any stage in the safeguarding process and between any of the agencies involved. Some examples of potential areas of disagreement may include: Levels of need/threshold Concerns in relation to an agency’s response to safeguarding concerns Roles and responsibilities Intra/inter agency communication Disagreement on lead agency or professional (this can be at step down or step up to/from children’s social care intervention • Practice/case management issues • • • Refer to the LSCB Escalation and Resolution Policy

Voice of the Child If a Child Tells…. Do: Don’t: • Listen carefully • Ask leading questions • Take it seriously • Make promises you • Reassure the child cannot keep that they are right to • Jump to conclusions tell • Speculate or accuse • Explain what will anybody happen next • Record the child’s words, the time and Voice of the child: date http: //www. ncb. org. uk/media/756988/research_summar y_7. pdf

What have children & young people said I’ve seen him kick and punch, and pull her hair. Once he threw petrol over her. A couple of Christmases ago, she was sober for a week and we went out shopping and skating. Mum works at nights. Dad comes home drunk and beats me up. I dread the nights. Is it my fault … she is like this? Have I done something bad? I was really scared when I first heard my mum and dad shouting. I was afraid to go downstairs. I can’t get on with my work at school because I’m always worrying about what’s going on at home. Mum gets drunk and she leaves me to look after my two brothers.

What about safeguarding adults? See the child, see the adult • What is the role for those working with children and young people in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults? • How might opportunities occur? • Referral process – adults. alert@redbridge. gov. uk • Protocol – Safeguarding Adults – Working to Keep People Safe – ‘See the Child, See the Adult’

Further Information Useful links: • • • Redbridge LSCB , Contact Form and Training Programme Pan London CP Procedures, 5 th Edition, 2017 Working Together to Safeguard Children, HM Government, March 2015 Pathways to harm, pathways to protection: a triennial analysis of serious case reviews 2011 – 2014, Df. E, May 2016 Redbridge I – Child Protection Multi-Agency Thresholds – Early Intervention & Child Protection Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF) Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity, Cleaver, H. et al, 2 nd Edition, HM Government, 2011 Redbridge Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB)

Training Transfer • Feedback to your manager in supervision/one-to-one • Share learning with your team and encourage them to attend next Briefing - date will be available in April 2018. • Distribute LSCB Thresholds document and/or A 4 quick reference guide via e-mail • CPPD: Other LSCB Training Programme opportunities • Implement the learning in practice • Network with professionals working with families from other agencies