SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION1.1 INTRODUCTION This document sets out Durham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures for all statutory and voluntary agencies and the public to work together to address issues of child protection within County Durham. This requires close working relationships, with child protection being a shared responsibility for all. The procedures should be read in conjunction with individual agency procedures. These procedures aim to:
Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:
Everybody who works or has contact with children, parents, and other adults in contact with children should be able to recognise, and know how to act upon, evidence that a child's health or development is or may be being impaired and especially when they are suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm. Practitioners, foster carers, and managers should be mindful always of the welfare and safety of children - including unborn children, older children and children living away from home or looked after by the local authority - in their work. It is also important to recognise the essential part that members of the public play in helping to protect children from abuse or neglect. Members of the public must also take responsibility and be alert to situations where children may be at risk of being harmed in any way. Durham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is responsible for agreeing the arrangements for professionals from all agencies in the area working with children in accordance with Government guidelines and regulations. These guidelines apply to children and young people up to the age of 18 years including unborn babies. They apply if a child or young person is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect. This includes children and young people who:
1.2 KEY DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS Every Child Matters (2003) defines 5 key outcomes for children to
Children in Need of Protection Some children are in need because they are suffering or likely to suffer ‘significant harm’. Where local authorities believe a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, they have a duty to make enquiries to decide whether they should take action to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child. Children who are defined as being ‘in need’ under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, are those whose vulnerability is such that they are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired, without the provision of service(s). A child with a disability is a child in need. Children with Additional Needs Children with additional needs are those children at risk of poor outcomes. Children with additional needs who require extra support from Safeguarding & Specialist Services, Health, or other services are those children where it may be of benefit to complete a Common Assessment. Child Protection is one element of safeguarding and promoting welfare. This refers to the activity which is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or are at risk of suffering ‘significant harm’ from their parents, carers or significant others known to them or have responsibility for their care. The concept of significant harm is the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention into family life in the best interests of the child and gives local authorities a duty to make enquires as to whether to take action (Section 47, Children Act 1989) to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child who is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm. The Act also gives powers to the Police to take emergency action to protect a child from significant harm. Similarly, significant harm or its likelihood must be established in court before a Care or Supervision Order can be made on a child if It is satisfied that:
There are no absolute criteria on which to rely when judging what constitutes significant harm. To understand and identify significant harm, it is necessary to consider:
‘Child abuse and neglect’ is a generic term encompassing all ill treatment of children including serious physical and sexual assaults as well as cases where the standard of care does not adequately support the child’s health or development. Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to prevent harm. Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) (s1.29-1.33) sets out definitions of the four broad categories of abuse which are used for the purposes of making a child subject of a Child Protection Plan set out below. 1.Physical Abuse Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child. 2. Emotional Abuse Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone. 3. Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape, buggery or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. 4. Neglect Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home or abandonment, failing to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-takers, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs. A person with Parental Responsibility for a child has rights and obligations for that child. Parental Responsibility is defined as “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority, which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property”Section 3(1) 1989 Children Act. Parental Responsibility is acquired by:
Consideration must be given to the involvement of parents with or without Parental Responsibility. Legal advice should be sought as to the involvement. Whilst a parent who does not have Parental Responsibility does not have the same rights and responsibilities as a parent with Parental Responsibility, legal advice should be sought from the Local Authority solicitor where clarification is required. When a child is accommodated by the Local Authority under Section 20 of the 1989 Children Act, the Local Authority holds no Parental Responsibility for that child. Parental Responsibility is retained by the person who held Parental Responsibility prior to the child being accommodated. When a child is ‘in the care’ of the Local Authority by virtue of a Care Order, including an Interim Care Order, then Parental Responsibility is shared between the Local Authority and the person(s) who held Parental Responsibility immediately before the Order was made. VALUES & PRINCIPLES UNDERPINNING WORK TO SAFEGUARD AND PROMOTE THE WELFARE OF CHILDREN The following principles underpin work with children and their families in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children (see also Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 paragraph 2.18 in the Guidance issued under S11 of the Children Act 2004. The principles will be relevant to varying degrees to different personnel but have general relevance to all services provided to children. Work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children are:
THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK (SEE APPENDIX 1) The procedures and guidance are based on Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) and this guidance replaces the previous document Working Together to Safeguard Children (1999). The supplementary guidance documents: Safeguarding Children involved in Prostitution (2000) and and Safeguarding Children in whom Illness is Fabricated (2002) remain in force and are supplements to these procedures. Guidance is also given in the document ““What to do if you are worried that a child is being abused?” These procedures have been developed in the context of:
and reflect the values and principles that underpin these:
DURHAM LOCAL SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN BOARD (LSCB) The detailed functions of the LSCB are outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) Chapter 3.
Agencies represented on the LSCB
Health Prison Service
National Probation Service - Co Durham Children North East Legal advice to the LSCB is provided by Durham County Council Corporate & Legal Services. Durham Local Safeguarding Board (LSCB) is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant agencies in County Durham will co-operate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Durham and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do. Durham LSCB ensures that the duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children is carried out in such a way as to improve the outcomes for children. Whilst the work of the LSCB contributes to the wider goals of improving the wellbeing of children, it has a particular focus on the 'staying safe' outcome. The LSCB is not accountable for the operational work of individual agencies. Each board partner retains their own existing lines of accountability for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children by their services. The LSCB does not have the power to direct other agencies.
Durham LSCB has a responsibility for co-ordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of what their member agencies do individually and together. They contribute to delivery and commissioning through the Children and Young People's Plan and their objectives are:
Durham LSCB focus on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in three broad areas of activity: 1. Identification and prevention of maltreatment or impairment of health or development. 2. Pro-active work to target particular vulnerable children. 3. Responsive work to protect children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm.
LSCB Governance and Operational Arrangements Governance and operational arrangements are detailed in the Durham LSCB publications, “Memorandum of Understanding” and “Governance Arrangements”. The individual members of Durham LSCB have a duty as members to contribute to the effective work of the LSCB and in recommending or deciding on the necessary steps to continually improve safeguarding services for children and young people in Durham. To be effective this needs to take precedence, if necessary, over their role as representative of their agency.
Participation of Children & Young People Durham LSCB is committed to seeking the views of children and their families in order to develop and continually improve the services to safeguard and promote the welfare. Our commitment is evidenced by our consultation and evaluation arrangements. LSCB partner agencies contribute to the LSCB providing sufficient resources to carry out its functions and work effectively. The details of contributions and financial arrangements can be found in the LSCB Annual Business Report. The LSCB’s monitoring and evaluation function:
There will be instances where a local agency is not performing effectively in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and the LSCB is not convinced that any planned action to improve performance will be adequate. Where this occurs, the Chair of the LSCB or designated person, will explain these concerns to the individual agency in order that they can take action, e.g.:
The inspectorates also monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the LSCB itself. Durham Local Authority is responsible for taking action, if intervention to improve the LSCB’s effectiveness and efficiency is necessary. INFORMATION SHARING, CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONSENT Refer to the Multi-Agency Information Sharing Protocol covering the County Durham, Tees Valley and North Yorkshire Area (March 2006) and “Information Sharing: Practitioners Guide” DFES, 2006. Research and experience has demonstrated that to keep children safe from harm it is essential that professionals maximise the potential for safe partnership with parents and share relevant information across geographical and professional boundaries. Information relevant to child protection will be about:
The consent of a person under the age of 18 is as significant as that of an adult where he/she is the subject of information, provided he/she has sufficient understanding to provide it. If a member of staff is in doubt about a child’s competence he/she should seek legal advice. Where a child does not have capacity to consent, it should be sought, if it does not place him/her at additional risk, from a person with Parental Responsibility for that child. It is the duty of professionals, whether they are providing services to adults or children, to place the needs of the child first. Each case will depend on its own facts and legal advice should always be sought from agencies’ own legal advisers where the professional is concerned about the legality of sharing information. The main sources of relevant law with respect to information sharing and confidentiality in child protection are the:
The ‘Common Law Duty of Confidence’ arises when a person shares information with another in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be kept confidential, e.g. a contact or a patient-doctor relationship. Working Together to Safeguard Children confirms that personal information about children and families kept by professionals and agencies should not generally be disclosed without the consent of the subject. The duty of confidence is not absolute and disclosure can be justified if:
The key factor in deciding whether or not to disclose confidential information is proportionality, i.e. is the proposed disclosure a proportionate response to the need to protect the child’s welfare. The amount of confidential information disclosed and the number of people to whom it is disclosed should be no more than is necessary to meet the public interest in protecting the health and wellbeing of the child. The approach to confidential information should be the same whether any proposed disclosure is internally within an organisation, e.g. within a school or Safeguarding & Specialist Services or between agencies, e.g. teacher to a social worker. European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 of the above Convention states that:
Many of the above conditions, especially the latter one offer a justification for sharing information (mindful of the proportionality principle). If the information being shared is ‘sensitive personal data’, e.g. racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or political opinions, trade union membership, sexual life, criminal offences, one of the following additional conditions of Schedule 3 must be met:
Defence of a child’s ‘legal rights’ under the Human Rights Act 1998 or exercise of a statutory function in connection with s17 assessment or a s47 enquiry may offer justification for information sharing. For more detailed information see www.dataprotection.gov.uk. For NHS and Councils with social services responsibilities, the Caldicott principles and processes provide a framework of quality standards for the management of confidentiality and access to personal information under the leadership of a Caldicott Guardian. This includes ‘Safe Haven’ principles on the secure storage and transfer of confidential information. These standards have applied to NHS organisations for a number of years and have now been extended into Councils with social services responsibilities in order to provide an effective framework to operationalise the Data Protection Act 1998 and underpin appropriate information sharing. Health and Children and Young People’s Service must ensure that their information sharing arrangements are compliant with their own local procedures based on the Caldicott Standards (see Health Service Circular/LAC circular HSC 2002/2003/LAC (2002) 2 ‘Implementing the Caldicott Standard into Social Care’). Health and Children and Young People’s Service have their own Caldicott Guardian who is able to provide advice and guidance as required. In general, the law does not prevent individual sharing information with other practitioners if:
RECORDING All professionals must be aware of the importance of record keeping and confidentiality issues. All professionals who are involved in any aspect of a child protection enquiry and any subsequent action should ensure that information is recorded in full immediately. This recording should include details of the alleged/suspected abuse, circumstances of the abuse, actions and decisions taken, interviews and discussions, and any other relevant information. Information must be recorded with dates, times, names, designations and signatures. A distinction must be made between fact and opinion. The records may subsequently be required to inform a s47 investigation or child protection conference, in addition to any family or criminal proceedings. Agencies should refer to their own professional codes with regards to recording. |
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