Missing Data, Complex Processes and Differing Contexts: A Case File Analysis of School Staff's Involvement in Child Protection Cases for Concerns of Neglect

Abstract

This paper reports the findings from the analysis of 119 children's social work case files from three local authorities in Wales. The study offers new understanding about the extent of school staff's involvement in the provision of statutory support when there are concerns that a child is living with neglect. Findings demonstrate evidence of a broad range of early and preventative school‐based support provided in 42 per cent of the sample, some gaps in schools' contributions to statutory assessments and a decline in the level of involvement of members of school staff following the initial child protection conference. The discussion also acknowledges a number of challenges encountered during the study: the complexity of social work processes, the variance in understandings of neglect within differing regional contexts and large amounts of missing data on children's files and the restrictions this created for statistical measurement. Findings have important implications for interprofessional relationships between schools and social work teams, at individual and agency levels. The author makes a call for social workers to actively engage members of school staff in child protection processes with the purpose of increasing information sharing across agencies, while enhancing interprofessional safeguarding practice.‘Reports the findings from the analysis of 119 children's social work case files from three local authorities in Wales’Key Practitioner Messages Schools are key safeguarding partners and provide an extensive range of support to children and their families, both prior to and during statutory intervention. Members of school staff hold expert knowledge on children living with neglect which should be utilised more consistently within statutory assessments. Social workers should ensure members of school staff are invited to attend child protection conferences and develop interprofessional relationships to improve information sharing across agencies.