Initial Child Protection Conference Research Articles

New Horizons for the Journal: Familiar Landscapes in Child Protection

New Horizons for the Journal: Familiar Landscapes in Child Protection

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

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.

What makes a good-quality GP report for an Initial Child Protection Conference?

Under the Children Act 1989, when safeguarding concerns arise in England, local authorities (LAs) have a statutory responsibility to carry out a Section 47 Enquiry. This may lead to an Initial Child Protection Conference (ICPC), which relies on collating pertinent information from relevant agencies. Because GPs are a key health representative, who may hold crucial information in their records, they should be invited to submit a written report for and, if able, attend the ICPC. GPs have been poor attenders at ICPCs and locally it has been found that offering teleconferencing as an alternative to attending in person was not taken up.1 The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) both recognise that doctors have a professional responsibility to ‘contribute to child protection procedures and provide relevant information to child protection meetings’ .2 If they cannot attend, they should provide ‘a comprehensive report … prior to the conference’ .3 Because many factors can lead to a child being at risk of, or suffering, significant harm, it is essential that GP reports contribute intelligently to this process. Their reports should contain relevant health information (about the parents and the child) to help Children’s Social Care protect the child from harm. Their reports should attempt to capture the voice of the child and to analyse critically any health issues in relation to the child and the impact parental health may have on the situation (Box 1). …

Communication, Communication, Communication: The Key to Improving General Practitioner Report Submission for Initial Child Protection Conferences

Communication, Communication, Communication: The Key to Improving General Practitioner Report Submission for Initial Child Protection Conferences

Safeguarding Children and Young People is Everyone's Responsibility

Safeguarding Children and Young People is Everyone's Responsibility

A Service Evaluation of General Practitioner Contribution to Initial Child Protection Conferences

A Service Evaluation of General Practitioner Contribution to Initial Child Protection Conferences

Challenging passive partnerships with parents and children in the core group forum: a framework for a proactive approach

This paper looks at two concepts central to effective child protection practice: partnerships and the core group system, which need to work together if we are to improve the worrying, ad hoc approaches to child protection work once a child’s name has been added to the child protection register. These concepts emerged at around the same point in time, but little has been written about the core group, even though it has been given the key tasks of formulating, implementing and reviewing the child protection plan, and forging effective working partnerships with other professionals, parents/carers and their children ( Calder 1991, 1995b; Calder & Horwath 1999). Whilst the concept of partnership has received considerable media and publishing attention, no previous paper has explored partnerships with families within the core group phase. This reflects the low priority currently afforded to activity following the initial child protection conference, and arguably sets the core group up to fail, even before it has started ( Calder 1996a, 1998). The authors draw on their national research into core group practice to explore the notion of partnerships between the core group and parents, carers and children, concluding with some recommendations on how Area Child Protection Committees can create the environment in which we can move from passive to proactive partnerships within a higher profile for this stage and focus of the work. The authors draw on some suggestions from Messages from Research ( Department of Health 1995a) and from several small‐scale research studies into core group practice.

Holes in the safety net: the strengths and weaknesses of child protection procedures

This paper uses findings from empirical research to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the child protection procedures in the UK. Discontinuities in which child protection plans were not implemented arose because of limitations in the plans made, obstacles to implementation and weaknesses in the conduct of review meetings which rarely questioned the management of cases even when it was clearly deficient. The construction of risk made during the investigation carried over into the initial conference, fed into decisions about registration and had an enduring influence on the way in which later risks to children were interpreted. However, this meant that new information which challenged this view of risk was often ignored. Continuities were also evident between adequate plans for children’s safety made at initial conferences and their subsequent protection. However, when children remained at home with an abusing parent, this remained true only when a new key worker had been allocated at the time of the conference. These initial plans also had an impact on the interventions provided, especially those for treatment. These findings emphasize the importance of adequate planning for children and families at initial child protection conferences and the need for an overhaul of the conduct of reviews if they are to be used more effectively.

Rites of protection: Child protection conferences as social transformation

The author, a child psychiatrist working in Britain, attempted to understand his place in the state's protection of children by using an anthropological approach to analyse a state‐sanctioned process: the Child Protection Procedure. Essential to this Procedure is a multi‐professional meeting called the Initial Child Protection Conference. This can be seen as a significant event marking changes in the social identity of those involved. A model of the Conference was built up based on a series of ambiguities evident in the written Procedure and other available documentation. These ambiguities can be understood as essential to effective transformation of social identities. This social transformation may both facilitate the primary task of the Conference in the protection of the child while having the capacity to mask the limitations of the Conference in completion of this task.

Placing Children on Child Protection Registers: Risk Indicators and Local Authority Differences

SUMMARY Wide variation in rates of children on protection registers in different authorities has led to doubts about the reliability of local decision making. A study of 1,752 referrals, for suspected abuse or neglect in eight English local authorities, found that indicators of child and family vulnerability were more important than local area in explaining selection for initial child protection conference and placement on registers. There appeared to be agreement on 'common-sense' risk indicators but stronger measurements of risk would enable child protec tion procedures to be better targeted. During the last two decades, following public concern about children's deaths at the hands of their care-givers in Britain, increasingly specific procedures for intervention have been laid down by central government (Home Office et al., 1991). A child at risk of significant harm, however, must pass through a number of decision points before being made the subject of an inter-agency protection plan and placed on a register. First, there is an unknown number of 'cases' in the community, only some of whom will be identified by front-line professionals or lay people and referred to police or social services depart

Why some Conferences are Difficult: a Study of the Professionals' Experience of Some Initial Child Protection Conferences

The views of 261 professionals attending 36 initial child protection conferences with parental participation were collected by means of a questionnaire. Overall, the professionals found the involvement of parents beneficial to the consideration of risk and the decision‐making process, with some provisos. The data revealed that most of the negative responses arose from one third of the conferences, and that these conferences shared particular features relating to family profile and certain conference characteristics. The nature of the difficulties is identified and explored, especially with regard to the ambiguities and the uncertainties involved in risk assessments which contributed to the professionals, negative experiences, and which seemed to be heightened by the parents' presence.

Why some conferences are difficult: a study of the professionals’ experience of some initial child protection conferences

Why some conferences are difficult: a study of the professionals’ experience of some initial child protection conferences

An account of the experiences of 51 families involved in an initial child protection conference

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on one part of a research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to evaluate the effects of involving parents in 83 initial child protection conferences in a northern city between May 1991 and June 1992. The experiences of two groups of families are recounted and compared, those who attended the conferences and those who did not An analysis was made of the degree to which the parent's participation in the conference affected their overall attitude to the intervention. There were differences between the two groups with regard to their feeling fairly treated, and in their relationship with their social worker. The factors most strongly associated with attitude were whether the child had been removed from the family or statutory action was recommended, and whether the parents agreed abuse had taken place. The fear of removal of the child had an independent influence on the overall attitude, irrespective of whether or not the parents attended the conference. The parents who attended were glad they had gone but found the experience emotionally difficult Although their positive feelings of involvement did not extend to a conviction that they had influenced the decisions, their on‐going relationship with their social worker was less likely to have been impaired where they had been invited and attended.

Going to a case conference: the medical contribution

Before considering in detail the role and contribution of the doctor at a child protection conference it is useful to review, briefly, the stages which precede the convening of a conference. Once concern about possible abuse has been referred to the appropriate statutory agency, usually the social services department, a decision is made about investigation unless urgent action is required to protect a child. At this stage the preferred option is to hold a strategy discussion which serves to inform the investigation process. A strategy discussion usually involves at the very least the police, social services and the referrer. When a medical consultation is requested, it may be met by the family practitioner or paediatrician depending upon the circumstances. An initial child protection conference is convened following investigation. The criteria used to decide whether to call a conference vary considerably but once the decision is made the conference is expected to take place within eight working days of referral although research suggests longer periods are usually involved. Approximately a quarter of referrals lead to a conference. 1 The conference brings together all those directly concerned with the care and protection of the child. It provides an opportunity to share and evaluate information, to decide whether the child's name should be entered onto the child protection register and, if so, to make a plan for the future and to appoint a key worker, in short how best to protect a child. It is not a forum whereby a decision is made that a particular

A study of the attitudes of nurses to parental involvement in the initial child‐protection conference, and their preparation for it

Fifty-four nurses and 205 other professionals provided data on their attitudes to the involvement of parents in initial child-protection conferences in a northern English city, and on the preparation and training they had received for it. Data were collected before the local authority involved parents and again 1 year later, after parents had been invited to the conferences in four neighbourhood teams. This paper describes the attitudes and training of the nurse respondents at the two points in time, before the authority involved parents and after, and the degree and nature of the training they received in preparation. Overall, attitudes became more favourable over time. There were, however, some abiding concerns; for example, that discussion might be inhibited, and the interests of the child become less central. There were also differences in attitude by agency which reflected an agency orientation and its commitment to the child-protection task. Social workers were initially the most positive and their attitudes the least likely to change. Teachers and police began with the most negative attitudes, but their attitudes changed the most. The nurse professionals occupied the middle ground. There were also differences by agency and over time in the amount of training and preparation received. Nurses were the most likely to be offered training and teachers the least. Inter-agency training, including input from experienced practitioners, was valued.