Section 3: What to do in response to concerns
In Section 2 we looked at the signs that may alert you to the possibility that a child is being abused. We also looked at disclosure – where someone tells you about child abuse. This section will deal with what you need to do next.
Reporting suspicions, disclosures or allegations of child abuse can feel very difficult. However, one of the worst things you can do is to do nothing! Investigations of many child deaths and serious injuries have shown that it may have been possible to prevent the death or injury if someone had acted sooner, e.g. in the case of Victoria Climbié, Kyra Ishaq, Peter Connelly and Daniel Pelka. Any suspicions, allegations or disclosures of child abuse MUST be taken very seriously.
Everyone who works with children and/or their families has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
If you work with children, young people and/or their families, or with adults who are parents or carers you should be familiar with your organisation’s child protection policies and procedures; and you should know whom to contact if you have a concern. You may be concerned about data protection, confidentiality and sharing personal information, however, the law is clear that, where there are concerns about the safety or welfare of a child, this over-rides all other considerations. Your organisation may have policies about confidentiality and information sharing which you should be familiar with.
If you are a member of the public who has a concern about the safety and/or welfare of a child or young person, you can get information about how to deal with those concerns from your Local Safeguarding Children Board website (see below) or from the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Your Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is a statutory partnership, made up of agencies whose job it is to work with children, young people and/or adults who may be parents/carers. These organisations have a statutory duty to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The LSCB produces multi-agency procedures about protecting children, information on related topics and runs training events.
Section 14 of the Children Act 2004 sets out the objectives of LSCBs, which are:
(a) to coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area; and
(b) to ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.
Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006 sets out that the functions of the LSCB, in relation to the above objectives under section 14 of the Children Act 2004, are as follows:
1(a) developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority, including policies and procedures in relation to:
(i) the action to be taken where there are concerns about a child's safety or welfare, including thresholds for intervention;
(ii) training of persons who work with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare of children;
(iii) recruitment and supervision of persons who work with children;
(iv) investigation of allegations concerning persons who work with children;
(v) safety and welfare of children who are privately fostered;
(vi) cooperation with neighbouring children's services authorities and their Board partners;
(b) communicating to persons and bodies in the area of the authority the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, raising their awareness of how this can best be done and encouraging them to do so;
(c) monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of what is done by the authority and their Board partners individually and collectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and advising them on ways to improve;
(d) participating in the planning of services for children in the area of the authority; and
(e) undertaking reviews of serious cases and advising the authority and their Board partners on lessons to be learned.
In order to fulfil its statutory function under Regulation 5 an LSCB as a minimum, should:
• assess the effectiveness of the help being provided to children and families, including early help
• assess whether LSCB partners are fulfilling their statutory obligations;
• quality assure practice, including through joint audits of case files involving practitioners and identifying lessons to be learned; and
• monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of training, including multi-agency training, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
LSCBs do not commission or deliver direct frontline services though they may provide training. While LSCBs do not have the power to direct other organisations they do have a role in making clear where improvement is needed. Each Board partner retains their own existing line of accountability for safeguarding.
What to do if You’re Worried a Child is Being AbusedWhere the child needs urgent medical attention this must be dealt with as soon as possible. Any discussion with colleagues, the child, parents/carers or organisations can take place once medical attention has been received if necessary.
If you have immediate concerns that abuse has taken place and/or about risk to a child, then you should refer to your organisation’s child protection policies, if they exist, and/or speak with your manager/staff member responsible for child protection about an urgent referral to the child protection team at Children’s Social Care or the Police. If a manager is unavailable, you should take responsibility to refer immediately. If you are a member of the public, or your organisation does not have policies or managers, you should contact the Police or Children’s Social Care immediately. You should record any actions that you take, and the reasons. You will need to sign and date the record, and keep it in a secure place.
If you have concerns about the possibility that a child is being abused, or is at risk of abuse, you must record this (as outlined in Section 2).
Your organisation may have a child protection policy or procedure, if so; you should refer to this document, as it will tell you how to proceed. You should discuss your concerns with your line manager or the staff member responsible for child protection. If you remain concerned, but unsure how to proceed, you or your manager/child protection staff member should discuss this with a colleague in Children’s Social Care or the Police - this can be done without identifying the child or family as long as you give no details of names.
If you are a member of the public, work alone, or your organisation does not have any child protection procedures, it may be useful for you to ring Children’s Social Care, to discuss your concerns before you make a referral. This may be helpful where your concerns are not clear or specific.
Whoever you discuss your concerns with; you should agree what will happen next, when it will happen and who is responsible for taking it forward. You should record this clearly. If you remain concerned, even if you are not certain that abuse has occurred, a referral should be made to Children’s Social Care, Police or NSPCC National Helpline.
If you are a professional, it is good practice to discuss your concerns with the child as appropriate to their age and understanding. You should also discuss concerns and actions with the child's carers/parents where possible - research shows that when you are open and honest about your concerns, your honesty will be respected by parents/carers and they are more likely to work with agencies. Talking with the parents about something you've noticed may reveal an innocent explanation, e.g. for weight loss, an injury or a significant change in the child's behaviour. You may find out something that is happening within the family, which means the child needs extra support from you to help them through some difficult family circumstance such as a family break up.
Permission should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, UNLESS seeking permission would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made. If a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, a referral to Children’s Social Care SHOULD NOT BE DELAYED whilst consent is sought.
Important - you should be clear that your role is not to investigate an allegation or concern, rather by discussing the concern with parents or the child you are only seeking to clarify what you have observed or been told. If you have any doubts about discussing a concern with a parent, carer or child please seek advice.
Whatever the circumstances, the child's welfare and safety must come first, despite any impact that making a referral to the appropriate agencies may have upon the child's parents or carers. You must ALWAYS maintain a focus on the child.
Making a ReferralYour organisation’s child protection policy may define who should make a referral. If you are in doubt, if that person is not available or if you are not an employee, you should take responsibility to do it yourself. You can make a referral to the Local Authority Customer Service Centre or the Police.
You should make sure you have all available information about the child to hand. You should give as much relevant detail as possible to the organisation you are referring to. The minimum details you should try to give, if you have them, are:
• What your concerns are (the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need, at Appendix 2 of Working Together 2010, available online, may help in identifying and articulating the source of your concerns
• The child’s name, date of birth or age, address, parent/carer’s name, school and doctor if possible
• The child’s ethnicity and religion if known
• What you saw, or were told; when and where this happened giving as much details as possible
• What you have done so far; anyone you have spoken with including the parents/carers and child
• Your name, phone number, email, workplace, address, job, manager etc.
• Any potential danger or risk to staff or the public
You should make a record of which agency you made the referral to, whom you spoke to and what they agreed to do next (e.g. what will happen and when). You should tell the person you speak with that you wish to be kept informed of what happens. However, if you are not involved in further enquiries into possible abuse of the child, you may not be able to be given much information as this may jeopardise the investigation/enquiries.
If you are a professional, you should follow up your telephone referral with a written referral within 48 hours. You should keep a copy, in a secure place, for your own records. Children's Social Care should confirm receipt of your written referral within 1 working day. If you have not heard anything within 3 working days, you should contact them again and record who you speak with.
Once you have made a referral, information will be gathered and decisions made as to what will happen next - you may be involved in these discussions and deliberations.
An assessment will be conducted, which may identify the need for support services or serious concerns about the child's welfare. Depending on the action taken by the organisation you refer to, you may need to be involved further in the process. This could range from participating in the assessment to attending a Child Protection Conference or, more rarely, giving evidence in court. To ensure that you are prepared for any of these, you should keep all your original documentation and notes.
If there is a Child Protection Conference, this will be arranged by Children’s Social Care and attended by relevant professionals involved with the child and family. The family will be invited, along with the child where appropriate. The conference will establish what the risks are to the child, whether the child is at risk of harm, and plan what action needs to be taken to protect the child. The plans usually involve helping the parents/carers to be able to safely and appropriately look after their child/children.
Sometimes it may be decided that there is not enough information to take any further action. It may be appropriate to undertake work using the Common Assessment Framework (CAF). If you are unsure about whether, or how, to do this, seek advice from Children's Social Care or speak to your local Integrated Services Manager. However, if you continue to feel that the child is at risk or being abused; or if you have any new information or information that suggests that the situation has changed, it is important that you don't give up. Be persistent and re-refer if necessary. Seek support from your manager, senior colleagues, child protection advisor or services based in the community (e.g. counselling services, faith leader) but be careful not to break confidentiality.
Dealing with any child protection issues can be stressful and upsetting for all those involved, including yourself. You should identify where you can get support, either within your own organisation from a senior colleague, manager or counselling service, from your community or external counselling service, and use the support.
NB. You must respect the confidentiality of anyone involved by not discussing the case in public places, and not revealing details which would identify the child, young person and/or family.
Comments 7
Very appropriate short course. Gets to the heart of the matter. Enough learning to ensure I am confident when dealing with these issues
I did a similar course on Child Protection before, in Ireland, which gives the appropriate details of who to contact in case of concern or disclosure.
Eye opening topic with a lot more detail for consideration. Very informative.
A useful refresher.
Brief but effective course.
Very informative training
Good coverage of the basics.