Understanding the obligations of Children’s Services

This page explains the duties of Children’s Services to act once a child protection referral is made. It explains the different investigations that can take place and the possible courses of action as a school you may need to be aware of.

This guide applies to both maintained schools and academies

As a school you should have your own safeguarding procedure if situations arise giving you cause to believe a child might be at risk of harm. If a decision is made to make a referral to Children’s Services then the following may shed some light on what happens next.

What happens if child abuse concerns are reported to Children’s Services

When Children’s Services receive a referral of child abuse they have 24 hours to decide what to do next. In making this decision, the social worker will have to determine whether:

• The child(ren) require immediate protection and thus urgent and immediate action is required
• The child(ren) is/are in need considered under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 
• There are reasonable grounds to suspect that the child(ren) is/are suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm and whether further enquiries need to be made
• Any services which the child(ren) and/or family require and what they are
• Whether any further specialist assessments are needed to help Children’s Services determine what further action to take
• Whether any action needs to be taken
• If there is no further action they can take, whether to refer the matter to a more appropriate agency.

If Children’s Services do determine that an assessment needs to be carried out they have up to a maximum of 45 days in which to do this. 

Each Local Authority should have its own local child protection procedures which are also known as safeguarding procedures.

What happens if Children’s Services decide to do an assessment following a referral? 

Previously, when Children’s Services decided to do an assessment, there was a two stage process referred to as an ‘Initial Assessment’ and a ‘Core Assessment’. You may still come across this terminology as what Children’s Services look for in the assessment has not been altered. If Children’s Services have decided to do an assessment they have up to a maximum of 45 days to complete this. The assessment is to determine:

• Whether the child is in need
• If other services are required and what they are
• Whether any further investigations should take place.

If Children’s Services identify any particular needs at any stage of the assessment, social workers should not wait until the assessment has concluded before they initiate services to support the child(ren) and/or their family. 

If the child has not been harmed in any way and Children’s Services have decided that the child is not at risk then no further action will be taken, the investigation ends there. If the child has been harmed or is at risk of harm, a Child Protection Case Conference will be arranged. 

The outcome of the investigation must be recorded in writing and a copy given to the parents, professionals and agencies involved. The outcome will either be that the child is not at risk and therefore no action is to be taken, or alternatively a Child Protection Case Conference will take place.

What possible outcomes are there of an assessment by Children’s Services?

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

Children’s Services may carry out a CAF. This can be done at any time and is intended for use when:

There is concern about how well a child (or unborn baby) or a young person is progressing or their needs are unclear. CAF can help identify what the child’s needs are and how support may be provided, including which services are available. As a school you may have involvement in this. Parental involvement is encouraged and parental consent should be obtained before an assessment is carried out.

Strategy Discussion

A strategy discussion is arranged when Children’s Services have reasonable cause to believe that a child is at risk of suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. The discussion is led by Children’s Services and involves other agencies. As a school you may be asked to take part in such a discussion.

The aim of the meeting is to share information between the agencies involved and decide what further steps should be taken to safeguard the child including any immediate action if necessary.  If the decision reached is to initiate a section 47 investigation under the Children’s Act 1989, the plan for the investigation should reflect the concerns. Parents and family will not be invited to participate or attend the strategy discussion. 

The timescale will depend on the circumstances of the individual child and the protocol of the local authority.

Section 47 investigation

Under s47 Children Act 1989, the Local Authority (LA) is under a duty to make enquiries and to investigate if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. The purpose of these enquiries is for the LA to determine whether it needs to take any further action to promote or safeguard the child’s welfare.

How will Children’s Services decide whether the child is at risk of harm?

Harm is defined as:

“The ill-treatment, or the impairment of health or development, including for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another.”

“development” means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development;

“health” means physical or mental health;

“ill-treatment” includes sexual abuse and forms of ill-treatment which are not physical.’ (s31 (9) Children Act 1989)

Where the question of whether the harm suffered by a child is significant turns on the child’s health or development, it is necessary to compare his health or development with what could reasonably be expected of a similar child (s31 (10) Children Act 1989).

What happens if Children’s Services initiate Care Proceedings?

If the Local Authority believe that the child is at risk of significant harm, they may start care proceedings. There are a number of preliminary steps Children’s Services will take before starting care proceedings.

Legal planning meeting: When Children’s Services decide that the parent is not doing enough to protect the child from significant harm, they hold a legal planning meeting. This meeting involves the social workers and the Local Authority’s legal team to decide whether, based on the evidence gathered, the parents should be given more time and support to safely care for the child or to remove the child from their care as soon as possible. Parents should be provided with a letter outlining the decision reached by Children’s Services as they will not be able to attend this meeting. 

Letter before proceedings: This letter is sent to the parents where Children’s Services decide that further time should be given. The letter is also aimed to warn the parents that if the care given to the child does not improve then Children’s Services are going to initiate court proceedings. 

Pre-proceedings meeting: This is the last opportunity given for the parents and Children’s Services to discuss whether the child can continue living with the parents and whether they can safely care for them and what Children’s Services require from the parents to achieve this. This date for this meeting should be specified in the letter before proceedings. At this stage the parents can also request Children’s Services arrange a Family Group Conference to allow other family members to support and assist in protecting the child. 

If Children’s Services decide it is not in the child’s best interests to remain in the current circumstances and the child should instead removed and placed in care, a letter of issue should be sent to the parents explaining that they intend on commencing care proceedings.

Recommended procedure for schools in relation to safeguarding

As a school you should make arrangements that reflect the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including: 

• a clear line of accountability for the commissioning and/or provision of services designed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; 
• a lead person to take leadership responsibility for the school’s safeguarding arrangements; 
• a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and feelings, both in individual decisions and the development of services; 
• clear whistleblowing procedures, which reflect the principles in Sir Robert Francis’s Freedom to Speak Up review and are suitably referenced in staff training and codes of conduct, and a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be addressed; 
• arrangements which set out clearly the processes for sharing information, with other professionals and with the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB); 
• a designated professional lead for safeguarding. Their role would be to support other professionals in the school to recognise the needs of children, including rescue from possible abuse or neglect. Designated professional roles should always be explicitly defined in job descriptions. Professionals should be given sufficient time, funding, supervision and support to fulfil their child welfare and safeguarding responsibilities effectively; 
• safe recruitment practices for individuals whom the organisation will permit to work regularly with children, including policies on when to obtain a criminal record check; 
• appropriate supervision and support for staff, including undertaking safeguarding training: 
  • employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff are competent to carry out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and creating an environment where staff feel able to raise concerns and feel supported in their safeguarding role; 
  • staff should be given a mandatory induction, which includes familiarisation with child protection responsibilities and procedures to be followed if anyone has any concerns about a child’s safety or welfare; and 
  • All professionals should have regular reviews of their own practice to ensure they improve over time. 
• clear policies in line with those from the LSCB for dealing with allegations against people who work with children. Such policies should make a clear distinction between an allegation, a concern about the quality of care or practice or a complaint. An allegation may relate to a person who works with children who has: 
  • behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child; 
  • possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or 
  • behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children.
• Schools, colleges and other educational providers have a pivotal role to play in safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. Their co-operation and buy-in to the new arrangements will be vital for success. All schools, colleges and other educational providers have duties in relation to safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. The statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ should be read alongside this guidance.

This procedure is recommended by the Working Together to Safeguard Children governmental guidance of July 2018.

 

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