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Safeguarding children: the importance of multi professional and multiagency working

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Title: Safeguarding children: the importance of multi professional and multiagency working


1
Safeguarding children the importance of multi
professional and multi-agency working
  • Christopher Cloke,
  • Head of CP Awareness and Diversity, NSPCC
  • Tuesday 20 November 2007

2
The route
  • Safeguarding and the elusiveness of inter-agency
    working
  • Government policy
  • Role of early years workers
  • Barriers to multi agency working
  • NSPCC position
  • Areas for co-operation

3
  • Safeguarding and the elusiveness of inter-agency
    working

4
Safeguarding a definition
  • All agencies working with children, young people
    and their families take all reasonable measures
    to ensure that the risks of harm to childrens
    welfare are minimised.
  • Where there are concerns about children and young
    peoples welfare, all agencies take all
    appropriate actions to address those concerns,
    working to agreed local policies and procedures
    in full partnership with other local agencies.
  • (Safeguarding Children a joint Chief
    Inspectors Report on arrangements to safeguard
    children, October 2002)

5
A multi-agency approach a definition
  • Agency covers the range of organisations,
    services and professional groups who provide
    services to children and their families.
  • (Safeguarding Children a joint Chief
    Inspectors Report, 2002)
  • Multi-disciplinary working different
    disciplines working together, as appropriate.

6
The elusiveness of multi-agency working
  • Since the 1970s repeated inquiries into child
    abuse cases have highlighted the failures of
    multi-agency working.

7
Maria Colwell
  • What has clearly emerged is a failure of
    system compounded of several factors of which the
    greatest and most obvious must be that of the
    lack of, or effectiveness of, communication and
    liaison.
  • Cases usually involve several professions
    and two or more agencies, but effective work is
    often hampered by ignorance, or misunderstanding
    of respective functions. All workers need a
    clear and common understanding of the extent and
    purpose of each individuals involvement in the
    case.
  • (Report of the Inquiry into the death of
    Maria Colwell, 1974)

8
Cleveland reasons for the crisis
  • i. Lack of proper understanding by the main
    agencies of each others functions in relation
    to child sexual abuse
  • ii. A lack of communication between the
    agencies
  • iii. Differences of views at middle management
    level which were not recognised by senior staff.
    These eventually affected those working on the
    ground.
  • It is unacceptable that the disagreements and
    failure of
  • communication of adults should be allowed to
    obscure the
  • needs of children.
  • (Report of the Inquiry into Child Abuse in
    Cleveland, 1987)

9
Victoria Climbié
  • It is deeply disturbing that during the days
    and months following the initial contact with
    Ealing Housing Department, Victoria was known to
    over ten other agencies. On twelve key occasions
    relevant services had the opportunity to
    intervene in Victorias life.
  • A gross failure of the system.
  • (The Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report, 2003)

10
Victoria and the child minder
  • Mrs Cameron gave Victoria a clean pair of
    pyjamas and put her to bed. Later that evening,
    she heard groaning and called her daughter Avril
    to come and look. They agreed that Victoria had
    to be taken to hospital.

11
Childhood Lost Part 8 Case Review Overview
  • Almost every inquiry and Part 8 Case Review
    Report from the early 1970s onwards has
    commented on the problems of inter-agency and
    inter-professional co-operation. The problems
    with inter-agency co-operation usually stem from
    three sources the complexity of the case, the
    numbers of organisations and professionals
    involved or the lack of understanding from the
    professional involved of what is required.
  • (Childhood Lost Part 8 Case Review
    Overview Report,
  • The Bridge, 2001)

12
A study of inquiry reports 1973-1981
  • Cases usually involve several professions and
    two or
  • more agencies, but effective work is often
    hampered by
  • ignorance, or misunderstanding of respective
    functions.
  • All workers need agreed arrangements for
    exchanging
  • information and a clear and common
    understanding of
  • the extent and purpose of each individuals
    involvement
  • in the case.
  • (Child Abuse a study of inquiry reports,
    1973-1981, DHSS, 1982)

13
Learning from Past Experience
  • The most commonly identified practice
    shortcomings expressed in the 40 reviews included
    inadequate sharing of information, poor
    assessments, ineffective decision making and lack
    of inter-agency working.
  • (A Review of Serious Case Reviews (DOH) 2002)

14
  • Government policy

15
Every child matters agenda
  • Child protection cannot be separated from
    policies to
  • improve childrens lives as a whole.
  • Five outcomes underpin the governments strategy
  • being healthy
  • staying safe
  • enjoying and achieving
  • making a positive contribution
  • economic wellbeing
  • Early years workers have an important role to
    play in helping to deliver
  • these outcomes

16
Every child matters agenda
  • Supporting parents and carers.
  • Early intervention and effective protection.
  • Accountability and integration locally,
    regionally and
  • nationally.
  • Workforce reform.

17
A shared responsibility
  • Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of
    children depends on effective joint working
    between agencies and professionals that have
    different roles and expertise. Individual
    children, especially some of the most vulnerable
    children and those at greatest risk of social
    exclusion, will need co-ordinated help from
    health, education, childrens social care, and
    quite possibly the voluntary sector and other
    agencies.
  • (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2006)

18
A shared responsibility (2)
  • There needs to be constructive working
    relationships between individual workers,
    promoted and supported by a strong lead from
    elected or appointed authority members and the
    commitment of chief officers in all agencies
    effective local co-ordination by the Local
    Safeguarding Children Board

19
Staying safe consultation
  • Keeping children and young people safe is a top
    priority. It is the responsibility of us all
    Childhood has changed(it) is a time for learning
    and exploring Government has a role to play in
    supporting parents to strike the right balance
    between protecting their children whilst allowing
    them to learn and explore safely We want to
    raise awareness of how we can all help children
    to stay safe.
  • (Ed Balls MP, Foreword, Staying Safe)

20
Roles, Responsibilities, and Principles
  • The following groups are identified
  • Children , young people, parents and families
  • The general public
  • Childrens social care
  • Police Services
  • NHS organisations and staff
  • Other services
  • LSCBs and childrens trusts
  • Inspectorates
  • Government

21
Comprehensive Spending Review
  • Government commitment to improving safety of
    children
  • PSA on Improving Children and Young Peoples
    Safety
  • Sets 4 indicators for measuring progress
  • Key role for LSCBs in ensuring delivery
  • Everyone working with children should promote
    childrens resilience to harm, be alert to risks
    and indicators of harm and know when and with
    whom to share information

22
  • Role of early years workers

23
The vital contribution of early years workers
  • A range of workers have contact with children
    including
  • Child minders
  • Play groups
  • Nurseries
  • Toy libraries
  • Out of school provision
  • Sure Start Childrens Centres
  • and more!

24
A good position to respond
  • More approachable and less stigmatising than
    many
  • other professionals.
  • Longer periods of contact with children and
    families, enabling them to build relationships.
  • A broader, preventive remit.
  • Knowledge of large numbers of children and
    therefore an understanding of child development.

25
Doing a good job
  • The vast majority of child care settings keep
    children safe and protect them from harm. Almost
    all (97) inspected are satisfactory or better in
    delivering this outcome for children.
  • (Safe and Sound, OFSTED, 2006)

26
Staying safe effectiveness
  • 05/06 06/07
  • Outstanding 4 5
  • Good 55 51
  • Satisfactory 38 42
  • Inadequate 3 2
  • (Percentage of providers inspected)

27
Staying safe inadequate care
  • No staff were trained in protecting children or
    in following the local safeguarding procedures
    adults knowledge of possible signs of abuse was
    poor adults were not helping children to learn
    how to protect themselves from harm or adults
    did not recognise that their methods of managing
    childrens behaviour could raise child protection
    concerns.

28
  • Barriers to multi agency working

29
Barriers to multi-agency/multi-disciplinary
working
  • Different professional/discipline traditions and
    cultures.
  • Lack of shared perspectives/understanding.
  • Organisational structures and working practises.
  • Professional status.
  • Different professional priorities.
  • Confidentiality.
  • Relationships between professional and service
    user.
  • The same pressures as those on the wider public
  • childrens rights ignored denial of abuse
    reluctance to
  • intervene.

30
Exhortation is not enough
  • We need to win the hearts and minds of
    professionals in
  • different agencies.
  • Training multi-disciplinary training where
    appropriate.
  • Supervision and support.
  • Pay and workforce reform.

31
EduCare - what pre-school staff said Reviewed
pre-school child protection policy and altered
volunteer induction form to include a signed
statement that they have read, understood and
agree to abide by the policyWe are looking
into child protection policy on allegations
against staff as a separate policy
32
Feedback from child minders
  • 97.4 felt that EduCare had helped them
    understand child abuse
  • 97.6 felt it helped them identify their role in
    protecting children
  • 97.4 felt more confident in recognition
  • 97.6 felt more confident to take action
  • 23 said they had changed their practice

33
What child minders said
  • I have written a more clear code of conduct and
    given a copy to all my parents and carers.
  • I record all details of any concerns as a
    precaution.
  • An excellent introduction to the recognition
    and procedures involved in child abuse
    allegations.

34
Uptake of Training and Support Needs Survey
  • 19,422 people completed the survey

35
Child Protection Concerns
  • 88.4 of people who completed the survey come
    into direct daily contact with children
  • 50 of these had had concerns about the safety of
    a child, or suspected that a child was
    experiencing abuse during the course of their
    work
  • The average number of children that each
    respondent had had a concern about was 5

36
Taking Action
  • The majority of people had taken action last
    time they had a concern about a child. The three
    most likely forms of action were
  • Raised concerns with a colleague within the
    organisation who has responsibility for child
    protection (21)
  • Referred concerns to social services (21)
  • Discussed the concern with colleagues to get
    their advice (20)

37
Barriers to Action
  • The main barriers or difficulties that people
    reported experiencing in deciding what to do
    about their concerns was the following
  • Being unsure as to whether abuse was taking place
    (28)
  • Being worried that if they did something it would
    have a negative impact on their relationship with
    the childs parents/carers (13.18)
  • Thinking that it might make the situation worse
    for the child if they did something (7)

38
Child Protection Policies and Procedures
  • The majority of professionals know that their
    organisation has a child protection policy
  • 40 of these however are only broadly familiar
    with it or not familiar at all

39
Training
  • The issues which respondents would most like
    to receive updates on were as follows
  • Understanding the roles and responsibilities of
    other agencies/working together
  • Understanding the legal and policy framework for
    safeguarding
  • Communicating with children and young people
    where there are child protection concerns
  • Domestic violence and child protection
  • Assessing risk where there is a child protection
    concern
  • Working with families where there is a child
    protection concern

40
Child Protection Concerns
  • Early Years Workers were the least likely to have
  • had concerns about a child (22)

41
  • NSPCC position

42
NSPCC activities
  • Operates 180 teams and projects whose activities
  • include
  • - Investigations into allegations of complex
    child abuse.
  • - Counselling and therapy.
  • - Supporting families in successful
    parenting.
  • - Working within schools.
  • - Providing a voice for children and young
    people.
  • Provides an independent voice campaigning on
    behalf
  • of children.

43
NSPCC activities CONTINUED
  • Works with other organisations in effective
    co-operation.
  • Operates the 24-hour freephone Child Protection
  • Helplines.
  • ChildLine
  • Provides support to children at a distance
    through
  • There4me.com.
  • Gives training, consultancy, and advice on child
    protection to local authorities and other
    organisations.
  • Carries out research.
  • Publishes books, leaflets and newsletters.

44
NSPCC commitment to multi-agency working
  • Working in partnership with other agencies is
    crucial to
  • ending child cruelty.
  • No one organisation can do it alone.

45
  • Areas for co-operation

46
Equal protection from assault
  • Reform the law on physical punishment
  • Education on alternatives, including positive
    parenting
  • Early years providers to campaign for a change

47
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48
Anti Bullying Week 2007
  • Safer together, safer wherever.
  • Focus on bullying in the community.
  • The importance of starting early.

49
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50
  • A copy of this presentation can be found on our
    website at
  • www.nspcc.org.uk/inform

51
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