9. Implementation of child protection plans

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9.1

Introduction

9.2

Core group

9.2.1

Responsibilities

9.2.2

Membership

9.2.4

Timing

9.3

Formulation of child protection plan

9.3.1

Completion of the core assessment

9.3.2

Purpose of a child protection plan

9.3.6

Detailed child protection plan - development

9.3.7

Interventions and services

9.3.14

Decision-making considerations

9.3.16

Detailed child protection plan - written agreement

9.3.20

Agreeing the plan with the child

9.3.21

Negotiating the plan with the parents

9.3.25

Negotiating the plan with agencies

9.3.30

Seeing the child

9.4

The lead social worker role

9.4.6

Seeing the child

9.4.8

Difficulties maintaining contact with the child

9.4.10

Routine written records

9.4.11

Responsibility for convening conferences

9.4.15

Absence of the lead social worker

9.4.17

LA children's social care - first line manager role

9.5

Difficulties in implementing the child protection plan

9.6

Interventions and services

9.1.1

When a conference decides that a child should be the subject of a child protection plan, a qualified and experienced LA children's social worker must be appointed as the lead social worker to co-ordinate all aspects of the inter-agency child protection plan.

9.1.2

The forum to undertake this co-ordinated multi-agency work is the core group, whose membership will have been identified at the child protection conference.

Responsibilities

9.2.1

The core group is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the detailed child protection plan, previously outlined at the conference. All members of the core group are jointly responsible for:

• Collecting information to assist the lead social worker in completing the core assessment;
• Participating in the compilation of the core assessment;
• The formulation and implementation of the detailed child protection plan, refining it as necessary;
• Carrying out their part of the plan;
• Monitoring progress against specified outcomes of the detailed child protection plan;
• Making recommendations to subsequent review conferences about future protection plans and needs;
• Attending core group meetings and ensuring there is no drift in planning and intervention.

9.2.2

Agencies should ensure that members of the core group undertake their roles and responsibilities effectively in accordance with the agreed child protection plan.

Membership

9.2.2

Membership of the core group will have been identified at the child protection conference and must include:

• The lead social worker, who leads / chairs the core group;
• The child if appropriate (see section 8.5 Involving children and/or families);
• Parents and relevant family members;
• Professionals involved with the child and / or parent;
• Foster carers or residential care staff who will have direct contact with the family.

9.2.3

Core groups are an important forum for working with parents, wider family members, and children of sufficient age and understanding. Where there are conflicts of interest between family members in the work of the core group, the child's best interests should always take precedence.

Timing

9.2.4

The date of the first core group meeting must be within ten working days of the initial child protection conference. After that the core group should meet within six weeks of the first meeting and at a minimum frequency of once every two months following the first review conference. More regular meetings may be required according to the needs of the child.

9.2.5

The first core group meeting date must be arranged at the end of the conference, along with the required frequency of subsequent meetings.

9.2.6

Dates for future meetings must be agreed at the first core group meeting following each conference. Where a meeting needs to be rescheduled, this must be confirmed in writing to all concerned by the lead social worker.

Completion of core assessment

9.3.1

Completion of the core assessment, within 35 working days, should include an analysis of the risk of harm to the child; and the child's developmental needs and the parents' capacity to respond to those needs, including parents' capacity to ensure that the child is safe from harm. Decisions based on this analysis should be used to develop the child protection plan.

Purpose of child protection plan

9.3.2

The purpose of a child protection plan is to facilitate and make explicit a co-ordinated approach to:

• Ensure that each child in the household is safe and prevent them from suffering further harm;
• Promote the child's health and development (i.e. welfare);
• Provided it is in the best interests of the child, to support the family and wider family members to safeguard and promote the welfare of their child.

9.3.3

It must be clarified for parents:

• What the causes for concern are that have resulted in the decision that a child needs a child protection plan;
• What needs to change;
• What is expected of them as part of the plan for safeguarding the child.

9.3.4

Review of progress on achieving the outcomes set out in the child protection plan and consideration as to whether changes need to be made should be an agenda item at each review conference.

9.3.5

The child protection plan may be used as evidence, in any legal proceedings, of the efforts that have been made to work in partnership (this must be made clear to parents).

Detailed child protection plan - development

9.3.6

The core group is responsible for drawing up in more detail the child protection plan for each child. The plans must be consistent with the information set out in the Child Protection Plan record (Department of Health, 2002). Each plan should:

• Describe the identified developmental needs of the child and what therapeutic services are required to meet these needs;
• Identification of what needs to change to reduce the risk of significant harm to the child;
• Include specific, achievable, child-focused outcomes intended to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child;
• Ethnic / cultural / religious considerations (e.g. necessity for an interpreter, avoidance of appointments with family on significant religious festivals, likelihood that child might be taken out of the country[0]);
• Issues arising from any disability;
• Identification of parenting strengths;
• Identification of what further core and specialist assessment is necessary to assist in judgements about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child;
• Include realistic strategies and specific actions to bring about the changes necessary to achieve the planned outcomes;
• Set out when and in what situations the child will be seen by the lead social worker, both alone and with other family members or caregivers present;
• Clearly identify and set out roles and responsibilities of family members and professionals including those with routine contact with the child (for example, health visitors, GPs and teachers) and the nature and frequency of contact by these professionals with the child and family members;
• Include a contingency plan to be followed if circumstances change significantly and require prompt action (including initiating family court proceedings to safeguard and promote the child's welfare); and
• Lay down points at which progress will be reviewed and the means by which progress will be judged.

Interventions and services

9.3.7

Decisions about how to intervene, including what services to offer, should be based on evidence about what is likely to work best to bring about good outcomes for the child [For further information from research findings on effective interventions see www.dcsf.gov.uk/nsdu/research.shtml]. A number of aspects of intervention should be considered in the context of the child protection plan, in the light of evidence from the assessment of the child's developmental needs, the parents' capacity to respond appropriately to the child's needs and the wider family and environmental circumstances. Particular attention should be given to family history (for example, of domestic and other forms of violence, childhood abuse, mental illness, substance misuse and/or learning disability) and present and past family functioning.

9.3.8

The following questions need to be considered:

• What are the options for interventions which might help support strengths and/or help meet the child's identified unmet needs as well as addressing the known vulnerabilities and risk factors?
• What resources are available?
• With which agency or professional and with which approach is the family most likely to co-operate?
• Which intervention is most likely to produce the most immediate benefit and which might take time?
• What should be the sequence of interventions and why?
• Given the severity of any ill-treatment suffered or impairment to the child's health or development, the child's current needs and the capacity of the family to co-operate, what is the likelihood of achieving sufficient change within the child's time frame?

9.3.9

The interventions and the services provided should be offered on the basis that they give the child and family the best chance of achieving the required changes.

9.3.10

If a child cannot be cared for safely by his or her parents she or he should be placed elsewhere whilst the interventions offered through the child protection plan are undertaken with the child and family.

9.3.11

The interventions in the child protection plan should specifically address:

For the child

• The developmental needs of the child;
• The child's understanding of what has happened to him or her;
• Consideration of the child's views;
• Issues arising from any disability
• Ethnic, cultural, religious considerations

For the parents

• The abuser's relationship with the child and capacity to change and respond to the child's needs;
• The relationship between the adult caregivers both as adults and parents (including their strengths);
• Consideration of the parents' views;

For the family & circumstances

• Family relationships;
• The family's social and environmental circumstances, and the flexibility for change within these;
• Considerations of the family's ethnicity, culture or religion.

9.3.12

Intervention may have a number of inter-related components:

• Immediate action/services to make the child safe from harm and prevent recurrence from harm;
• Longer term actions/services to make the child safe from harm and prevent recurrence from harm;
• Further core and specialist assessments necessary to assist in judgements about safeguarding the child and promoting his or her welfare;
• Action/services to help promote a child's health and development, i.e. welfare (including therapeutic intervention);
• Action/services to help a parents(s) in safeguarding a child and promoting his or her welfare;
• Support or therapy for the protective parent and other family members with a role in supporting the child;
• Support or therapy for a perpetrator of abuse or neglect to prevent future harm to the child and where necessary to other children;
• The frequency that the child will be seen (see section 9.3.30. Seeing the child);
• Identification of who (including family members) is responsible for what actions.

9.3.13

Family group conferencing could be considered as a means of progressing actions in some of these areas. For information about Family Group Conferences see: Family Group Conferences: Principles and Practice Guidance (2002, Barnardo's / Family Rights Group / Action for Children) at http://www.frg.org.uk.

Decision-making considerations

9.3.14

When drawing up the detailed child protection plan the core group should take the following considerations into account:

• The development of secure parent/caregiver-child attachments is critical to a child's healthy development.
• The child's developmental needs must be responded to in a timescale which is appropriate for the child
• If it is safe for the child's developmental needs should be  responded to within his or her family context (this may not be possible if the timescale is not compatible with those for the parent or other family members)
• The process of decision making and planning should be as open as possible, from an ethical as well as practical point of view.
• Where the family situation is not improving or changing fast enough to respond to the child's needs, decisions will be necessary about the long-term future of the child. In the longer term it may mean it will be in the best interests of the child to be placed in an alternative family context.
• Therapeutic work with the child should continue, irrespective of where the child is placed, as long as is required in order for their needs to be met.

9.3.15

More information to assist with making decisions about interventions is available in the Chapter 4 of the Assessment Framework and the accompanying practice guidance (Department of Health, 2000). Recent research evidence on effective interventions in safeguarding children has been published by DfE and DH.

Detailed child protection plan - written agreement

9.3.16

The lead social worker must make a record of the core group meetings and formulate the detailed child protection plan in the form of a written agreement for all parties to sign. Each Local Safeguarding Children Board should ensure that standard arrangements for the recording of the written agreement are in place.

9.3.17

The child protection plan / agreement should be based on the findings of the core assessment and follow the dimensions of the assessment framework.

9.3.18

The child protection plan / agreement should take into consideration the wishes and feelings of the child, and the views of the parents, insofar as they are consistent with the child's welfare. The lead social worker should make every effort to ensure that the child/ren and parents have a clear understanding of the planned outcomes, that they accept the plan and are willing to work to it.

9.3.19

The lead social worker should achieve this by, as far as possible, constructing the plan / agreement together with the child and the family. An interpreter should be used if the child or family's level of English means that they are not able to participate fully in these discussions unless they are conducted in their own language.

Agreeing the plan with the child

9.3.20

The completed child protection plan / agreement should be explained to the child in a manner which is in accordance with their age and understanding. The child should be given a copy of the plan written at a level appropriate to their age and understanding, and in their preferred language.

Negotiating the plan with parents

9.3.21

Staff should ensure that the parents understand:

• The evidence of risk of significant harm which resulted in the child becoming the subject of a child protection plan;
• What needs to change;
• What is expected of them as part of the plan for safeguarding and promoting the child's welfare.

9.3.22

The parents should receive a written copy of the plan so that they are clear about who is doing what when and the planned outcomes for the child.

9.3.23

If the parents' preferences have not been accepted in the plan / agreement about how best to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child, the reasons for this should be explained. Parents should be told about their right to complain and make representations, and how to do so.

9.3.24

If the parents are not willing to co-operate in the implementation of the plan the local authority should consider what action, including the initiation of family proceedings, it should take to safeguard the child's welfare.

Negotiating the plan with agencies

9.3.25

All parties should be clear about the respective roles and responsibilities of family members and different agencies in implementing the child protection plan / agreement.

9.3.26

Copies of the notes and the written agreement should be circulated to core group members within five working days of the core group meeting. The agreement, signed by the members of the core group, should be returned to the lead social worker within another five working days. Implementation of the child protection plan must begin immediately and not await formal signatures.

9.3.27

Any disagreements should have been discussed at the core group meeting, recorded with reasons and reflected appropriately in the written plan / agreement. It is permissible to rely on electronic signatures or emails confirming acceptance of an agency's responsibilities under the child protection plan, but all such signatures and emails must be collected in the child's LA children's social care record.

9.3.28

The child protection plan / agreement should also be on the adult service user's record if the parent is known to LA adult social care or health services.

9.3.29

All agencies are responsible for the implementation of the child protection plan and all professionals must ensure they are able to deliver their commitments or, if not possible, that these are re-negotiated.

Seeing the child

9.3.30

The core group must ensure the child/ren are seen at least every ten working days by the lead social worker or by another member of the core group unless a different frequency is stipulated by the child protection conference. The interaction must be clearly recorded, analysis of the risk of harm to the child should be made and all the information should be shared with the lead social worker and the core group.

9.4.1

It is important that the role of the lead social worker is fully explained at the initial child protection conference and at the core group.

9.4.2

At every initial or pre-birth conference, where a child protection plan is put into place, the conference chair must name a qualified social worker, identified by the LA children's social care manager, to fulfil the role of lead social worker for the child.

9.4.3

The lead social worker should complete the core assessment of the child and family, securing contributions from core group members and others as necessary. They should co-ordinate the contribution of family members and other agencies to plan the actions which need to be taken, put the child protection plan into effect, and review progress against the planned outcomes set out in the plan. It is important that the role of the lead social worker is fully explained at the initial child protection conference and at the core group.

9.4.4

The lead social worker should also regularly ascertain the child's wishes and feelings, and keep the child up to date with the child protection plan and any developments or changes.

9.4.5

The lead social worker should:

• Convene and chair / lead second and subsequent core group meetings (the first core group meeting having been chaired / led by their manager);
• Provide a written record of meetings for all core group members and the LA children's social care manager;
• Ensure that the outline child protection plan is developed, in conjunction with members of the core group, into a detailed multi-agency protection plan;
• Clearly note and include in the written record any areas of disagreement;
• Produce a written agreement from the protection plan to be signed by all members of the core group, copied to all signatories and maintained on the child's file;
• Obtain a full understanding of the family's history, which must involve reading previous LA children's social care files as well as current records in use in LA children's social care, including those relating to other children who have been part of any households involving the current carers of the child. Additional information should be obtained from relevant other agencies and local authorities;
• Complete the core assessment of the child and family, securing contributions / information from core group members and any other agencies with relevant information;
• Co-ordinate the contribution of family members and all agencies in putting the plan into action and reviewing the objectives stated in the plan.

Seeing the child

9.4.6

The lead social worker should:

• See the child at home and alone for part of each visit, at least every six weeks or at intervals specified by the child protection conference plan;
• Ensure that the child's bedroom is seen at least once between each conference;
• Ensure they see the child alone (with parents' agreement) or babies awake at least every six weeks or at the intervals specified by the child protection conference plan (if parents refuse, the LA children's social care manager must be informed). See section 10. Working with unco-operative families.

9.4.7

The frequency of contact with the child by the lead social worker or core group members detailed above is a minimum standard. In exceptional circumstances the core group may decide that the required contact level should be less frequent. Any such decision should be authorised by the LA children's social care manager / child protection adviser.

Difficulties maintaining contact with the child

9.4.8

If the lead social worker or any other involved professional has difficulty obtaining direct access to the child, the LA children's social care manager / child protection adviser should be informed, as well as other core group members. This must result in a plan of action agreed between core group members and the police.

9.4.9

In these circumstances, formal agreement must be reached that an appropriately qualified and experienced member of another core group agency carries out the direct contact, or that a review conference be called. Such a decision must be recorded and authorised by the LA children's social care manager, the police and the agency undertaking the direct contact.

Routine written records

9.4.10

The lead social worker must maintain a complete and up-to-date signed record on the child's current file, electronic or manual, to include:

• The time and date of every home visit, stating who was present, confirmation that the lead social worker spoke with the child (including if alone), or providing a clear reason why not;
• Any information gained or observations made during the visit relevant to the identified risk of harm to the child;
• Circumstances of all family members;
• Specific information about key subjects such as meals and sleeping arrangements (the lead social worker must observe the child's bedroom);
• Factual reports of the child's presentation and behaviour (describing what they did, said and how they looked, avoiding non-specific labels such as 'disturbed / acting out / unkempt, unhappy' etc.);
• Any new incidents or injuries, which must be subject to a full s47 enquiry;
• The date, time and content of any communication which relates to the child and family (distinguishing between fact and opinion).

Responsibility for convening conferences

9.4.11

The lead social worker is responsible, in liaison with the child protection chair and administrator, for convening the review child protection conference, the dates for which should have been set at the previous conference:

• No more than three months after the initial conference;
• No more than six months after a review conference.

9.4.12

Dates for conferences should usually only be changed in exceptional circumstances and with the agreement of the LA child protection adviser or LA first line manager. When dates are changed, they should be brought forward where possible and should not be held at timescales that exceed the above timescales. The lead social worker must ensure that the invitation list is updated for every conference so that the correct professionals are invited in good time. Updating the invitation list is not an administrative task.

9.4.13

Consideration should be given to bringing forward the date of a review conference in the following circumstances:

• Following a new and significant incident relating to concerns about child protection, usually involving a s47 enquiry;
• When there is a significant change in the circumstances of the child or family;
• When there are significant difficulties in carrying out the child protection plan.

9.4.14

The request to bring forward the date of a review conference should be made by a strategy meeting / discussion of a s47 enquiry or by the LA children's social worker, following consultation with the core group members and the conference Chair, and must be authorised by the LA children's social care manager.

Absence of the lead social worker

9.4.15

It is the joint responsibility of the lead social worker, and the LA children's social care manager, to ensure that clear cover arrangements are in place when the lead social worker is absent on annual leave, training etc.

9.4.16

Parents and children and other core group members must be informed of planned and unplanned absences of the lead social worker, who will be covering the role and what contacts will be made.

LA children's social care - first line manager role

9.4.17

The first line manager has a vital role in managing the progress of the case and supporting the lead social worker.

9.4.18

The manager should:

• Read and approve all assessments, reports to the conference, plans and decisions on the child's file, including the incident log;
• Chair the first core group and others where thought to be appropriate, such as in cases involving professional disagreement for instance;
• Discuss the progress of the protection plan and any concerns in supervision, including ensuring that there has been adequate direct contact with the child/ren;
• Record management decisions in supervision in the child's record to note agreed actions or decisions and approve the record;
• Agree conference reports and the child protection plan;
• Review the plan with the lead social worker when unexpected developments or crises occur and together make a decision whether to recommend that a review child protection conference date be brought forward;
• Attend all conferences wherever possible;
• Arrange cover for the lead social worker in case of sickness and ensure arrangements are in place when the lead social worker is on annual leave and training, including the checking, and any necessary action resulting from, post, e-mails and telephone contacts.

9.5.1

See also section 10. Working with unco-operative families.

9.5.2

Where any member of the core group is aware of difficulties implementing the protection plan due to changed or unforeseen circumstances, the lead social worker must be informed immediately and a core group meeting / discussion co-ordinated to agree a reconsidered child protection plan.

9.5.3

Circumstances about which the lead social worker should be informed include inability to gain access to a child who is subject to a child protection plan, for whatever reasons, on two consecutive home visits (the second visit being a second attempt to see the child in close succession of the first attempt). In any such circumstances, action must be agreed between the concerned agency, LA children's social care and the police.

9.5.4

If the difficulty in implementing the protection plan impacts on the safety of the child, managers and advisers (child protection manager for LA children's social care, police, designated / named doctor / nurse, teacher) must be consulted and consideration be given to the need for immediate legal action, emergency police action to gain access to a premises where appropriate, a s47 enquiry and/or to bring forward the date of the review child protection conference (see section 9.4.9)

9.5.5

If members are concerned that there are difficulties implementing the protection plan arising from disagreement amongst professional agencies or a core group member not carrying out agreed responsibilities this must be addressed by:

• First, discussion with core group members;
• Second, if required, involvement of respective managers / child protection advisers (e.g. child protection manager for LA children's social care, designated / named doctor / nurse, teacher or police DCI);
• If the situation remains unresolved (see section 18. LSCBs, quality assurance and conflict resolution).

9.5.6

In these situations it is likely to be helpful for a manager from the council's children's services or a specialist child protection officer to chair the core group meeting.

9.6.1

Decisions about how to intervene, including what services to offer, should be based on evidence about what is likely to work best to bring about good outcomes for the child. A number of aspects of intervention should be considered in the context of the child protection plan, in the light of evidence from assessment of the child's developmental needs, the parents' capacity to respond appropriately to the child's needs, and the wider family circumstances.

9.6.2

It is important that services are provided to give the child and family the best chance of achieving the required changes. If a child cannot be cared for safely by their parent/s, they will have to be placed elsewhere whilst work is being undertaken with the child and family. Irrespective of where the child is living, interventions should specifically address:

• The short and long-term developmental needs of the child;
• The child's understanding of what has happened to them;
• The abusing and non-abusing parent-child relationship and individual parent's capacity to respond to the child's needs;
• The parent/s relationship with other adults, including the other parent if there is one;
• If there are two parents, their ability to jointly parent the child;
• Other family relationships;
• Possible changes to the family's social and environmental circumstances.

9.6.3

Intervention may have a number of inter-related components:

• Action to make a child safe;
• Action to help promote a child's short and longer term health and development (i.e. his / her welfare);
• Action to help parent/s in safeguarding a child and promoting their welfare;
• Support and therapy for an abused child;
• Support or therapy for a perpetrator of abuse.

9.6.4

The development of secure parent-child attachments is critical to a child's healthy development. The quality and nature of the attachment will be a key issue to be considered in decision making, especially if decisions are being made about moving a child from one setting to another; re-uniting a child with their birth family; or considering a permanent placement away from the child's family.

9.6.5

If the plan is to assess whether the child can be reunited with the caregiver/s responsible for the maltreatment, very detailed work will be required to help the caregiver/s develop the necessary parenting skills.

9.6.6

A key issue in deciding on suitable interventions will be whether the child's developmental needs can be responded to within their family context, and within timescales that are appropriate for the child. These timescales may not be compatible with those for the caregiver/s who is / are in receipt of therapeutic help.

9.6.7

The process of decision making and planning should be as open as possible, from an ethical as well as practical point of view.

9.6.8

New information may change the assessment of risk of harm, either positively or negatively, and may require urgent decisions to protect the child. Similarly, where the family situation is not improving or changing fast enough to respond to the child's needs, decisions will be necessary about the long-term future of the child. In the longer term it may mean it will be in the best interests of the child to be placed in an alternative family context.

9.6.9

Key to these considerations is what is in the child's best interests, informed by the child's wishes and feelings.

9.6.10

Children who have suffered significant harm may continue to experience the consequences of this abuse irrespective of where they are living: whether remaining with or being reunited with their families or alternatively being placed in new families. This relates particularly to their behavioural and emotional development.

9.6.11

Therapeutic work with the child should continue, therefore, irrespective of where the child is placed, in order to ensure the needs of the child are responded to appropriately.

9.6.12

More information to assist with making decisions about interventions is available in the chapter 4 of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (Department of Health, 2000) and accompanying practice guidance.