4. What to do if you have concerns about a child

Responsibility for deciding whether to conduct a child protection investigation lies with Children's Services (the legal duty to undertake these is detailed in section 47 of the Children Act 1989, and these investigations are therefore often referred to as 'Section 47' enquiries or investigations).

The criteria or threshold for conducting a child protection investigation is that there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership  (NSCP) has agreed detailed procedures and guidance that must be followed by all practitioners in Norfolk when the criteria are met.

Remember: If you do not receive feedback regarding your referral you have a responsibility to follow this up with The Children's Advice and Duty Service.

If a decision is made that there will be no further action, the early years and childcare setting will continue to care for the child and monitor and record any further concerns about the child's progress or wellbeing, ensuring that individual needs are met. A further referral must be made if there are further concerns identified.

If a decision is made by Children's Services to investigate further, the setting may be asked to contribute to this process. If you are not asked, but feel you may have a contribution to make, you should talk to the person to whom you made the original referral.

A referral will be allocated to a Family Help Team which is a multi-disciplinary team with a range of different professionals who will decide on the best form of support for the family.

The key events and arrangements you are most likely to be involved in are as follows - you should give priority to contributing to them:

Strategy discussions - Children's Services must hold a Strategy Discussion whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer Significant Harm. This may be following a Referral and Assessment or at any time during an Assessment or where a child is receiving support services, if concerns about Significant Harm to the child emerge.

These are formal discussions used to plan an investigation and evaluate the findings. Professionals who refer concerns should be included in these discussions. They may be meetings or a series of telephone conversations, or both.

The full procedure can be found here: Strategy Discussions Policy | NSCP

Core assessment - This is a comprehensive and detailed assessment of a child's situation, but it will focus on risks of significant harm in the context of a child protection investigation. A wide range of practitioners are normally involved in providing information, and the social worker is responsible for ensuring it is completed appropriately. If an EHCP assessment has been done it will build on the core assessment and develop it further

Child Protection Conferences - Children's Services will convene a child protection conference once a child protection enquiry under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 has been undertaken and the child is judged to be at continuing risk of significant harm. A review conference will take place once a child has been made the subject of a Child Protection Plan in order to monitor the safety of the child and the required reduction in risk.

Practitioners may be asked to attend a child protection conference or core group meetings on behalf of the setting in respect of individual children.  Usually, the person representing the setting at these meetings will be the SLP.  In any event, the person attending will need to have as much relevant up to date information about the child as possible; any member of staff may be required to contribute to this process.  

All reports for child protection conferences will be prepared in advance using the guidance and template report provided by the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership. When completing a chronology, we will refer to the Multi Agency Chronologies-Practice Guidance Document 2024 and the completed chronology examples, all of which can be accessed at Norfolk Guidance to Understanding Continuum of Needs | NSCP | PWWC (norfolklscp.org.uk) under the 'Genogram & Chronologies Resources and Guidance' tab. The information contained in the report will be shared with parents before the conference as appropriate and will include information relating to the child's physical, emotional, and intellectual development and the child's presentation at school. In order to complete such reports, all relevant information will be sought from staff working with the child in the setting.

Clearly child protection conferences can be upsetting for parents.  We recognise that we are likely to have more contact with parents than other professionals involved. We will work in an open and honest way with any parent whose child has been referred to Children's Services or whose child is subject to a child protection plan.  Our responsibility is to promote the protection and welfare of all children and our aim is to achieve this in partnership with our parents.

• The Child Protection Conference has to be convened within 15 working days of the strategy discussion being held. The first meeting is called an Initial Child Protection Conference and any subsequent meetings are called Review Child Protection Conferences.
• Relevant parties share information, identify concerns and strengths and identify what needs to be done to protect the children / young people.
• If a Child Protection Plan is agreed family and workers will produce an outline plan which the Core Group will develop and implement.
• Child Protection conferences in Norfolk use the Signs of Safety model.
• Conferences are chaired by an independent chair.

Initial child protection conference - It is important that the SLP prepares in advance and gives priority to attending. They should provide a written report to make their views clear if requested to do so. The setting's views and information may also have been included by the social worker in their report. Written reports will always be shared with all attendees - including parents and, as appropriate, the child. If there are concerns about sharing information with parents, the SLP should contact the chair of the conference in advance and discuss this with them. They will give advice and help the SLP to say what they want to say safely and effectively. Reports need to be available to attendees at least 24 hours before the conference.

At least two days prior to the conference the SLP should contact the conference administrator and arrange for sufficient copies of the report to be available at the conference.

Child in Need plan - Children who are defined as being 'in need' under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 are those whose vulnerability is such that they are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired without the provision of services. The referral process is clear; however the child will be referred to a Child in Need team, made up of a number of different professionals with different skills and expertise. Cooperation and participation by the child or young person and parents is voluntary, and cannot be enforced by any statutory agency.

Child Protection plan - All child protection conferences must decide whether a child needs to be subject of a protection plan. The key issue is whether it is essential to have a formal plan in place to address an ongoing risk of significant harm caused by abuse or neglect. The SLP or colleagues in the setting may have a contribution to make to the plan. The SLP should be clear about what is expected, and what the required outcomes are in terms of reducing the risk of significant harm. The SLP should report back on progress (or lack of it) for each child protection conference review.

Good Practice Guidance for Child Protection Record Keeping - 11-record-keeping-guidance_v2.docx (live.com)

For further information and guidance - Information for early help professionals in Norfolk - Norfolk County Council

Core group - This is a group of practitioners that ensures the agreed protection plan is put into place and manages and evaluates it between child protection conferences. Membership of a core group is normally decided at a child protection conference. If the SLP is a core group member they should give priority to attendance. Each member of the Core Group has a responsibility to produce an individual agency report on the child and the family for the Child Protection Review Conference.

A consultation feedback letter will be provided as a record of all conversations and provide a clear audit trail of the outcome agreed.

• If the SLP believes that the response they have received following a consultation is inadequate, does not meet the needs of the child/family or leaves a child at risk of harm they may still make a referral in the usual way
• If following a consultation more information comes to light or the situation changes, the SLP can seek further clarity by consulting again
• A written record of the conversation and advice given should be received within 10 working days of the consultation
• The SLP must keep a record of the consultation phone call and its outcome on the child's safeguarding file together with the written record received