Barbara Trevanion15th June 2006

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Safeguarding Children and Promoting their
Welfare is Everyones Business
Barbara Trevanion 15th June 2006 IDeA
Associate
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To begin at the beginning .

• 2000 Death of Victoria Climbie
• 2003 Laming Enquiry Report

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Findings

• Lack of accountability and commitment
• Failure to intervene at an early enough stage
• Poor coordination and information exchange
  between agencies
• Staff vacancies increasing pressure on frontline
  staff
• Confusion about roles and responsibilities
• Lack of effective training

4

• the greatest failure rests with the managers
  and senior members of the authorities whose task
  it was to ensure that services for children, like
  Victoria, were properly financed, staffed and
  able to deliver good quality support to children
  and families.
• Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report - 2003

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The Response (DfES early 2004)

• Clear, shared outcomes across services.
• An independent champion for children and young
  people.
• Robust new partnership arrangements.
• A tighter focus on local child protection
  arrangements.
• Clearer accountability for childrens services.
• A new integrated inspection framework.
• A legislative basis for better sharing of
  information, and other detailed measures to
  improve services.

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The Response (DfES early 2004)

• Every Child Matters Change for Children (2004)
• Wellbeing of children and young people at heart
  of of government policy (locally and nationally)
• Local authorities and partners working towards
  shared outcomes
• Clear overall accountability arrangements
• Key services are integrated where appropriate
  around needs of children and young people
• Key people and organisations working well
  individually and together through universal,
  targeted and specialist services to safeguard and
  promote welfare
• Effective support available at first sign of
  difficulties - shift to prevention

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The Response (DfES early 2004)

• Children Act 2004
• Duty to cooperate to improve the well-being of
  children in the authoritys area section 10
  (Childrens Trust arrangements)
• Duty to make arrangements to safeguard and
  promote the welfare of children section 11
• Duty to establish a Local Safeguarding Childrens
  Board (s13
• Duty to produce a Children and Young Peoples
  Plan (s17)
• Statutory Role and Responsibilities of the
  Director of Childrens Services (s18) and the
  Lead Member (s19)

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The 5 National Outcomes
enjoying and achieving
Being healthy
Staying safe
making a positive contribution
economic well being
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Outcomes for ALL children and young people

• Focus on All children of All ages
• Tailor universal services (eg community
  policing, housing,
• leisure) to meet needs
• Focus on needs of parents
• Focus on communities (link to social cohesion,
  regeneration,
• crime and disorder
• Involve children, young people, families and
  communities in service design
• Be integrated - information sharing, common
  assessment processes, lead professional.
• Be effective - best practice

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A large minority of children and young people
experience problems .
Less than 1 Permanent exclusions Imprisonment
Teenage pregnancy On child protection
register Looked after now 1 to 5 Are or
have been looked after Persistent
truant Persistent offending Have tried hard
drugs before 16
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A large minority of children and young people
experience problems .
5 to 10 No qualifications at 16 Tried
solvent abuse Not in education, training or
work (NEET) Offending (up to 3
offences) 10 to 30 Run away from home Have
mental health problems Committed offence in
last year Occasional truant NEET at some
point between 16/18
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Whats Changed?

• Specific statutory duties on organisations
• New partnership arrangements responsible for
  safeguarding and promoting welfare
• Children and Young Peoples Strategic
  Partnerships (CYPSPs)
• Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs)
  replacing Area Child Protection Committees
  (ACPCs)
• Safeguarding is focus area for Lead Member and
  DCS

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New duties for childrens services authorities

• Duty to appoint a Director of Childrens Services
  and
• designate a Lead Member for Childrens Services
• Promote cooperation between LA and partners to
  improve
• well-being of children
• Ensure LAs functions discharged with regard to
  need to
• safeguard and promote welfare
• Establish, maintain and operate a database of
  basic
• information
• Establish a Local Safeguarding Children Board
• Prepare and publish a Children and Young Peoples
  plan
• Coordinating JAR Action Plan and
  monitoring/evaluating
• progress

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Statutory duties on local authorities and partner
agencies (Children Act 2004)

• Section 10 duty to cooperate to improve well
  being
• Section 11 duty to safeguard and promote the
  welfare of children by ensuring that
  organisational functions are discharged with this
  in mind

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Interagency cooperation to improve the well-being
of children Childrens Trust arrangements (Childr
en Act s10)

• Improving the well-being of all children, young
  people and their families must be the starting
  point for developing childrens trusts and
  evaluating their effectiveness. All Children
  includes the most disadvantaged and improving
  their well-being means narrowing the gap between
  disadvantaged children and their peers
• (DfES Guidance on Inter-Agency Cooperation to
  Improve the Well-Being of Children)

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what may be a relevant thinking framework

• The DfES presentation of an integrated system is
  a helpful one
• 5 areas of focus
• - outcomes for children, families and
  communities
• - the frontline
• - integrated processes
• - integrated strategy
• - inter- agency governance
• All driven by policy and legislation

Legislation
Policy
DfES October 2004
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key local questions - governance
Partnerships
Vision and Leadership
Performance and Regulation
Robust arrangements for inter-agency cooperation
will set the framework of accountability for the
improvement and delivery of effective
services (DfES guidance 2004)
18
key local questions - strategy
Local Needs Analysis
Commissioning
Resources
Joint assessment of local needs set against
outcomes integrated planning to prioritise
areas of action and joint commissioning services
from a range of providers, appropriately
supported by shared resources and pooled
budgets (DfES guidance 2004)
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key local questions - processes
Mgt/Prof Practice
Referral and Assessment
Asset Management
Effective joint working sustained by common
language and shared processes (DfES guidance
2004)
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key local questions front line
Extended Schools / Childrens Centres
Primary Care Trusts and GPs
Youth Justice/ Connexions
Service delivery organised around the child,
young person or family rather than professional
boundaries or existing organisations (DfES
guidance 2004)
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key local questions - outcomes
Staying Safe
Being Healthy
Enjoying and Achieving
Making a positive Contribution
Economic Well-Being
A compelling out-come led vision for all
children, young people and their families. This
must be informed by the views of local children,
young people and their families (DfES guidance
2004)
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Safeguarding is EVERYONES business -
organisations, communities, individuals
Family support
Voluntary organisations
schools
Safeguarding is Everyones Business
GP surgeries
Children centres
Early years settings
Health clinics
CYPSP
Hospitals
PCTs
School governing bodies
Swimming pools
LSCB child protection plus
Housing
Licensing authorities
Sports and leisure
communities
coroners
Youth services and Connexions
adults
Faith communities
Play parks
County council
Dentists

Community Police
District councils
Fire services
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Definitions

• Safeguarding and Promoting welfare
• Protecting children from maltreatment
• Preventing impairment of childrens health or
  development and
• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances
  consistent with the provision of safe and
  effective care
• Child protection
• Activity undertaken to protect specific children
  who are suffering or at risk of suffering
  significant harm

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Key people and bodies covered by s11 are

• Local authorities including District Councils
• Police
• Probation
• NHS bodies - Hospitals, PCTs etc.
• Organisations providing Connexions services
• Youth Offending Teams
• Governors of Prisons/Youth Offending
  Institutions/Secure Training Centres
• British Transport Police

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Responsibilities of all local authorities and
partner agencies under s11

• Duty to ensure that their functions are
  discharged with regard to the need to safeguard
  children and promote their welfare and
• That services they contract out to others are
  provided having regard to that need.

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Key features of effective arrangements to
safeguard children and promote their welfare
(under s11 of the Children Act)

• Commitment by senior management
• Clear statement of agency responsibilities
• Clear line of accountability
• Service development takes into account the need
  to safeguard and promote welfare
• Safe recruitment practices in place
• Procedures for dealing with allegations against
  staff in place
• Arrangements to work effectively with other
  organisations
• Appropriate training
• Policies and procedures
• Information sharing arrangements

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Local Authorities that are childrens services
authorities (CSAs) already have

• Existing general duty to safeguard and promote
  the welfare of children in need in their area
  including a duty to make enquiries if reason to
  suspect child is suffering, or likely to suffer,
  significant harm (carried out through social care
  services)

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Local Authorities that are childrens services
authorities already have .

• Existing responsibility to the socially excluded
  (eg those excluded from school, children at risk
  of harm, disabled children, unaccompanied asylum
  children or refugee children, children whose
  parents have mental health problems, are subject
  to domestic violence, abuse drugs and/or alcohol)

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New duties for childrens services authorities

• Duty to appoint a Director of Childrens Services
  and designate a Lead Member for Childrens
  Services
• Promote cooperation between LA and partners to
  improve well-being of children
• Ensure LAs functions discharged with regard to
  need to safeguard and promote welfare
• Establish, maintain and operate a database of
  basic information
• Establish a Local Safeguarding Children Board
• Prepare and publish a Children and Young Peoples
  plan
• Coordinating JAR Action Plan and
  monitoring/evaluating progress

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Responsibilities of Lead Member 1

• Politically accountable for childrens services
  on behalf of the executive
• Expectation that will be the member working most
  closely with DCS and CX on childrens services
• Provision for delegation
• Specific focus on safeguarding

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Responsibilities of Lead Member 2

• Leadership within council and across partnerships
• Develop strategic direction of childrens
  services
• Build shared vision with partners
• Ensuring monitoring, performance management and
  financial systems support effective targeting or
  resources to achieve outcomes
• Hold chief officers to account
• Contribution of young people

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Responsibilities of Lead Memberin partnerships

• Ensure governing bodies of partner agencies
  understand their responsibilities to improve
  outcomes and that information to demonstrate this
  is happening is made available
• Hold DCS to account for work of LSCB in
  coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of
  what is done by Board partners to safeguard and
  promote the welfare of children

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Responsibilities of Director of Childrens
Services 1

• Key Roles
• Professional responsibility and accountability
  for childrens services
• Leadership within the LA - and beyond it - to
  secure and sustain the necessary changes to
  improve outcomes for all children organised
  around their needs
• Building and sustaining effective partnerships to
  focus resources on improving outcomes for
  children with specific focus on safeguarding and
  promoting their welfare

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Responsibilities of Director of Childrens
Services (DCS)

• Responsibilities in 4 areasEducation
  servicesChildrens Social servicesChildrens
  Health servicesInter-agency cooperation

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Responsibilities of Director of Childrens
Services (DCS)

• s10 duty to promote cooperation
• s11 duty to ensure authoritys functions are
  discharged with regards to safeguarding and
  promoting welfare of children
• s12 duty to establish a database of basic
  information of children within are
• s13 duty to establish a Local safeguarding
  Children Board
• s17 duty to publish Children and Young peoples
  plan
• s20(9) coordinate actions arising from JAR and
  monitor progress

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Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB)

• The LSCB is the key mechanism for agreeing how
  the relevant organisations in each local area
  will cooperate to safeguard and promote the
  welfare of children in that locality, and for
  ensuring the effectiveness of what they do.

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Local Safeguarding Children Board Objectives

• To coordinate work to safeguard and promote the
  welfare of children
• To ensure the effectiveness of that work

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LSCB coordination functions

• Developing policies and procedures
• Participating in planning of services
• Communicating need to safeguard and promote
  welfare
• Unexpected child deaths

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LSCB ensuring effectiveness functions

• Monitoring effectiveness of what is done to
  safeguard and promote the welfare of children
• Undertaking serious case reviews
• Collecting and analysing information on all child
  deaths
• LSCBs will evaluate effectiveness and advise on
  ways to improve

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• SignpostsPartnership between IDeA and NSPCC
• Self assessment tool for elected members and
  non-executives in the childrens sector
• Aims to enable members and non-execs to address
  their new and continuing responsibilities to
  safeguard children
• Comes with a Jargon Busting Glossary

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• SignpostsPartnership between IDeA and NSPCC
• the greatest failure rests with the managers
  and senior members of the authorities whose task
  it was to ensure that services for children, like
  Victoria, were properly financed, staffed, and
  able to deliver good quality support to children
  and families
• Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report Lord Laming,
  January 2003

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• What does Signposts do?
• Designed to support Lead Members for Childrens
  Services and partners across agencies with the
  key safeguarding duties that arise from the
  Children Act 1989, 2004 and the Education Act
  2002.
• Supports safeguarding as a council-led
  responsibility, not just confined to social care.
• Provides an overview of key safeguarding
  activities in respect of statutory compliance,
  and priorities for improvement.
• Commissioned by strategic childrens services
  partners and the Local Safeguarding Board

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• What does Signposts do?
• Adds value through the production of a gateway
  review of local safeguards.
• Strengthens governance arrangements for
  childrens services by
• i. Supporting the Lead Member for Childrens
  Services with their responsibility for safe
  services, and
• ii. Stimulating partnership responsibilities for
  safeguarding and seeking the explicit engagement
  of sector-wide practitioners
• Encourages real engagement with children and
  young people in the locality.
• Provides an explicit benchmark for the further
  development of local safeguarding practice for
  all communities and hard to reach groups.
• Puts safeguarding at the centre of local change
  for children programmes.