The Education Secetary, Michael Gove, has informed the Commons Education Committe of his plans to focus on child protection services and delegate his school reform agenda to others. Gove outlined his plan to modernise social work by developing greater flexibility and more emotional intelligence amongst workers; to result in swifter interventions to protect children and a more streamlined adoption process.
Further information on this story can be found at www.publicservice.co.uk
A report, The State of Child Neglect in the UK, recently published by Action for Children claims that 9 out of 10 teachers, police officers and social workers are regularly coming into contact with children they suspect are suffering from neglect yet as many as 40% feel powerless to intervene.
The report reveals that members of the public wanting support to report concerns has almost doubled in the past 3 years – with studies suggesting up to 1.5m UK children face daily neglect.
Other key findings include:
To find out more about neglect; how to spot it and what action to take if you have concerns click here for child protection training information.
An improvement notice imposed on Salford council in 2010 has been lifted following a recent Ofsted inspection. Inspectors found that good improvement had been made in the child protection department. Improvements identified included better support being given to children and families, improved social worker retention and better communication with the police about missing children.
The latest Ofsted inspection, which took place in November 2012, was unannounced and rated the Salford’s children services department as ‘adequate’.
For further details see Manchester Evening News
An Ofsted report, based on inspections of ten authorities, found that the local services to support missing children are frequently lacking. Ofsted describe a “weak understanding” of the reasons why children run away and what could be done to prevent it.
Quoted in CYPnow Ellen Broome, from The Children’s Society encourages local authorities to sign up to the Runaway Charter as part of the Make Runaways Safe campaign:
“A number of local authorities have taken that opportunity. We are calling on all the remaining councils to sign-up, so we can improve the protection that we offer to vulnerable young children across the country.”
To learn more about safeguarding children and how to identify the signs of bullying, domestic, emotional and neglect issues, which may lead children to run away, see details of our child protection training courses.
Child protection services in Northern Ireland are said to be stretched due to the number of children on the protection lists increasing by 18% in the last six years.
However the increase in the size of the protection list is being seen as a good thing; a greater number of vulnerable children are being identified and referred for assistance.
The first review of abuse cases on child death and serious injury in Northern Ireland has been undertaken by Dr Devaney from Queen’s University. For further information read more at The Belfast Telegraph
A new service has been set up in Jersey to coordinate child protection on the island. The formation of this service is a result of Williamson Report, published in 2008. The report recommended an independent service, adequately resourced, to look after the Jersey children who are on the Child Protection Register.
The new Independent Safeguarding and Standards service aims to co-ordinate the various agencies involved in child protection and achieve “better outcomes for each child”.
For further information see BBC News.
Cafcass has today announced that it received a total of 7,278 care applications between April and November 2012. This was an 8.3% rise on the comparative period last year. There were 947 care applications in November 2012 alone.
The Health and Social Services Department of Hackney Council have been condemned by a coroner for “serious and cumulative” failures in a case which led to the deaths of two children in January 2007.
The children were the subject of a child protection case and were being raised by their father although they had regular but supervised contact with their mother. However, citing a lack of communication and organisation as well as a catalogue of failures on the part of several individuals in mental health and social services, the coroner reported that the mother was allowed three unsupervised overnight visits. On the third visit, the mother, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, killed both children in the belief that her own children had been stillborn and replaced.
The coroner added “If the risks to the children had been properly recognised and managed, it is probable that the mother would not have had unsupervised overnight contact with the children on the night of 26 January 2007″.
In a Serious Case Review, one failing which was noted was a decision to close the case on the basis that there were no immediate child protection concerns.
The coroner also noted that social service within Hackney Council had been transformed since 2007.
The Government’s Working Together to Safeguard Children 2012 document states the definition of children, as in the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 respectively, as “a child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently or is in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital or in custody in the secure estate for children and young people, does not change his or her status or entitlement to services or protection under the Children Act 1989″.
The document is a guidance of what is expected of organisations, individually and jointly, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and will update the 2010 version of the document of the same name.
Parents might well believe that if a teacher suspects that a student is being abused by a member of staff, the allegation must be reported to the local authority or police for independent investigation but this isn’t actually the case. Safeguarding Children And Safer Recruitment In Education is the government’s current guidance document which suggests that any child protection concerns should be passed on to the local authority’s designated officer. The reporting procedures state that following any allegation any concerns “need to be applied with common sense and judgment”. This wording is obviously intended to prevent the relevant authorities being inundated with complaints.
The Government is due to produce a revised guidance, called Working Together To Safeguard Children, soon and this new guidance is expected to place even more trust in the people who work with children to use their own judgment as to whether an official complaint should be put forward. There will be no mandatory requirement for concerns to be passed on to higher authorities for investigation.
Campaigners say the lack of clarity surrounding reporting not only fails children, but also fails staff, who are left without any obvious course of action should they report suspicions to a headteacher who does not then take action. In this situation, their only current recourse is to become a whistleblower. But, by placing a mandatory requirement to report concerns, the relevant authorities would definitely become quickly overloaded.
