Working Together to Safeguard Children March 2010

1. Working Together to Safeguard Children (March 2010) Nigel Parton University of Huddersfield n.parton:hud.ac.uk

2. 2 The contemporary �child protection system� was effectively inaugurated with the issue of DHSS Circular: Non-Accidental Injury to Children. LASSL (74) (13) It �strongly recommended� that local areas should establish: Area Review Committees (re-titled Area Child Protection Committees in 1988) which would be responsible for developing local procedures and training The introduction of a system of multi-disciplinary Case Conferences The establishment of local Registers

3. 3 The Circular was 7 pages long and had One Footnote which included 4 References, 3 of which were previous DHSS Circulars. The system was then refined on a number of occasions through the decade: DHSS Non-Accidental Injury to Children: Area Review Committees, LASSL (76) (2) DHSS Non-Accidental Injury to Children: The Police and Case Conferences, LASSL (1976) (26) DHSS Child Abuse: The Register System, LA/C396/23D (78) DHSS Child Abuse: Central Register Systems, LASSL (80) (4)

4. 4 DHSS (1988) Working Together: A Guide to Inter-Agency Co-operation for the Protection of Children from Abuse, HMSO Was published on the same day as the Cleveland Inquiry Report. It tried to provide a framework for inter-agency responses to child abuse which attempted to avoid �over-intervention� (which seemed evident in Cleveland ) and �under-intervention� (as in the child death inquiries into the cases of Jasmine Beckford ,1985; Tyra Henry, 1987; and Kimberley Carlile, 1987).

5. 5 Home Office, Department of Health, Department of Education and Science, and the Welsh Office (1991) Working Together Under the Children Act 1989: A Guide to Arrangements for Inter-agency Co-operation for the Protection of Children from Abuse, (HMSO)

6. 6 �The guidance is issued under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, which requires local authorities in their social services functions to act under the general guidance of the Secretary of State. As such, this document does not have the full force of statute, but should be complied with unless local circumstances indicate exceptional reasons which justify variation�. (HO et al. 1988, p.iii)

7. 7 The document was: 126 pages long (made up of 60 pages of Guidance and 9 Appendices of 66 pages) It had 39 References, 35 of which were HMSO or a Government Department There were No Footnotes Part 5 on �Working Together � Individual Cases� was 15 pages long For the first time in Part 8 (4 pages long) Case Reviews were introduced

8. 8 Department of Health, Home Office and Department for Education and Employment (1999) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (The Stationery Office). Followed �Child Protection: Messages from Research, the�Re-Focusing� Debate and Election of New Labour in 1997

9. 9 The document was: 119 pages long (made up of 102 pages of Guidance and 6 Appendices of 17 pages) There was a �Reading List� (Appendix 6) of 50 References, of which 31 were HMSO/Stationery Office or Government Departments; there were NO Internet links/web addresses There were 12 Footnotes

10. 10 The 1999 Working Together was published at the same time as: Department of Health, Department of Education and Employment and the Home Office (2000) Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (The Stationery Office) Also issued under section 7 of the LA SS Act 1970 and was �incorporated into Working Together to Safeguard Children�.

11. 11 The Assessment Framework was: 109 pages long, including 7 Appendices of 20 pages Had a �Bibliography� of 140 References of which 83 were HMSO/The Stationery Office or Government Departments; there were No Internet Links/Web Addresses The Assessment Framework was also supported by the publication of a range of other materials which included: practice guidance; assessment record forms; a family assessment pack of questionnaires and scales; a summary of studies which informed the development of the framework; and a training pack. The Assessment Framework is still in operation and forms the basis for the Integrated Children�s System (ICS)

12. 12 HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children Re-written to take account of: Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme Children Act 2004 which introduced a number of new statutory changes including the requirement to establish Local Children�s Safeguarding Boards and Child Death Review Processes

13. 13 The document was: 231 pages long including 155 pages of Statutory Guidance, 30 pages of Non-Statutory Practice guidance and 6 Appendices of 28 pages 78 �References and Internet Links�, including 69 Internet Links/Web Addresses, of which 60 were gov.uk With 43 Footnotes

14. 14 On 17 November 2008 the Secretary of State asked Lord Laming to prepare an urgent and independent report on; �the progress being made across the country to implement effective arrangements for safeguarding children� Lord Laming (12 March, 2009) The Protection of Children in England HM Government (6 May, 2009) The Protection of Children in England: Action Plan. The Government�s Response to Lord Laming

15. 15 The Government accepted all of Lord Laming�s 58 Recommendations, 17 of which were to be responded to by the revision of Working Together. In addition there were a further 6 changes that related to the statutory guidance to Chapter 8 on Serious Case Reviews, and the commitment of the government to appoint lay members to Local Safeguarding Children Boards

16. 16 The public consultation on the revised Working Together ran from 18 December 2009 � 11 February 2010, and was preceded by a separate consultation on the revision of Chapter 8 on Serious Case Reviews (31 July � 23 October 2009) with the new version of Chapter 8 being published on 18 December 2009 See: HM Government (March, 2010) Working Together to Safeguard Children: Government response to public consultation

17. 17 HM Government (2010) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; London: DCSF published on 17 March 2010 While it has the same title as both the 1999 and 2006 Working Together and follows a similar chapter structure and layout, the revisions and changes very much reflect the changing policy and organisational climates of the intervening years

18. 18 Crucially the length and complexity of both the document and the work is evident. This was the major comment in the consultation and is clearly recognised by the DCSF who have committed themselves to:

19. 19 Produce an easily navigable web-based version of the document, with hyperlinks to relevant supporting guidance; Produce in partnership with stakeholders a short practitioner guide; and Work with stakeholders to identify what might be done to present the document more effectively to ensure that the statutory requirements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and yourng people are not inadvertently obscured by non-statutory guidance

20. 20 The document: Has 390 pages which include: an Executive Summary of 15 pages; Statutory Guidance of 228 pages; Non-statutory practice guidance of 51 pages; and 6 Appendices of 34 pages 200 �References and Internet Links� including 124 with Internet links/Web Addresses, of which 78 are gov.uk 273 Footnotes

21. 21 The Chapters in Part 1 on the Statutory Guidance are organised as follows: Introduction 10 pages Roles and Responsibilities 47 pages Local Safeguarding Children Boards 24 pages Training, development and supervision for inter-agency working 19 pages Managing individual cases where there are concerns about a child�s safety and welfare 57pages Supplementary guidance on safeguarding and promoting welfare 16 pages Child death review processes 22 pages Serious case reviews 23 pages

22. 22 Part 2: Non-statutory practice guidance, consists of: 9. Lessons from research 25 pages 10. Implementing the principles on working with children and their families 7 pages 11. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who may be particularly vulnerable 12. Managing individuals who pose a risk of harm to children

23. 23 Chapter 6 � Supplementary guidance on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children � outlines, references and links to 10 other Statutory Supplementary guidance documents: Sexually exploited children (2009) 96 pages Children affected by gang activity (2010) 52 pages Fabricated or induced illness (FII) (2008) 88 pages Investigating complex (organised or multiple) abuse (2002)

24. 24 5. Female genital mutilation � LA Circular 2004 6. Forced marriage and honour-based violence (2009) 26 pages 7. Allegations of abuse made against a person who works with children, plus Appendix 5 10 pages 8. Abuse of disabled children (2009) 84 pages 9. Child abuse linked to belief in �spirit possession� (2007) 23 pages 10. Child victims of trafficking (2007) 55 pages

25. 25 Chapter 11 � Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who may be particularly vulnerable lists the following: Children living away from home Abuse by children and young people Children whose behaviour indicates a lack of parental control Race and racism Violent extremism Domestic violence Child abuse and information communication technology (ICT) Children with families whose whereabouts are unknown Children who go missing Children who go missing from education Children of families living in temporary accommodation Migrant children Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC)

26. 26 Some specific changes: Chapter 2 on Roles and Responsibilities now has new sections on ContactPoint and the CAF both of which are seen to play key roles in information sharing and multi agency working The length of time for an �Initial Assessment� has been increased from 7 to 10 days