Safeguarding Children – the social worker’s role with

1. Safeguarding Children – the social worker’s role with the children of parents imprisoned for sexual offences Sadie Hall and Tanya Keating, Children and Young People’s Services, North Somerset Council

2. Safeguarding Children: A Social Worker’s role with the children of parents imprisoned for sexual offences Sadie Hall and Tanya Keating Children and Young People’s Services North Somerset Council

3. Delivering services across a spectrum of need Continuum of need insert here

4. Who do Children’s Social Care work with? • We work with children and young people from pre-birth and up to 18 years • Up to 21 years if they are disabled • Up to 25 years if they are Looked After • We work with children, groups and individuals, parents, carers and families • Parents can be resident and absent, including in prison • Children from our geographical area • Children defined as needing a service, through the Children Act 1989 • Level 3 and 4 on our continuum of need

5. What do we do? • We offer services to children whose care, health and development needs may be significantly compromised • Including children with disabilities, young carers and homeless adolescents • We intervene in families where children are identified as experiencing significant harm and are in need of protection • Issues of neglect, sexual, emotional and physical abuse • We support children who are Looked after (in care) either voluntarily or under court orders and unaccompanied asylum seekers

6. Children’s Pathways Children who benefit from extra help to make the best of their life chances Early Help Children in Need Children who need services or their health or development will be significantly impaired Children in Need of Protection Children who are experiencing significant harm and need intervention to safeguard and protect them Children in Care Proceedings Courts decide whether children should be removed from their parents care, including permanently for adoption

7. Parental issues • Many parental and social factors can negatively impact directly and indirectly on children • Issues include drug use, learning difficulties, mental health, physical disability, offending behaviour, inability to prioritise children’s needs, imprisonment of parent (including for sexual offences) • We become involved when the impact on the children is significant and severe • We assess the level of need of the family and this informs the children’s pathway • If the impact of parental issues is too great and children are unable to live safely at home with their parents or carers we may seek a care order from the court and remove children, and in some cases seek adoption of the child to a new family

8. When don’t we have a role? • When we don’t know • There is no automatic notification to Local Authority Children’s Social care when a parent or relative goes into prison including for sexual offences • If a child lives with a parent/carer who does not want a child to have contact with an offender, we have no right to override • Where a parent is deemed protective and able to make child centred decisions • We are not able to work with every struggling or vulnerable family, if we are unable to provide a service we can signpost the family

9. When do we have a role? • We are already working with the family • The prison alerts children's social care and we are able to assess the risk • The sex offender is a young person and parent • The sex offender’s child is Looked After • Risks are identified for a child

10. Safeguarding is everybody’s business… • Child protection does not begin at the point at which a referral is made to children’s social care • We do not want contact to be used as an opportunity for grooming or silencing either the child or non-abusing parent • Everyone who works with adults and children has a shared responsibility: • to safeguard children and young people • promote their welfare • Joint work effectively with partners • If you believe a child is at risk you have a duty to alert Children’s Social Care

11. Good Practice…What should you do when a sex offending prisoner requests contact with a child?

13. Impact on Children of a parent in prison for sexual offences

14. Useful references • Barnardos - http://www.barnardos.org.uk/supporting_prisoners_families.pdf • Action for Prisoners’ Families - http://www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk/About_us/About_us.aspx • http://www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_resources/Publications/tellingchildren.pdf • Centre for Separated Families - http://www.separatedfamilies.info/ • Prison Advice and Care Trust - http://www.prisonadvice.org.uk/ • Prisoners’ Families and Friends Service - http://www.pffs.org.uk/about/ • DfE-What To Do If You're Worried a Child Is being Abused – Summary-https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/6841-DfES-ChildAbuseSumm.pdf

15. Safeguarding Children – the social worker’s role with the children of parents imprisoned for sexual offences Sadie Hall and Tanya Keating, Children and Young People’s Services, North Somerset Council