Chronologies Workshop

1. Chronologies Workshop

2. aims and objectives Aim To provide guidance on writing well ordered and concise chronologies that support analysis and decision making for the child. Objective All children we work with to have well ordered and concise chronologies.

3. activity In pairs • Think about the significant events that have happened in your own life over the last 18 months. • Arrange these events chronologically by date with the most recent events last. Record these events in the following way: • Date • The kind of significant event it was (i.e. something that happened to yourself, someone close to you). Whether the event had a positive or negative impact on your life. • Any action you took in response to the significant event. Share your chronology with your partner. What did you learn about your partner from the chronology of significant events?

4. Mini Guide to Chronologies There are three main reasons for writing a chronology: • It can be used in order to make sense of life events which have been important for the child and their family, as part of any kind of assessment. • It is a tool that allows you to identify, and make sense of, patterns of events or behaviour in the life of a child and their family. • It is a tool which can enable you, your manager and others to reflect and analyse, sometimes in the midst of work on a case, and sometimes after a serious incident.

5. You should write a chronology: • At the beginning of any single assessment. • At any “threshold point” (for example, moving from child in need to child protection). • When work on a case is stuck; interventions are not effective and a change of course is required (an instrument to review). • As an essential component of documentation provided in court in care proceedings, under the Public Law Outline. • When planning for permanence for a child • When compiling a life story for the child.

6. Use of chronologies in supervision: It is useful for practitioners and their supervisors in the following situations: • When practitioners describe “a feeling of unease” about a case and are struggling to make sense of either events or what is happening within the family. This may be characterised by practitioners saying things like “they can’t see the wood for the trees” or saying that the atmosphere within the home, or a phrase a child has uttered has given them “goosebumps”. • When previous decisions made about a child are being questioned because they appear to be inappropriate or the envisaged outcomes are not achieved (this can be particularly important when in the Court arena).

7. Use of chronologies in supervision: Two factors critical to identifying these cues from workers are: • Establishing clear goals and outcomes for any decisions and interventions, and • Effective supervision. Chronologies are a tool that enable professionals to look more closely at patters of events and behaviour.

8. What should you include in a chronology? • The central feature of a chronology is key events listed in date order. • You are required to make decisions about whose births, deaths and marriages may have been a significant events for the child. • Critical and key decisions made about a child or family should always be included. Walker et al (2012) suggest a chronology should cover a child’s health and education history, their legal status, and placement history if a LAC child, changes of address, school and workers should also be included.

9. the purpose or a chronology • Chronologies need to have a sense of purpose. There is a difference in recording “failed” home visits as part of a chronology in order to “cover the workers back”, as opposed to recording this is part of a pattern of evidence of parental lack of parental engagement and co-operation. This recording of evidence of lack of co-operation may contribute to evidence of significant harm in itself, which could be very important when compiling a court chronology. • Where a chronology is being prepared with a view to life story work, prior to adoption or permanent placement the Social Worker’s repeated unsuccessful attempts to find the birth family at home is not likely to be a significant even in the life of a child.

10. the purpose or a chronology • Effective and conscience summarising is key to the production of a working document and useful chronology. • When examining the events around the death of Khyra Ishaq, Pemberton (2010) suggested that when drawing up a skeleton chronology, the entry: “March 2016; pattern of defaulted appointments emerging”, is more effective than detailing each individual missed appointment. • Time, skill and judgement are needed to select those events which should be outlined in a chronology dependent on the purpose for which it is being drawn up.

11. Serious Case Review Ellie Butler The murder of six-year-old Ellie Butler in 2013 at the hands of her violent father took place less than a year after she was returned into the custody of her parents. Exercise After reading the chronology put together from the SCR: • reflect upon your initial thoughts and feelings; • note down the key issues that you think impeded on the protection of Ellie.

12. Chronology template

13. Final thoughts

14. Tips On Case Recording

15. Banana skins

16. What to record (SOAP) • Subjective information; child/family’s feelings, concerns, plans and comments. • Objective information; what happened, observations of physical presentation, interpersonal interactions, factual information that can be seen, heard, smelled, counted or measured (use your senses). • Analysis of the event/situation. • Plan of action. • Make sure the voice of the child is clear.