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Welcome to the latest edition, our third of Linked, Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership new e-bulletin. We’ve brought together information from a number of partners and we hope you find the articles useful and informative. If you have ideas around content or potential items for inclusion moving forward, get in touch with Stephen Winship in the Business Unit - stephen.winship@durham.gov.uk
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The Wood Report - a review of Safeguarding Arrangements; DSCP Practitioner Survey; NSPCC Guide to social media apps; DSCP Improvement Plans, 2021-22; Tri-x Multi-agency Procedures update, and more...
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The Wood Report - Review of Safeguarding Arrangements
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This detailed review sets out recommendations for making the current multi-agency safeguarding arrangements for local areas more effective. The report has focused on the key factors that underpin the successful implementation of the new multi-agency arrangements to safeguard children. There is a palpable need for national inspectorates and regulators to develop a model that can provide an analysis on how things are impacting on children and what characterises best practice.
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In total there are 11 recommendations contained within the main report(P56-59) which Sir Alan would say should be considered within 12 months. Some of the key points are as follows:
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- Better cross Government work and connection between central government and LSP’s
- Guidance must look at the delegation of accountability and authority to ensure a strong leadership role across statutory partners
- Define the role of PCC in Arrangements.
- Government must invest in suitable platform for dissemination of good practice.
- What process of inspection to be utilised to assess and form a judgement on the impact of decision making and planning by the statutory safeguarding partners on the quality of safeguarding practice and outcomes for children and young people.
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Coming to a place near you....
DSCP Practitioner Survey - Opens 1 June 2021
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From 1 June 2021 the Practitioner Survey will be available for all who work in safeguarding or with safeguarding practitioners in County Durham.
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The survey is intended to be wide ranging with engagement from as many agencies, services, departments and practitioners working with children and families in County Durham.
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The survey seeks your responses regarding several areas of interest, such as partnership working, thresholds, referrals etc. All of the responses will be collated and considered as part of improvement plans across the DSCP.
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This survey will be open from Tuesday 1st June 2021 and will close on Thursday 27th August 2021 and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete - it will help us all to improve.
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DSCP Improvement Plans 2021-22
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Over recent months a significant amount of work has taken place examining the learning from local, national and regional sources. There were a multitude of actions / learning needs, and it can feel a little like 'not being able to see the wood from the trees'. These findings have been streamlined into four Practice Improvement Themes which form the basis of our Business Plan and what the partnership will focus on over the next 12 months:
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- Voice and Lived Experience of the Child
- Risk Assessment and Cumulative Harm
- Decision Making and Management Understanding
- Child Sexual Abuse
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Task & Finish groups are in place with the key focus for them being to drive the business across all partner agencies to ensure practice improvement in all of these key areas. There will be more on changes in these areas in future bulletins, so keep an eye out.
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NSPCC Guide to Social Media Apps
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The Children's charity the NSPCC have developed a guide to some of the different apps that young people are using. They have graded them on different safety elements. Worth a look whether you are a professional or parent/carer with a responsibility to assess risk and safeguard children.
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Helping to Prevent Radicalisation
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PREVENT is part of the Government’s counter terrorism strategy CONTEST, it aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
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PREVENT has a strong link to safeguarding because vulnerable young people can be susceptible to radicalisation and recruitment into terrorist organisations. Here in the North East the biggest current threat to children being exploited in this way is through right wing extremism, but we should not be complacent of other forms. Remember those trying to recruit young people to terrorist organisations will have a desire to isolate them from their norms to exert influence.
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All those in the private, voluntary and independent sector providing services or out of school activities for children and young people have a duty under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (Section 26), to prevent children and young people from being drawn into terrorism - so what can we do?
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- Knowledge - Understand the risks, spot the signs - follow link below for e-learning
- Curiosity - Professionally curious of child's circumstances and changes
- Questions - Based on above, probe and ask key questions to develop rich picture
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Partner agencies need to promote awareness of extremism across all front line professionals so they have the knowledge and confidence to do the right thing and know how to report any concerns.There is work ongoing streamlining the reporting mechanism, so more on this in coming editions.
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The Importance of our Recording Practices
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Last week there was a very powerful article in the media written about a woman’s experiences of reading her children’s social care records as an adult. It highlights the central importance for all of us to think carefully about how we write about children; the importance of the care we take in our recording; the language we use; how this will be experienced by the child in later life and our role as custodians and guardians for charting their life story. I would encourage you to read it and reflect on what this means for all of us and our recording practice. Follow the links below to read the article and also consider what is appropriate in terms of the language we use about children and their circumstances.
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Nepacs - Parental Rights in Prison
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Nepacs have launched a new project to support prisoners in custody to understand and exercise their legal rights as parents which is worth practitioners who deal with families being sighted on.
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The ‘Parental Rights in Prison project’ will focus on providing accurate and timely information, advocacy and casework support for imprisoned parents who wish to sustain their relationship with their children who are in the care of the local authority or with family and significant others.
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The project will also form the next stage of development for regional family engagement services for prisoners in the North East - in line with the recommendations of Lord Farmer’s reports on the importance of family ties in preventing re-offending and reducing intergenerational crime and in particular, his follow-up review on female offenders.
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The project will develop and commence at HMP Low Newton with learning and support being disseminated to the wider male estate at later stages.
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The best interest and safety of children is paramount in the work being undertaken and support can be given to professionals working with children and family members in the community to liaise and engage with parents in custody about public and private family law matters. The project promotes that it is best for all parties to have as much engagement in these processes as possible in order to ensure the best outcomes for the children involved.
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Safeguarding Awareness Week 12-16 July 2021
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Tri-x Multi-agency Safeguarding Procedures
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.As part of our commitment to continuous learning and improvement, Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership are hosting a Safeguarding Awareness Week, in partnership with colleagues from across County Durham.
Sessions will take place each lunchtime between 12.00pm and 2.30pm 12-16 July, and will promote and raise awareness on a different safeguarding theme each day. These facilitated sessions should be seen as a learning and engagement opportunity for all practitioners to explore cases and participate in reflective discussion. See the flyer for what's on offer, and remember to book in early to avoid disappointment !!
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The DSCP multi-agency Safeguarding Procedures update went live on 21 May 2021. Whilst not as many changes as at the previous update there were still some notable changes to reflect local processes with consideration of them being Signs of Safety compatible. They were also amended to comply with the December 2020 changes to the statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018. Follow the links below to the full Procedures or the update briefing document.
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As mentioned in the previous bulletin the DSCP Training Offer is moving towards the coordination and commissioning of our multi-agency training as opposed to delivery. There are some really exciting events on the way around Child Sexual Abuse/Harm and Child Exploitation. Keep an eye out for upcoming circulations, but in the meantime here's what's available.
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