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Welcome to 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. It is anticipated there will be a new bulletin every month, so if you have ideas around content or potential items for inclusion moving forward, get in touch with Stephen Winship in the Business Unit.
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We are in the final stages of developing our brand new DSCP website, and once it's up and running those not already on the mailing list, will be able to subscribe to this e-bulletin direct from a dedicated page on the website. In the meantime I would ask that new individuals register their interest via dscpsecure@durham.gov.uk
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Reducing Parental Conflict I Online safety with games consoles | Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy and more...
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Another thing to look out for soon is the revised Early Help Assessment process, so watch this space!
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Relationships Matter - Reducing Parental Conflict
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The emerging research evidence the negative impact Parental Conflict has on children and young people. Parental Conflict is NOT Domestic Abuse. Parental Conflict exists when arguments are frequent and poorly resolved but there is no fear or power imbalance present. If there is fear or power imbalance this is Domestic Abuse and with consent, professionals are to refer to Harbour, Durham's Specialist Domestic Abuse Service on 03000 202 525.
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200 professionals from across the Prevention and Early Help Partnership have been trained in Reducing Parental Conflict and a further 233 have attended Awareness Raising Briefings. More training dates are available and can be found on the DSCP website link above.
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Specialist interventions are available for parents when Parental Conflict is identified and when they require a moderate to intense level of support, there are 4 interventions available with Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) being the most popular. Specialist interventions are delivered by Relate and co-providers to parents who are together or separated including same-sex parents or any couple in a 'co-parenting' relationship. Feedback of the impact specialist interventions have made for families is positive.
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Durham is soon to conclude a community engagement commission to develop Durham's 'low-level' offer for parents, children and young people where Parental Conflict may be identified but does not require specialist intervention. This offer is being co-produced with parents, carers, children and young people and a range of self-help support tools, information and guidance will be available on a newly developed webpage for public access followed by a digital campaign in the Spring.
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Online Safety With Games Consoles And Smart Devices
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With the interconnectedness of video games systems, social media and other platforms today, children and young people may be exposed to hidden harm from numerous risks including:
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- Cyberbullying
- Online predators
- Trolling, griefing and scams
- Seeing age-inappropriate content
- Social engineering intended on exploiting children and young people or exposing them to radicalised information
- Malware and viruses
- Webcam hacking
- Privacy problems and personal information stored on machines
- Hidden fees and online spending.
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The always online, instant access nature children and young people grow up in is very different from the world in which parents and professionals did in as little as only a few years earlier. This radical change in society and culture can make many parents and carers (and even professionals) feel confused and ill-equipped to either understand the risks children and young people face or take appropriate action to keep them safe.
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Signs of Safety- A Vision for the Future!!
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Signs of Safety continues to be developed and embedded within Children’s Social Care, Early Help and the partnership. In December 2020 we published our Signs of Safety Vision (click title above) and over the next 12 months we will focus on 4 key priority areas to drive forward Signs of Safety practice, namely:
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- Using a Questioning Approach to underpin all the work that we do, which recognises children, young people and families as the expert in their own lives
- Mapping with children, young people and families to guide our assessments and planning
- Identifying and involving Networks to help create safety, wellbeing and success for children
- Using Words and Pictures to help children and young people understand their plan
We have released our practice expectations for the next 12 months linked to each of these priority areas and we continue to support Practice Leads to drive forward Signs of Safety in their teams through training, workshops and dedicated Practice Lead development sessions. Over the next 6 months you can expect to see changes to the way that assessments are written, to bring these more into line with Signs of Safety, as well as greater involvement of networks in plans for children and young people.
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We continue to meet as a Signs of Safety partnership workstream where Signs of Safety champions from the partnership come together to agree how the model can best fit with practice. We now have partners sitting on the Project Board so there is greater input from the partnership at the strategic level.Work is ongoing to roll out briefings on the Durham Harm / Worry Matrix, which is the risk assessment tool being promoted by the partnership. We have upcoming sessions on…You can book onto these sessions by….
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Early Help Conversations are now starting to have a more Signs of Safety / Wellbeing focus with our partners, including an awareness of strengths, networks and behavioural detail.
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Work has been carried out at the front door with our Early Help Triage workers (EHTW). Referrers are now being asked questions regarding what a specific behaviour looks like, when was it first a concern / what was the worst time, and most recent and also the impact on the child. The EHTW are also having initial conversations with referrers around the family’s network of support and what they are doing or can do for the family.
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Partners across Early Help are continuing to develop the Early Help Assessment and system for logging assessments and plans, so that the work carried out by partners to support children and families is co-ordinated and can be accessed centrally.
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Cumulative Harm, or the build-up and pattern of harm is the outcome of episodes of abuse, neglect and other harmful or difficult circumstances experienced by a child or young person over a short, medium or long time. This can include emotional, physical and psychological harm that is caused by a lack of care and or by the behaviour of parents, carers, other adults, and children / young people themselves. Accidental harm can also add to harm. This guide explores 3 things, whilst stressing the importance of looking at both strengths and safety:-
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- How to identify cumulative harm
- What impact it can have
- What can we do about it?
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Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021
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This strategy is the first of its kind in setting out the government’s vision for preventing, tackling and responding to child sexual abuse in all its forms, whether it is committed in person or online, in families or communities, here in this country or overseas.
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Our comprehensive e-learning packages continue to be well utilised by staff wishing to focus on their professional development. This e-learning continues to form a crucial pre-learning component to many of the courses that we deliver, enabling the in-person training to focus on a greater depth of knowledge. We will of course update you as new training becomes available, but keep an eye on the website too.
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The strategy is based on the following three objectives:
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- objective 1: tackling all forms of child sexual abuse bringing offenders to justice.
- objective 2: preventing offending and re-offending.
- objective 3: protecting and safeguarding children and young people, and supporting all victims and survivors.
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The strategy captures our long-term ambition to tackle this crime. It outlines the concrete steps we are taking now to step up our response and provides a robust framework for government to drive action across all agencies, all sectors and society as a whole to carry on strengthening our response to all forms of child sexual abuse.
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Amendments To Working Together 2018
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December 2020 saw some updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 Guidance and although retaining the same title there are some significant changes that are worthy of reflection/discussion across the DSCP.
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Crest Advisory Report
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Crest Advisory has recently published a report looking at the links between looked after children and county lines. The report identifies some of the key changing features of exploitation via county lines and recognises that looked after children are disproportionately represented in county lines networks, albeit they are not always being identified by Police or local authorities. The report makes a number of key recommendations to government including the creation of a statutory definition of CCE as well as a national strategy.
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Learning From Serious Case Reviews
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The last year has been a busy one on a number of fronts around Serious Case Reviews (SCR), and how the processes have morphed across into Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR).
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Learning materials from cases are presently being developed, so keep an eye out for these on the DSCP website. It is anticipated that 2 new learning tools will be going on in the next couple of weeks!!
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In the meantime, follow the link here to see these key items:
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- Learning Case Summaries
- Child Death Review Annual Report (Durham and Darlington)
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Contacting the LADO
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After a successful pilot the method for contacting the Local Area Designated Officer (LADO) has been changed permanently, where contact will be facilitated through dedicated customer service staff via telephone ONLY. Using email or the previous referral form will no longer be possible. Basic referral information will be obtained from you, and where advice or guidance is required from the LADO, your call will be transferred to the LADO on duty. If there is a more appropriate course of action for your referral, you will be advised by the customer service team at the time.
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LADO Contact Number – 03000 268835
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Training
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In line with the DSCP Restoration Plan, the new Training Programme continues to evolve under the stewardship of the Workforce Learning and Development Group. There is still no face to face training, being replaced by either virtual training platforms or narrated slideshows. New courses have been developed over recent months, so follow the link to see what’s available and how to book your place – TRAINING SCHEDULE 2021.
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Our comprehensive e-learning packages continue to be well utilised by staff wishing to focus on their professional development. This e-learning continues to form a crucial pre-learning component to many of the courses that we deliver, enabling the in-person training to focus on a greater depth of knowledge. We will of course update you as new training becomes available, but keep an eye on the website too.
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This is an exciting program coming to you in May and June exploring the world of coercive controlling domestic abuse. This is not to be missed, circulations are out and covered on the website too, so book on when you can.....
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