Early help

Where early help is appropriate, DSL / DDSL will lead on linking with other agencies as appropriate

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Cases should be kept under constant review – referral to children’s social care for assessment for statutory services, if child’s situation does not appear to be improving or is getting worse

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Essex Effective Support / Directory of Services

https://www.essexeffectivesupport.org.uk/

What staff should do if concerned about a child:

• Act on it immediately (do not assume others have taken action)

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• Speak with the DSL (or DDSL) – non availability of DL should not delay appropriate action being taken. Options will include:
• Managing support internally
• An early help assessment
• Referral for statutory services

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• Do not assume that other professionals will share critical information - early information sharing is vital for effective identification, assessment and allocation of appropriate service provision

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Statutory assessment - children in need / significant harm:

Local authority response to referral:

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• CIN – assessment under S17 of Children Act 1989 (may be placed on CIN Plan)

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• Significant harm – assessment under S47 of Children Act 1989 (may be placed on Child Protection Plan)

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• Consider whether any further specialist assessments or services are required

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ESCALATE CONCERNS IF NO IMPROVEMENT!

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Record Keeping:

All concerns, discussions and reasons for decisions should be recorded.

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• How do staff report concerns and how are they recorded?

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• Is rationale for decisions / action recorded?

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• What happens then with the information?

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• Is there feedback to staff about their referral?

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• Has all appropriate action been taken?

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Why is this important?

It is important for children to receive the right help at the right time to address risks and prevent issues escalating. Research and Serious Case Reviews have repeatedly shown the dangers of failing to take effective action. Poor practice includes:

• failure to act on and refer the early signs of abuse and neglect
• poor record keeping
• failure to listen to the views of the child
• failure to re-assess concerns when situations do not improve
• sharing information too slowly
• a lack of challenge to those who appear not to be taking action

What is

The difference between

‘child protection’ and ‘safeguarding’?

Abuse is…

…a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. A child may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or children.

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Categories:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Sexual
• Neglect

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10

Physical:

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A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

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Some of the following signs may be indicators of physical abuse:

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• Children with frequent injuries
• Children with unexplained or unusual fractures / broken bones
• Children with unexplained:

-bruises or cuts;

-burns or scalds; or

- bite marks.

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Common Sites For Accidental Injury

Common sites for non-accidental physical injury

Emotional:

The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve:

• conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person.
• not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate
• age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction.
• seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another:

It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.

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Some of the following signs may be indicators of emotional abuse:

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• Children who are excessively withdrawn, fearful, or anxious about doing something wrong
• Parents or carers who withdraw attention from their child, giving the child the ‘cold shoulder’
• Parents or carers blaming their problems on their child
• Parents or carers who humiliate their child (eg: name-calling / making negative comparisons)

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Sexual:

Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

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Some of the following signs may be indicators of sexual abuse:

• Children who display knowledge / interest in sexual acts inappropriate to their age
• Children who use sexual language / have sexual knowledge that you wouldn’t expect them to have
• Children who ask others to behave sexually / play sexual games
• Children with physical sexual health problems, including soreness in the genital and anal areas, sexually transmitted infections / underage pregnancy

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Neglect:

Persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

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Some of the following signs may be indicators of neglect:

• Children living in a home that is indisputably dirty or unsafe
• Children who are hungry or dirty
• Children without adequate clothing (eg: not having a winter coat, shoes)
• Children living in dangerous conditions (eg: around drugs, alcohol or violence)
• Children who are often angry, aggressive or self-harm
• Children who fail to receive basic health care
• Parents who fail to seek medical treatment when their children are ill or are injured

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