(You can download the guidance below in a PDF document here) Record details of all people present; this includes people who live in the house as well as any visitors who are there at the time of your visit – ask the visitors for their name and relationship to the family. If the child subject to a Child Protection Plan has regular contact with them, ask for their address and DOB
so that you can record them on the system. If the adult visitor regularly cares for the child or stays in the child’s family home overnight, ask for their consent for you to complete a police check on them. If any unknown person refuses to give you their details, request the details from the parents. If not established, record the description of this person. If the child who you have come to see is not at home, ask about their exact whereabouts and who they are with. If there are concerns about their level of supervision or you have any concerns that the child might be at risk, ask for evidence of their whereabouts – for example, if the child is said to be with another adult, can you call the other adult and ask to speak to the child on the phone; can the adult who is present
take you to see the child; can you call the child on their mobile phone and meet them where they are? If you do not manage to see the child at home during your visit, arrange to see the child at home within statutory timescales on a different occasion. If you are, however, concerned about the child’s safety or well-being on that day, ensure that you make contact with the child on the same day of your visit – this (depending on the level of your concerns) may be a
telephone/Skype call, pre-arranged later home visit or (when appropriate) arrange a visit by the “Out of Hours” team. – Observe the child/young person
Depending on the nature of the case and concerns, you may need to dedicate some of your visits to conduct more comprehensive observations so you can assess factors such as the child’s attachment to their main carer, the child’s level of development, the family’s functioning, the child’s daily routine etc. You may find the following tools useful:
– Talk to the child/young person aloneWith pre-school children (3 & 4 years), you may first try to establish trust by playing with them in presence of their main carer, then you can ask them to show you their bedroom by themselves. There, if they feel comfortable with you, you can conduct direct work with them, adjusting it to their chronological and mental age. If the child does not feel safe to see you without their parent/carer, you should still conduct direct work in their parent’s presence. Examples of direct work:
With older children, conduct direct work aimed at establishing what their day-to-day life looks like as well as at ascertaining their views, wishes and feelings In most cases, it is important that you also complete direct work with the child/young person outside the family. – See sleeping childrenYou should see any sleeping child subject to a Child Protection Plan. Only wake a baby in extreme circumstances such as when it is your job to weigh the baby or examine the baby as part of the child protection work. Depending on the level and nature of concerns, schedule another home visit soon to ensure that you see the child awake as well. – Ask if you can hold a babyHaving made eye contact with and cooed at the baby, ask the primary carer if you can hold her/him. Observe how responsive the baby is, whether the baby looks for his/her primary carer for reassurance, whether the primary carer hands the baby over without a care etc. Look out for any physical injuries, eg. observe whether the baby has a limb that hangs awkwardly or whether the baby cries out when you move him/her. – Observe adults & children not subject to a Child Protection Plan
– Address any identified safeguarding concerns & Child protection planningPrior to your visit, you should have considered what the purpose of the visit is in terms of making progress in accordance with the Child Protection Plan. Discuss the progress with the parents (and when relevant, the child) accordingly, highlighting both strengths as well as remaining outstanding needs/risks; agree next steps. If you identify any new safeguarding concerns during your visit, be honest and inform the parents (and when relevant, the child) about them and agree a plan on how the parents/family can address them (this may be agreeing a specific task such as tiding up the kitchen by your next visit or, when more complex, arranging another appointment specifically dedicated to discussing the newly identified concerns). If you have any immediate and significant safeguarding concerns (such as children presenting with a potential non-accidental injury) and you need to leave the child in the presence of a potentially unsafe adult (eg. when you need to call your manager from your car or speak to each adult in the house separately), arrange for a second worker to come to the house. The second worker can stay with the child and ensure their safety while you are dealing with the issue. – Look around the house & assess home conditions
– Child answering the door/at home without a safe supervisorThere is no legal age that a child can be left alone – it depends on the child and the circumstances. You need to make a judgement whether it is safe for the child to be left alone or be cared for by their older sibling; you need to call your manager for advice if you are unsure. If you assess the child being at home by themselves as low risk, rearrange the appointment. If the child is left at home without an appropriate supervisor and you assessed the child as being at risk of significant harm, you can either wait for a short period of time until their parent arrives (if safe) or call the police (if the child is in immediate danger or there is no indication what time their parent will be back home/the parent has not arrived despite you waiting). If the child answers the door, stating the parent is in the house, ask them to go and get them while you wait on the doorstep. If they say they cannot get their parent because they are, for example, sleeping you need to ensure that both parent and child are OK. If you have no concerns for your personal safety, go into the home with the child, calling the parent loudly; if they are in a bedroom, knock on the door loudly, calling their name until they wake up. If you have concerns for your personal safety, ring the police and stay there with the child until the police arrive. – Ask for evidenceDuring the visit, do not rely on self-reported accounts by the family members – ask for evidence. For example, when a pregnant woman tells you that she had made all the practical preparations for the child, ask to see them. Remember that some parents/carers are known to have gone to great lengths to disguise their neglect and abuse of children. For example, Baby P’s (Peter Connelly) bruises were reported to be purposefully covered in chocolate by his parent/carer to avoid detection. Some parents, especially those misusing substances, are known to give their children illicit or prescribed drugs to keep their children quiet so that they are easier to look after. Co-sleeping practice, which is linked to a higher risk of death, is not uncommon. Read up on serious case reviews to familiarise yourself with further examples and adjust your investigations and interventions accordingly – you need to be thorough to keep children safe by, for example, asking the adults to wash any stains from their child’s skin, ensuring that you see the child regularly awake, looking for signs of the children’s cots being actually used etc. FURTHER GOOD PRACTICE ADVICE:
Guidance download:You can download the guidance above in a PDF document here. |