Tameside Safeguarding Framework

Section 4 - Involving Parents, Carers, Children & Young People

• Working in Partnership
• Involving Parents and Carers in Child Protection Enquiries
• Promoting the Participation of Parents and Carers in Child Protection Meetings
• Involving Children
  - Involving the child during the Child Protection enquiry
  - Involving the child in Child Protection meetings
  - Criteria for Presence of Child at Conference
  - Indirect Contributions when a Child is not Attending
  - Direct Involvement of a Child in a Conference

Working in Partnership

4.1 It is important that the principles of working in partnership with children and parents and carers are maintained in the child protection process, as follows: 

• All family members should be treated with dignity and respect and offered a caring and courteous service
• It is important that family members know that the child's safety and welfare have priority
• There should be clarity about powers and purpose of any intervention
• There should be awareness of the impact on the family of actions taken by practitioners
• Confidentiality should be respected and any information / observations about the family should only be shared with permission or where necessary to protect the child (see section 2)
• The wishes and feelings of the child and family should be listened to, acknowledged and understood when formulating plans
• The child's religious, cultural, community and family context should be given due consideration
• Members of the child's family should not be used as interpreters
• The strengths, potential and limitations of family members should be recognised
• All family members should be helped to understand their responsibilities and rights with respect to receipt or refusal of services and its consequences
• It is important to use jargon-free language appropriate to age and culture of each individual
• There should be openness and honesty about concerns and Practitioners' responsibilities, plans and limitations (unless this would put the child at increased risk of significant harm)
• Individuals should be given time to absorb practitioner concerns and processes
• It is important that practitioners distinguish between personal feelings, values, prejudices and beliefs, in carrying out their roles and responsibilities. Practitioners should use supervision to reflect on whether this is achieved
• Errors, failures or oversights, and the distress caused to families by these, should be acknowledged
• Explicit consideration should be given to the potential of conflict between family members and possible need for children or adults to speak without other family members present.

Involving Parents and Carers in Child Protection Enquiries

4.2 Child Protection (Section 47, Children Act 1989) enquiries should always be carried out in such a way as to minimise distress to the child, and to ensure that families are treated sensitively and with respect. Children's Social Care should explain the purpose and outcome of s47 enquiries to the parents and children (having regard to age and understanding) and be prepared to answer questions openly, unless to do so would affect the safety and welfare of the child.

4.3 Children's Social Care should provide written information about the purpose, process and potential outcomes of s47 enquiries to the parents and children (having regard to age and understanding). The information should be both general and specific to the particular circumstances under enquiry. It should include information about how advice, advocacy and support may be obtained from independent sources.

4.4 In the majority of cases, children remain with their families following s47 enquiries, even where concerns about abuse or neglect are substantiated. As far as possible, s47 enquiries should be conducted in a way that allows for future constructive working relationships with families.

4.5 The way in which a case is managed initially can affect the entire subsequent process. Where handled well and sensitively, there can be a positive effect on the eventual outcome for the child.

4.6 Where a child is living in a residential establishment, consideration should be given to the possible impact on other children living in the same establishment. 

4.7 During the Child Protection Enquiry the Children's Social Care social worker has the prime responsibility to engage with family members. This is from the time of initial contact, throughout the enquiry and assessment process, including any child protection meetings.

4.8 Parents and those with parental responsibility must be informed at the earliest opportunity of concerns, unless to do so would place the child at risk of significant harm, or undermine a criminal investigation (see section 5 Initial Assessment).

4.9 Consideration must be given to:

• The capacity of the parents to understand this information in a situation of significant anxiety and stress
• Those for whom English is not their preferred language or who may have a physical/sensory/learning disability and may need the services of an appropriate interpreter
• Factors such as race, culture, religion, gender and sexuality together with issues arising from disability and health are taken into account. 

4.10 It may be necessary to provide the information in stages and to repeat it, and this must be taken into account in planning the enquiry. The information should cover:

• An explanation of the reason for concern and where appropriate (bearing in mind requests for anonymity made by members of the public) the source of information
• The procedures to be followed (this must include an explanation of the need for the child to be seen, interviewed and/or medically examined and seeking parental agreement for these aspects of the enquiry and/or investigation)
• An explanation of their rights as parents including the need for support and guidance from an advocate whom they trust (advice should be given about the right to seek legal advice)
• An explanation of the role of the various agencies involved in the enquiry and/or investigation and of the wish to work in partnership with them to secure the welfare of their child 

4.11 Planning for working with parents should involve consideration of the following:

• The need to gather initial information on the history and structure of the family, the child and other relevant information to enable an assessment of the injuries and/or allegations and the continuing risk to the child to be made
• In situations of domestic abuse and/or where parents live apart, opportunity should be made for the parents to be seen separately
• Assessment of evidential opportunities in a Police investigation and recovery of evidence that may confirm or refute an allegation or suspicion of crime
• The provision of an opportunity for parents to be able to ask questions and receive support and guidance 

4.12 In the event of any conflict between the needs and wishes of the parents and those of the child, the child's welfare is the paramount consideration in any decision or action.

4.13 Parents should be provided with an early opportunity to explain their perception of the concerns, both as common courtesy and to assist in the enquiries. 

4.14 When Children's Social Care or the Police make decisions or initiate actions to protect children, or require the parents to agree to such action, other relevant agencies should be informed of any such decisions or actions.

Promoting the Participation of Parents and Carers in Child Protection Meetings

4.15 All parents and carers must be invited to conferences (unless exclusion is justified as described below). 

4.16 The social worker must facilitate the constructive involvement of parents and carers by ensuring in advance of the conference that they are given sufficient information and practical support to make a meaningful contribution. 

4.17 The social worker should explain to parents/carers the purpose of the meeting, who will attend, the way in which it will operate and the complaints process. 

4.18 Preparation should include consideration of childcare arrangements to enable the attendance of parent/s. 

4.19 Information should be provided in advance to the family regarding conferences, the right to bring a friend, supporter (including an advocate) or solicitor (in role of supporter), details of any local advice and advocacy services and the conference complaints procedure. The information should be provided in a format that is accessible to the family members. 

4.20 The role of the supporter is to enable the parent/carer to put her/his point of view, not to take an adversarial position or cross-examine participants.

4.21 Those for whom English is not a first language must be offered and provided with an interpreter, if required. 

4.22 Provision should be made to ensure that visually or hearing impaired or otherwise disabled parents/carers are enabled to participate. 

4.23 A family member should not be expected to act as an interpreter of spoken or signed language. 

4.24 If parents/carers feel unable to attend the conference, alternative means should be provided for them to communicate with the chair of the conference. This might include providing the parent with independent assistance for views to be written or recorded for the conference or encouraging a parent/carer to appoint a Practitioner advocate or solicitor to attend on their behalf. 

4.25 Prior to the conference, the chair should meet with any family members to ensure they understand the process, This may, where the potential for conflict exists, involve separate meetings with the different parties. 

4.26 Exceptionally, it may be necessary to exclude one or more family members from a conference, in whole or in part. Where a parent attends only part of a conference as a result of exclusion, s/he must receive the record of the conference. The chair should decide if the entire record is provided or only that part attended by the excluded parent/carer (see section 7 for more information about the exclusion of family members).

Involving Children

4.27 All interaction and communication with the child during child protection enquiries, assessment and working with children and families must take account of: 

• The child's developmental stage and cognitive ability
• Whether the child has sufficient understanding of the process
• Whether s/he has expressed an explicit or implicit wish to be involved
• Parents' views about the child's proposed participation
• Whether inclusion is assessed to be of benefit to the child
• Factors such as race, culture, religion, gender and sexuality together with issues arising from disability and health
• The gender of any Practitioners particularly in cases of alleged sexual abuse. For example, a child should not be interviewed by a single Practitioner who is the same sex as the abuser.

Involving the child during the Child Protection enquiry

4.28 All children within the household must be seen alone and directly communicated with during an enquiry. 

4.29 The strategy discussion/meeting must decide where, when and how the children should be seen and if a video interview is required. 

4.30 A child with a significant physical injury should be seen on the same working day as the referral is received. 

4.31 Exceptionally, a joint enquiry team may need to speak to a suspected child victim without the knowledge of the parent or carer e.g. when there is a concern that the child would be threatened or coerced into silence, or where there is a strong likelihood that important evidence would be destroyed. 

4.32 Also when the child does not wish the parent to be involved, and is competent to take that decision then Children's Social Care and the Police may decide to speak to a suspected child victim without the knowledge of the parent or carer. 

4.33 Interviews with children require specific attention to process and this is set out in section 6.

Involving the child in Child Protection meetings

4.34 The child, subject to her/his level of understanding, needs to be given the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the conference. 

4.35 In practice, the appropriateness of including an individual child must be assessed in advance and relevant arrangements made to facilitate attendance at all or part of the conference. 

4.36 Where it is assessed, in accordance with the criteria below, that it would be inappropriate for the child to attend, alternative arrangements should be made to ensure her/his wishes and feelings are made clear to all relevant parties e.g. use of an advocate, written or taped comments.

Criteria for Presence of Child at Conference

4.37 The factors to be considered in deciding whether a child should attend a child protection meeting are the following: 

• Whether the child has sufficient understanding of the process
• Whether s/he has expressed an explicit or implicit wish to be involved
• Parents' views about the child's proposed participation
• Whether inclusion is assessed to be of benefit to the child 

4.38 The test of ‘sufficient understanding', is partly a function of age and partly the child's capacity to understand. 

4.39 In order to establish her/his wish with respect to attendance the child must be first provided with a full and clear explanation of purpose, conduct, membership of the conference and potential provision of an advocate or support person. 

4.40 Written information translated into the appropriate language should be provided to those able to read and an alternative medium, e.g. tape, offered those who cannot read. 

4.41 A declared wish by the child not to attend a conference (having been given such an explanation) must be respected. 

4.42 Consideration should be given to the views of and impact on parent/s of their child's proposed attendance. 

4.43 Consideration must be given to the impact of the conference on the child, e.g. if they have a significant learning difficulty or where it will be impossible to ensure they are kept apart from a parent who may be hostile and/or attribute responsibility onto them. Consideration must be given in particular to the extent to which it is appropriate for a child to hear details of a parent's personal difficulties and a parent's view about this must be respected. 

4.44 In such cases, energy and resources should be directed toward ensuring that by means of an advocate and/or preparatory work by a social worker, the child's wishes and feelings are effectively represented (see section 7).

Indirect Contributions when a Child is not Attending

4.45 Indirect contributions from a child should, whenever possible, include a pre-meeting with the conference chair. 

4.46 Other indirect methods include written statements, emails, text messages and taped comments prepared alone or with independent support, and representation e.g. via an advocate. 

4.47 Childcare practitioners should all be able to represent a child's views and the social worker has a particular responsibility to do so. It is more important that the child feels involved in the whole process of child protection assessment and planning rather than merely receiving an invitation to the conference.

Direct Involvement of a Child in a Conference

4.48 In advance of the conference, the chair and social worker should agree whether: 

• The child attends for all or part of the conference, taking into account confidentiality of parents and/or siblings
• S/he should be present with one or more of her/his parents
• The chair meets the child alone or with a parent/carer prior to the meeting 

4.49 If a child attends all or part of the conference, it is essential that s/he is prepared by the social worker or independent advocate who can help her/him prepare a report or rehearse any particular points that the child wishes to make. 

4.50 Those for whom English is not a first language should be offered and provided with an interpreter. 

4.51 Provision should be made to ensure that if the child has any form of disability s/he is enabled to participate. 

4.52 Consideration should be given to enabling the child to be accompanied by a supporter or an advocate.