3.10 Child Protection Conferences and the Child Protection Plan

1. Initial Child Protection Conferences

Following section 47 enquiries, an initial child protection conference brings together family members (and the child where appropriate), with the supporters, advocates, and practitioners most involved with the child and family, to make decisions about the child’s future safety, health and development. If concerns relate to an unborn child, consideration should be given as to whether to hold a child protection conference prior to the child’s birth.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of the child protection conference is to bring together and analyse, in a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary meeting, all relevant information and plan how best to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child and protect them from harm. It is the responsibility of the conference to make recommendations on how organisations and agencies work together to safeguard the child in future.

Practitioners and parents should be provided with clear and accurate information about the conference process to support effective planning. All practitioners should approach the work with parents and carers in line with the principles set out in chapter 1 of Working Together to Safeguard Children (Department for Education).

1.2 Conference tasks

Conference tasks include:

• appointing a lead statutory body (either local authority children’s social care or NSPCC) and a lead social worker, who should be experienced and an employee of the lead statutory body;
• identifying membership of the core group of practitioners and family members who will develop and implement the child protection plan;
• establishing timescales for meetings of the core group, production of a child protection plan and for child protection review meetings;
• agreeing an outline child protection plan, with clear actions and timescales, including a clear sense of how much improvement is needed, by when, so that success can be judged clearly.

1.3 Conference chair

The conference chair:

• is accountable to the Director of Children’s Services, where possible the same person should chair subsequent child protection reviews;
• should be a practitioner, independent of operational and/or line management responsibilities for the case;
• should meet the child and parents in advance to ensure they understand the issues, the purpose, the process, and possible outcomes of the conference;
• should be prepared to answer questions openly;
• should approach the work with parents and carers in line with the principles set out in chapter 1 of Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• should consider whether members of the family network should attend and participate in the conference;
• should ensure all participants are encouraged to contribute views independently.

1.4 Lead practitioners

Lead practitioners should:

• convene, attend, and present information about the reason for the conference, their understanding of the child’s needs, parental capacity, family and environmental context (including extra-familial contexts), and evidence of how the child has been abused, neglected, or exploited and its impact on their health and development;
• analyse the information to enable informed decisions about what action is necessary to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child who is the subject of the conference;
• share the conference information with the child and family beforehand (where appropriate);
• prepare a report for the conference on the child and family which sets out and analyses what is known about the child and family and the local authority’s recommendation;
• record conference decisions and recommendations and ensure action follows.

1.5 All involved practitioners

All involved practitioners should:

• work together to safeguard the child from harm in the future, taking timely, effective action according to the plan agreed;
• attend and present information about their understanding or the child’s needs, parental capacity, family, and environmental factors (including extra-familial contexts) and evidence of how the child has been abused, neglected, or exploited and its impact on their health and development;
• bring their agency perspective, expertise and challenge and contribute to decisions about actual or likely significant harm and actions to address by contributing to the plan to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child who is the subject of the conference.

1.6 Safeguarding partners

Safeguarding partners should:

• monitor the effectiveness of child protection conference arrangements.

2. The Child Protection Plan

2.1 Actions and responsibilities following the initial child protection conference

 2.1.1 Purpose

The aim of the child protection plan is to:

• ensure the child is safe from harm (including inside and outside of the home, and online) and prevent them from suffering further harm;
• promote the child’s health and development;
• support the parents, family, and the family network to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child;
• set out the support and resources to be provided by each agency to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child.

2.2 Children’s social care

Local authority children’s social care should:

• designate a social worker to be the lead practitioner as they carry statutory responsibility for the child’s welfare;
• consider the evidence and decide what legal action to take if any, where a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm;
• define the local protocol for timeliness of circulating plans after the child protection conference.

2.3 Lead practitioners

Lead practitioners should:

• be the lead for multi-agency and multi-disciplinary work with the child and family, co-ordinating the contribution of family members, including through family group decision-making such as family group conferences, and practitioners into putting the child protection plan into effect;
• support multi-agency and multi-disciplinary practitioners to contribute to the development of the outline child protection plan into a more detailed multi-agency plan and circulate to all relevant practitioners (and family where appropriate);
• ensure the child protection plan is aligned and integrated with any associated offender risk management plan;
• undertake direct work with the child and family in accordance with the child protection plan, taking into account the child’s wishes and feelings, and the views of the parents in so far as they are consistent with the child’s welfare;
• approach work with parents and carers in line with the principles set out in chapter 1 Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• complete the child’s and family’s in-depth assessment, securing contributions from core group members and other practitioners as necessary;
• undertake direct work with the family network, for example, through family group decision-making such as family group conferences, to consider how the family network can support the plan and update the plan accordingly;
• explain the plan to the child in a manner which is in accordance with their age and understanding and agree the plan with the child;
• if needed, inform the relevant embassy if the child has links to a foreign country;
• co-ordinate progress reviews against the planned outcomes set out in the plan, updating as required. The first review should be held within three months of the initial conference and further reviews at intervals of no more than six months for as long as the child remains subject of a child protection plan;
• record decisions and actions agreed at core group meetings as well as the written views of those who were not able to attend and follow up those actions to ensure they take place. The child protection plan should be updated as necessary;
• lead core group activity.

2.4 Core group

The core group should:

• meet within 10 working days from the initial child protection conference if the child is the subject of a child protection plan;
• further develop the outline child protection plan, based on assessment findings, and set out what needs to change, by how much, and by when in order for the child to be safe and have their needs met;
• decide what steps need to be taken, and by whom, to complete the in-depth assessment to inform decisions about the child’s safety and welfare;
• share information about relevant multi-agency and multi-disciplinary resources and services available, agree what should be provided to the child and parents as part of the plan and how this will be funded. Practitioners should agree how impact will be assessed;
• implement the child protection plan and take joint responsibility for carrying out the agreed tasks, monitoring progress and outcomes, and refining the plan as needed.

For more information see Core Groups procedure.

3. Child Protection Review Conference

The review conference procedures for preparation, decision-making and other procedures should be the same as those for an initial child protection conference.

3.1 Purpose

The purpose of a child protection review conference is to review whether the child is continuing to suffer or is likely to suffer significant harm and review developmental progress against child protection plan outcomes. It is to also consider whether the child protection plan should continue or should be changed.

3.2 Lead practitioners

Lead practitioners should:

• attend and lead the organisation of the conference;
• determine when the review conference should be held within three months of the initial conference, and thereafter at maximum intervals of six months;
• provide information to enable informed decisions about what action is necessary to continue to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child, and the effectiveness and impact of action taken so far;
• share the conference information with the child and family beforehand, where appropriate, and ensure that they understand the information provided;
• approach work with parents and carers in line with the principles set out in chapter 1 Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• engage the family network where this is appropriate to support the child. If there is family group decision-making, such as a family group conference, parents and family networks should have the opportunity to prepare for it in advance;
• record conference outcomes;
• decide whether to initiate family court proceedings (all the children in the household should be considered, even if concerns are only expressed about one child) if the child is considered to be suffering significant harm.

3.3 All involved practitioners

All involved practitioners should:

• attend, when invited, and provide details of their involvement with the child and family;
• produce reports for the child protection review. This information will provide an overview of work undertaken by family members and practitioners and evaluate the impact on the child’s welfare against the planned outcomes set out in the child protection plan;
• approach work with parents and carers in line with the principles set out in chapter 1 Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• be sufficiently skilled and experienced to prepare for and engage with the review, and able to critically assess and challenge their own and other’s input.

4. Discontinuing the Child Protection Plan

4.1 A child should no longer be the subject of a child protection plan

A child should no longer be the subject of a child protection plan if:

• it is judged that the child is no longer continuing to, or is likely to, suffer significant harm and therefore no longer requires safeguarding by means of a child protection plan;
• the child and family have moved permanently to another local authority area. In such cases, the receiving local authority should convene a child protection conference within 15 working days of being notified of the move. Only after this event may the original local authority discontinue its child protection;
• the child has reached the age of 18 years (to end the child protection plan, the local authority should have a review around the child’s birthday, and this should be planned in advance), has died, or has permanently left the United Kingdom.

4.2 Lead practitioners

Lead practitioners should:

• notify, as a minimum, all agency representatives who were invited to attend the initial child protection conference that led to the plan;
• seek input on the decision to discontinue from other core group members and ensure that all practitioners who are involved in supporting the child and parents are notified;
• consider whether support services are still required and discuss with the child, parents, family, and family network as appropriate what might be needed, based on a re-assessment of the child’s needs, including where this may involve transition between child and adult services.