If a child protection conference decides that a child needs a child protection plan to keep them safe and promote their development, their case will be allocated to a child protection unit.
Who is in the Child Protection Units?
1 x Consultant Social Worker
1 x Social Worker
1 x Child Practitioner
1 x Therapeutic Worker
1 x Unit Coordinator
The child protection units will be responsible for the implementation of the child protection plan along with parents and other key professionals who will make up the Core Group.
The views of the parents and children will be sought at the child protection conference. These views are taken into account and contribute to the child protection planning process. Parents will be invited to attend all relevant meetings, as will children if deemed age appropriate (usually around 10 years old). If the parents or children are unable to attend the meeting the form sent out with the meeting invite can be used to express individuals views. This form must be returned to the child protection conference administration team.
Child protection conference administration team postal address: Children's Services Centre Atkinson Drive Newport Isle of Wight PO30 2LS
A child protection plan is a list of actions with details of who is to carry out these actions, and over what timescale.
Core group meetings will be held a minimum of six weekly and the child protection plan will be reviewed at this meeting.
There will be a review child protection conference held within 3 months of the initial child protection conference and if the outcome is for continued child protection planning subsequent reviews will be held within 6 months of each conference until an alternative plan or case closure occurs.
Child protection intervention is deemed as compulsory intervention; this means there is an expectation of all core group members to be committed to the implementation of the child protection plan.
The child protection unit will also review and update the core assessment, which identifies the services to keep the child safe in the future.
Possible outcomes for the child protection planning process:
If all aspects of the child protection plan have been successfully implemented and there are no further concerns of significant harm – the case may be closed. Once the case has been closed, arrangements will normally be made for further support to continue and be provided by the professionals. e.g. school, health services, children centres.
If all aspects of the child protection plan have been successfully implemented, the family may identify that they still have a need for on-going support through universal services, e.g. school, health services, children centres etc. their case may be stepped down to CAF and a lead professional will be identified. CAF is a formal and voluntary plan in which different agencies commit themselves to support the family.
If a conference decides that the child is no longer at risk of significant harm and further social work involvement is necessary and case focus will be on the child needs. The child protection unit will continue to hold these cases for an identified period.
If a child protection plan cannot be implemented, and the child remains at risk of significant harm a legal planning meeting may be held which can lead to court action.
Outcomes of a legal planning meeting
In most cases before taking the case to court the pre-proceedings phase will be entered into. This is an agreement between the local authority and parents leading to an action plan agreed in the presence of legal representation for all parties. This is usually a short term plan.
If the risk of harm has been assessed as immediate risk or considered to be too high to be managed safely with parents then an application will be made to the court to determine how best to keep the child safe. This may mean placing the child outside of the family home with extended family or friends or with Foster Carers.