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1.2.9 Child Protection Conferences including Standards for Conferences

AMENDMENT

This chapter was updated in August 2010 to take account of the changes in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010. The changes are shown in italics.

LONDON CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES

See London Child Protection Procedures, Section 8, Child Protection Conferences


Contents

  1. Parental Participation
  2. Child's Participation
  3. Social Worker's Report to Conference
  4. The Conference Process
  5. Monitoring
  6. Child Protection Conference Standards


1. Parental Participation

1.1 The social worker's report to the Conference should include, wherever possible, the parent's signature, which must be timed and dated. This is now included in the template for the social worker's report.
1.2 This does not mean that the social worker's report should not be circulated to the Conference Chair prior to the Conference. An unsigned copy of the report can be sent to the Conference Chair in advance of the Conference and the social worker can then give a signed copy to the Conference Chair or the minute-taker on the day of the Conference. 
1.3 The original signed copy of the report should be retained on the child's file and a copy filed on the Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Unit's file.
1.4 At the beginning of each Conference, the Chair will include in his or her opening statement specific comments about whether or not he or she has met with the parent(s) and whether or not the parent(s) have seen the social worker's report before the Conference, and if so, when this happened. 
1.5 This information will be recorded in the standard Conference minutes as part of the Chair's introduction, i.e. "I have met with the parents in advance of the Conference and they have confirmed that they had sight of the Conference report in advance of the Conference and understand the contents". Of course, this does not necessarily mean that they agree with the contents.
1.6 Ideally, the social worker should introduce the Conference Chair to the parent(s) before the start of the Conference. Social workers and Conference Chairs must ensure that they arrive at the Conference venue 30 minutes before the start time to enable this to happen.


2. Child's Participation

2.1 Where possible and/or appropriate, the social worker should share the general principles of the report for the Conference with the child. This should be undertaken sensitively and information should be shared according to the child's level of understanding in an age appropriate manner.
2.2 To improve the participation by children in Conferences, all children over the age of 14 should be invited to the conference, unless there is evidence that this is not appropriate or not the wishes of the child. The same consideration should be given to younger children, but social workers must be assured that the child's attendance would be helpful for the child and in accordance with his or her wishes and not a distressing process for them. 
2.3 Where it is considered appropriate to invite the child, their name and contact details should be included on the Invitation List completed by the social worker (see Paragraph 4.1 below).
2.4 Where a child is to attend a Conference, the Conference Chair must be notified in advance so that he or she can meet the child before the Conference. 
2.5 Also the social worker and Conference Chair should discuss and agree before the Conference which part of the meeting the child will attend. Arrangements should then be in place for the child to remain safely elsewhere in the building or to be collected when he or she leaves the Conference room, if the Conference has not ended.


3. Social Worker's Report to Conference

3.1 The social worker's report must, wherever possible, be agreed and signed by the parent (see Section 1, Parental Participation above). 
3.2 Reports to Child Protection Conferences should include the date(s) when the child was seen alone by the Lead Social Worker and, if not seen alone, who was present and the reasons for their presence.
3.3 The practice supervisor or the social worker's Team Manager should also sign the report. 
3.4 The social worker should send a copy of the report to the Conference Chair in advance of the Conference.


4. The Conference Process

4.1 The social worker should complete the Invitation List for the Conference. Failure to do so often means the conference is inquorate and therefore will result in a report to the social worker's Team Manager or, if necessary, Service Manager.
4.2 The child's social worker and the Conference Chair should meet before the Conference and should arrive at the Conference venue 30 minutes before the start time of the Conference to enable this to happen. The social worker should also introduce the Conference Chair to the parent(s) and child (if attending).
4.3 Conferences will commence at the agreed time and all agencies will be notified of this expectation and asked to arrive in advance of the Conference to read the relevant reports.
4.4 The Conference Chair will ensure that all attendees are alerted to the location of fire exits at the venue.
4.5 The Conference Chair will seek clarification at the beginning of the Conference that the information pertaining to the family, i.e. spelling of names, dates of birth addresses etc. contained in the social worker's report and Southwark files are correct.
4.6 The Conference Chair will ascertain at the beginning of the Conference if there are any person(s) who should not receive copies of the decisions and minutes (i.e. this information would place the child at risk of Significant Harm) or should receive only parts of the decisions and minutes (e.g. information pertaining to that person's child or children only).
4.7 Where a Conference Chair recommends that either legal action or legal advice is required, there must be clarity as to what is being recommended, i.e. Supervision Order, Emergency Protection Order, Interim Care Order, Child Assessment Order. If the Chair is of the view that immediate action must be taken to safeguard the child away from the family, he or she must convey this directly to the social worker's Team Manager. Good practice means that this should be via verbal communication. E-mails should only be used to communicate this type of information where the Team Manager is not available. Even then efforts should be made to verbally communicate the concern to the Service Manager. Also, if any other legal action or advice is required, the Conference Chair should communicate this directly to the Team manager.
4.8 If the relevant Team Manager disagrees with the recommendation of the Conference Chair in respect of the above, they should put their reasons in writing to the Conference Chair. A copy of any such correspondence/record of communication should be placed on the child's file and the Quality Assurance Unit's file.
4.9 The decision/recommendation sheet identifies overall objectives for the Child Protection Plan, the tasks to be undertaken, by whom and by what date.


5. Monitoring

5.1 The Quality Assurance Unit administrative staff and Conference Chairs are required to complete a Monitoring Form at each Conference. The information collated from this will assist in reporting back to Team Managers, the Southwark Safeguarding Children Board and to the Child Protection Standards Forum.
5.2 Team Managers will be given copies of completed Monitoring Forms where concerns arise.


6. Child Protection Conference Standards

6.1 Conference Preparation
1. In order for the smooth running of child protection conferences all participants to a conference must be available 30 minutes before the scheduled start time.
2. Social workers, their line manager and the Conference Chair should make time to meet/discuss a case as much in advance of the conference as possible when: a participant may be excluded; there is a significant risk to any conference members; there are other health and safety issues.
3. Social workers, their line manager and the Conference Chair should make time to meet/discuss a case at least the day before a conference when: a detailed briefing to the Conference Chair will help the process of the conference (major changes, practice concerns etc.). 
4. Social workers, their line manager and Conference Chairs must meet in the conference room 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of the conference. This is a brief pre-meeting with the purpose of making sure all the arrangements are in place and any last minute problems or health and safety issues are clarified and the Conference Chair can clarify any issues about the CP Report, it having been available on ICS well in advance (24 hours for initial conferences, 10 days for reviews).
5. Social workers along with conference administrators should be ensuring that professionals that arrive are acknowledged and given any reports to be read in sufficient time.
6. All agencies are asked to arrive 30 minutes beforehand in order to read reports and to allow the conference to commence on time. The social worker and/or conference administrator are required to ensure the social work report is available in hard copy in sufficient quantities 30 minutes before the conference begins.
7. The London CP Procedures details a number of points about conference preparation but the most important aspects are adequate preparation by social workers of parents for conferences and sharing reports well beforehand not on the day of the conference.
8. A key part of the preparation for a conference is understanding the child care needs of the parent and helping them make alternative arrangements for looking after or picking up their children if necessary although the planning of conferences should consider this. Young children, even babies, in the care of their parents  should not be present at conferences.


6.2 Conference Management
9. All child protection conferences MUST start at the scheduled time
10. In the event of a parent being late the conference should start on time and meeting briefly adjourned while the Chair chooses how to introduce the parent into the conference
11. In the event of an agency being late the conference should start on time and if the agency arrives the Chair will choose how best for the agency to catch up on the information. It should be explained to the agency that the conference to read reports.
12. In the event of a conference being inquorate the conference should commence and follow inquoracy guidelines as set out in the London Child Protection Procedures, Section 8, Child Protection Conferences This will be regarded as a conference and held as much such as possible under the circumstances. The next review should be held within one month unless there is good reason otherwise.
13. In the event of no agencies turning up an executive conference should take place as 5 above.
14. Agencies are requested in invites to attend conferences 30 minutes before in order to read any reports. Agency professionals will be shown into conference room by the conference administrator.


6.3 Parental Attendance
15. Chairs must be available to meet with parents 30 minutes before the conference. The letter to all parents asks them to attend 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time.  Social workers should encourage this especially  for initial conferences.
16. If there is conflict between 4 and 15 above, 14 must take precedence and 4. should be managed around this.
17. If the parents arrive before the start of the conference they should be spoken to by the Chair in a private interview room. If this is not possible then the Chair must as best as possible find a space to talk to the parent in confidence.
18. It is recognised that this is not ideal practice and there could be potential problems here. The current practicalities and limitations of conference rooms and other available space make this approach necessary. This places greater emphasis on the preparation process by social workers. Where issues may be anticipated social workers should ensure there is a private interview room booked before the conference if possible.


6.4 After the Conference
19. The priority for the Chair and conference administrator following the conference is to produce the Child Protection Conference Record. They will move as quickly as possible from the conference room to a computer to begin this process on ICS
20. The Chair will complete a Child Protection Standards Monitoring Form following the conference and include the social worker in very brief discussion about this. If more detailed discussion is needed about any aspect of this another appointment will need to be scheduled.


6.5 Conference Cancellations
Southwark Safeguarding Children Board and the Director of Specialist Children's Services and Safeguarding requires that the following procedure is strictly adhered to in order for all conferences to happen within statutory timescales. No agreement will be given for a conference to happen outside statutory timescales for any reason.
21. All managers and workers must minimise the need for cancelling and re-arranging child protection conferences. Cancellations generally cause more work and inconvenience.
22. If a request is made to cancel a conference managers are expected to look at alternatives to this. For example if a social worker cannot attend the practice manager should manage the process so the report is prepared in advance and available for the conference with the practice manager attending to speak to it.
23. If following this above a cancellation still seems appropriate, a discussion should be held with the Chair prior to agree the cancellation and schedule other possible dates for the re-arranged conference within statutory timescales. 
24. If following this it is agreed it is appropriate to request a cancellation, the appropriate form (available from QA) should be completed and signed by a Team Manager and this forwarded to the QA Manager for consideration. The Team Manager must check the proposed re-arranged dates are within statutory timescales. 
25. Only a QAU Manager has the authority to cancel a pre-arranged conference in order for it to be re-arranged. Until this agreement is gained the conference must proceed at the scheduled time.
26. Late cancellations will result in the social work team being asked to contact all professionals and the family informing them of the cancellation and the new date.
27. Pay special attention to:
  1. first reviews
  2. conferences for sibling groups were one has recently become subject of a Child Protection Plan.
  3. initial conferences were a child has been made subject of a Child Protection Plan at birth

End