For all children and young people in Devon aged 0-18 years old.

The results that we would expect: that these children and young people are protected from harm and helped to stay safe at home.This reflects the county council and social service duty to lead the work of all agencies in safeguarding the safety and wellbeing of children.

Outcomes that would be seen and experienced:

• Parents and children would have access to good quality advice and information about staying safe.
• People and circumstances that represent a serious risk to children are identified and responded to quickly and effectively.
• Parents who have difficulty, because of their own substance misuse, mental health or learning difficulties, in providing safe care for their children would feel helped to make changes.
• Children and families experiencing violence (in the home, bullying at school or from anti-social community behaviour) would receive help to bring about change.
• Children and young people who are especially vulnerable because of their ethnicity, sexuality or disability will have any special needs understood and responded to.
  

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Strategic Actions and Indicators table for Objective 1:

Strategic Actions:	Indicators:
1. Information and advice strategy	Strategy in place
2. Information sharing and assessment strategy (Children’s Trust)	Strategy in place
3. Private foster carers plan	Private foster care plan developed and implementation plan is appropriately funded
4. Specialist services to improve joint working with adult substance misuse and mental health services	Service specification, JDs, protocols & funding in place
5. Domestic violence strategy	Links established
6. Development of Safeguarding Board	Work on specification commenced
7. Guidance and monitoring of other local authorities and independent providers in relation to placements into Devon	Guidance in place and information out to providers
8. Commissioning strategy to support quality and provider monitoring	Strategy in place

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Locality Actions and Indicators table for Objective 1:

Locality Actions:

Indicators:

1. Fieldwork Teams Maintain 100% allocation of CP cases Improve allocation levels of LAC Staff recruitment & retention Skills mix Workload management Establish Integrated Help Desk Ensure Best Practice Supervision Policy Paperwork developments Practice manager development Training - PQ - induction 2. Independent Review Unit Service standards and reporting Links to independent advocacy 3. Resources Strategy for runaways Extend scrutiny through Corporate Parenting approaches 4. Business Support / SACS Improve speed and accuracy of case recording Ensure routine monitoring and reporting is in place in each locality

All Child Protection cases are allocated Volumes of family support services purchased against eligibility thresholds Duration of registration on CP register and levels of re-registration Number of adults with substance misuse problems involved in Child Protection cases and referred for specialised help Domestic violence police reporting levels Percentage of children from black and minority ethnic groups on the CP register

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The key partners that can help us achieve these changes:

• Parents, carers and children and young people.
• Communities: residents associations, neighbourhood watch schemes, wardens, voluntary agencies, faith communities.
• Health: Midwives, health visitors, GPs, A&Es, school nurses, public health, drug & alcohol, mental health services.
• Early years: nurseries, child-minders, family / children’s centres, play-schemes, Sure Start.
• Schools: teachers, tutors, SENCOs, head-teachers, Governors, education welfare officers.
• DCC & District councils: libraries, YOT, youth services, highways housing, planning, leisure & recreation departments, Connexions.
• Police: domestic violence, child protection, youth affairs officers.
  

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What research tells us about what can help us achieve these changes:

• Inter-agency information sharing, joint agency assessment and planning.
• Timely, skilled and appropriate multi-agency responses to children in need of protection.
• Named key workers able to co-ordinate information exchange and responses across agencies.
• Transparent and informed decision making that includes wider family and other key people.
• Presence of a reliable and supportive significant adult with an interest in the child, for example parent, carer, teacher.
• Access to appropriate advice and information where people can get it, when they want it and in a form they can understand and use.
• Safe and supportive communities (for example extended families, schools, estates, family/community centres, clubs & societies).
• Personal resilience and common sense gained through being valued and valuable and having opportunities to test out skills.
• Reduction of poverty and personal stressors.