Contents
Paramountcy principle
There is no single piece of legislation that covers ‘Child Protection’ or ‘Safeguarding’ in the UK. The Children’s Act 1989 provides the framework for the care and protection of children up until their 18th birthday.
It defines parental responsibility and encourages partnership working with parents. Working together 2015 and 2018 strengthen the message given of interagency working.
This is where it is stated that ‘the child’s welfare is paramount when making any decisions about a child’s upbringing and the court must ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child and shall not make an order unless this is ‘better for the child than making no order at all’
Sections of the Children’s Act
Section 17: Provision of Service for Children in Need
A child in need is defined as a child who is unlikely to achieve or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired, without the provision of services; or a child is disabled.
Assessments under Section 17 will be undertaken by Social Care, these may also cover children in relation to their special educational needs, or as a carer or because they have committed a crime. They should be undertaken for children whose parents are in prison or for asylum-seeking children. These assessments are only undertaken with the consent of parents.
What this means for schools.
Families must consent when they need the support of agencies under Section 17. Any assessment may result in support being offered under S17, the assessment itself is shared with the family. If specific information is required from other parties during the assessment specific consent must be sought from the family. If the family does not give consent consideration would be given to what is the impact on the child of the family not engaging in the process.
Educational settings should be involved in any plan made for support.
Section 20: Co-operative Agreement into Care
This may occur when children who need accommodation because there is no one with Parental responsibility, because they are lost or abandoned or because the person who has been caring for them is prevented from providing them with suitable care or accommodation. This is a voluntary co-operative arrangement between the Local Authority and the parents OR Young Person if over 16.
Section 46: Police Powers Order
This occurs when a police officer has reasonable cause to believe that a child could otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm if allowed to remain to their current circumstances.
The Police are able under this order to remove the child to suitable accommodation or take reasonable steps to ensure that the child’s removal from any hospital or other place in which the child is then being accommodated is prevented.
No child may be kept in police protection for more than 72 hours.
Section 47: Duty to investigate
Where there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, the local authority is required to make enquiries to enable it to decide whether it should take any action to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child.
It is usual for a Section 47 investigation to be initiated from a strategy meeting when the decision is made for either a single agency (CSC) or joint agency (CSC/police) visit.
What this means for schools:
Consent of families is not required to share information under S47 – there is a duty to share as the threshold of significant harm has been met.
Education should be an active member of the strategy meeting and would be expected to share concerns, strengths and be part of the discussion to decide is the child safe now? how can we support to keep them safe?, and what further information is needed?
During the assessment a decision will be made to either hold an Initial Case Conference (ICPC) to identify if the child should be placed on a Care Plan, or that the threshold has not been met of significant harm and the case placed at CiN (section 17) or support provided via Early Help.
Public Law Outline (PLO)
When social services are very concerned about the welfare of a child, the social worker may wish to consider taking the case to Court so they can make Court Orders to protect the child.
PLO stands for ‘Public Law Outline’, a set of rules which tells social workers how to deal with these sorts of cases.
The Public Law Outline rules say that when social workers are thinking that they may need to go to
Court they should invite the parents to a meeting to discuss their concerns. This is also known as a “pre-proceedings” meeting.
This meeting considers what needs to be done to protect the child from harm, and how an agreement can be reached to ensure this. The aim here is to see if any problems can be fixed without needing to go to Court.
The PLO process usually lasts for around 3 months but can be extended if there is any outstanding work that needs to be completed.
Further information
DSCP: Conference paperwork
NSPCC Learning: Child Protection System for England
Working Together to Safeguard Children
Child Protection Procedures for the Southwest Region: Procedures online