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Overview of ASF
School Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) will receive information from Devon and Cornwall police when an officer has attended an incident where children are involved, present or live in the property and there is a safeguarding concern for that child.
There are a number of different ways that the school may receive this information:
Child at Risk Alert (CARA)
The CARA is an automated download of all red, amber and 3 green in 3 months (escalating concern) ViSTs for a particular area (i.e. Devon). This download happens every morning and the data is taken from the police’s crime and intelligence system Unifi for the last 24 hours. This information is then shared with social care, health and education. The CARA is sent to our team who then forward the information to the school that the child attends.
The CARA contain the ViST information as submitted by frontline officers but it is not assessed by CST (Central Safeguarding Team) so no further research will be conducted. Green ViSTs will not appear on the CARA unless there has been 3 green ViSTs in the last 3 months.
The MASH team review all of the VIST information on the CARA.
Vulnerability identification Screening Tool (ViST)
A ViST form is submitted whenever a police officer identifies a person (adult or child) with care or support needs and / or is at risk of abuse or exploitation. This ViST is then graded green, amber or red. Red, amber and 3 green ViSTs in 3 months (escalating concern) are reviewed by the CST (Central Safeguarding Team) who conduct and include additional relevant research and decides if the additional information and the parents information needs to be shared and with whom – for example MASH.
However, if a ViST is graded as green but relates to Domestic Abuse, this information WILL shared with the school via Operation Encompass and that VIST WILL be upgraded to an amber and appear on the CARA the following day.
Designated safeguarding leads who are involved with a child through Early Help may be sent a ViST from MASH.
Operation Encompass
An alert system between police and education. Operation encompass will contact the key adult in the school the next school day following a domestic incident where police are called and children are present or live in the house.
Things to remember
- It is important to make a log of the information received on the child’s safeguarding file, as this helps to build the picture of what life looks like for the child.
- ViST and CARA’s must not be downloaded to the safeguarding file at this information is confidential and ‘owned’ by the police.
- Schools should record a summary of the key information and include any log numbers or crime numbers to enable this information to be identified in the future.
- This information should only be shared with key staff as and when appropriate.
- This summary of information can be shared alongside the child’s safeguarding chronology if and when a child moves education provision.
- If the child is accessing alternative education, it is the schools responsibility to share this information if appropriate.
- Police information should not be shared as part of data request unless consent has been granted by the police. Please contact your data protection officer (DPO) for guidance and support.
Further information
Operation Encompass – includes online training.
Devon and Cornwall Police