Learning from Reviews

Date: Tuesday, 12th Sep 2023 | Category: Training

Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) fulfils a number of statutory functions including co-ordinating the multi-agency safeguarding system in Hampshire and undertaking reviews of serious safeguarding cases.

When a child dies, or is seriously harmed, as a result of abuse or neglect, the case may be referred to the HSCP Learning and Inquiry Group (LIG) who can commission a Child Safeguarding Practice review to identify how local professionals and agencies might improve the way they work together to safeguard children and identify effective practice.

Where the criteria for a Child Safeguarding Practice Review are not met, learning and effective practice may still be identified and a local learning event may be undertaken. Key messages from recent local learning events are shared below for practitioners, who work with children and families, to review and apply to practice.

Working Together and Sharing Information

• Share information in a timely way, ensure the person receiving the information understands what the information means and its implications.
• Seek information from partner agencies in a way that allows them to understand what you are looking for.
• Don’t assume that important information is already known to other agencies.
• Use chronologies for complex cases, to ensure that you are sharing information and your analysis of risk clearly.
• If there are any changes to agreed actions on a Child Protection Plan, seek agreement from the allocated social worker and ensure the change is communicated to the core group.

Think Family

• Remember to perform careful risk assessments when a family is not engaging with your service, referring to the HSCP Child and Family Engagement Guidance and the HIPS Procedures website for further information.
• Seek to understand the unique experience of each child in a family. The ‘Day in my Life’ tools can support this.
• Consider the impact of parent orientated issues (such as mental health issues and substance misuse) on children, ensuring a full view of parenting strengths and challenges.

Child Sexual Abuse

• Be aware of possible signs/indicators of child sexual abuse, supported by the HIPS Child Sexual Abuse Strategy and Toolkit.
• Be curious about who is involved in the care of a child or has unsupervised contact. The HSCP Understanding Unidentified Adults Toolkit provides resources to support professionals.
• Where there are concerns that an adult may present a risk to children, be curious about children that the adult is having contact with and any change to the adult’s circumstances.
• Share information about ‘Sarah’s Law’ (Child Sex Offence Disclosure Scheme) with parents, so that they are aware and supported in making an informed decision about adults involved in their child’s care.