Foreword
Welcome to the spring edition of Keeping Our Children Safe.
As the independent chair and scrutineer for the HSCP, I know it has been a very busy few months for the partnership. We have published the HSCP Training Brochure for 2023-24 and launched several toolkits for professionals – and parent/carers. A relatively new initiative, our focus on providing tools and resources for parents ensures that safeguarding messages are reaching all our audiences for as much impact as possible.
The latest Training Brochure features all the fully funded multi-agency events that are available to practitioners, including virtual courses, face-to-face courses, webinars, workshops and eLearning materials. Since its inception in mid-2020, the online aspect of our training has grown substantially, with over 10,500 professionals registered with a training account and over 21,500 training sessions being accessed. If you have not yet registered for a free training account, please click here to register now.
The Harmful Practices Toolkit was launched on 6 February, which also marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The Toolkit provides practical resources to identify and respond to children who have experienced, or are at risk of, harm related to a harmful practice, including breast ironing/flattening, ‘honour’ based abuse, forced marriage, child abuse linked to faith & Belief and FGM.
March saw the launch of the Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS) Safeguarding Children Partnerships Child Sexual Abuse Strategy and associated online Toolkit. The HIPS Child Sexual Abuse Strategy aims to provide a co-ordinated approach to preventing child sexual abuse, and improve the identification, protection, and support for victims, survivors and their families. There were some really great inputs on this day to support the implementation of the strategy and I looking forward to local implementation updates.
And in recognition of the negative impact, ongoing and unresolved parental conflict can have on children’s mental health and long-term life chances, a Strengthening Parental Relationships Toolkit for practitioners was launched last month. The Toolkit equips professionals with the tools to identify and work with families where parental conflict might be becoming destructive. A Parent & Carer’s Strengthening Parental Relationships Toolkit was also launched for professionals to signpost families for further help and resources.
Do take some time to browse through these valuable resources and please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions at hscp@hants.gov.uk.
Scott MacKechnie
Independent Chair and Scrutineer
Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
HSCP provides a range of multi-agency