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2.4.10 Social Work Visits to Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This Chapter was issued in October 2009 , and amended March 2010, to include relevant Practice Standards (see Section 8, Practice Standards).

Section 3 was further amended in respect of Frameworki recording in January 2011.

This Chapter relates to social work visits to Children subject to a Child Protection Plan.

For social work visits to Children in Care, see Social Work Visits to Looked After Children Procedure.


Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Undertaking Home Visits
  3. Home Monitoring Visits Where Children are not Seen
  4. Proposed Strategies: Action to be Taken if a Child is not Seen by Social Worker within 4 Weeks
  5. Action to be Taken if a Child is not Seen for 6 Weeks by any Agency
  6. Recording Home Visits
  7. Monitoring of Performance
  8. Practice Standards


1. Introduction

The following procedures are minimum standards in ensuring that children who are subject to a Child Protection Plan are properly visited and monitored.

The London Child Protection Procedures target for minimum standards on home visiting of children with a Child Protection Plan is 6 weekly. Haringey has set a minimum requirement for reaching this standard by ensuring that home visits are undertaken to see all such children every four weeks unless the Child Protection Plan requires more frequent monitoring. Social workers are required to follow the home monitoring visiting patterns laid out in the Child Protection Plan if this requires more than one visit in any one calendar month.

There is also an expectation that children are to be seen by a member of the Core Group every 10 working days, e.g. School, Nursery, Health Visitor.

It is the social worker's responsibility to ensure all children with a Child Protection Plan should be visited within their homes as part of the continued monitoring and assessment of risk. During such visit, the child should be seen and spoken to alone (dependent on age).

It is a Team Manager's responsibility to ensure that all children subject to Child Protection Plans within their team are visited to the frequency required by their plans, and to ensure that alternative visiting arrangements are in place during the allocated social worker's absence on leave.


2. Undertaking Home Visits

Social workers should be clear with the family regarding the purpose of the visit.

Social workers must ensure children's bedrooms are seen at least once between each Child Protection Conference.  This is a minimum requirement, and where the child is subject to a Child Protection Plan because of concerns about neglect the bedroom should be seen on each occasion, as should the kitchen/food preparation area and bathroom/toilet.

With parental agreement, children should be seen alone to ascertain their views. Consideration to the use of an interpreter for talking with children where English is not the first language should be addressed as part of the Child Protection Plan.

Babies should be seen awake as a minimum once every calendar month; a Core Group member should see the baby every 10 working days.

Following any social work visit, the Child Protection Home Visiting Report should be completed for all children who have a Child Protection Plan - see Section 6, Recording of Home Visits.


3. Home Monitoring Visits Where Children are not Seen

If a home visit to a child with a Child Protection Plan is undertaken and the child is not seen the social worker should discuss this with his or her Team Manager within 24 hours. The Team Manager should set a timeframe for a further visit to be undertaken within 5 working days either by the social worker or a duty worker. This visit should not be recorded on frameworki as a child protection visit as it does not then meet the criteria for such a visit.

If a child is still not seen after the further visit is undertaken, the social worker should discuss this again with a Team Manager or Team Manager within 24 hours.

The social worker should undertake checks with other agencies to establish if the child has been seen during the last two weeks whilst attending school or nursery, or whether any other professional during the course of his or her duties has seen the child.

The social worker, Team Manager or duty social worker should attempt to make contact with the family directly or through any other agency and ensure that a visit is undertaken within 24 hours of the last visit.

If the social worker (Keyworker) has difficulty obtaining direct access to the child, the relevant Head of Service/Child Protection Manager should be informed as well as other Core Group Members.

In these circumstances formal agreement must be reached that a member of another agency carry out the face to face contact, or that a Child Protection Review Conference is called. Such a decision must be recorded and authorised by managers of the agencies concerned.

Also see: London Child Protection Procedures: Working with Unco-operative Families


4. Proposed Strategies: Action to be Taken if a Child is not Seen by a Social Worker within 4 Weeks

If a child is not seen by a social worker during a period of 4 weeks, the Senior Team Manager or Team Manager must make contact with the family either by telephone or letter within 3 working days to set up a meeting with the parent within 3 working days of the telephone contact or letter being sent.

The social worker and Team Manager should meet with the parent and discuss the importance of social work visits to monitor any child with a Child Protection Plan. A written agreement should be drawn up regarding future home monitoring visits by social work staff.

The social worker should inform the Core Group of the difficulties in obtaining direct access to the child or children.


5. Action to be Taken if a Child is not Seen for 6 Weeks by any Agency

Where the child has not been seen for 6 weeks by any agency involved with the family, a Core Group meeting should be set up, chaired by a Team Manager or Senior Team Manager to discuss an action plan for seeing the family. If necessary, alternative strategies should be put in place to establish the best opportunity to engage with the family, for example through a teacher or health visitor, if this brings a solution to seeing the child.

The social worker should also discuss this action plan with the Conference Chair who is responsible for chairing the Child Protection Review Conference for the particular child.

Where a child continues not to be seen, a Legal Planning Meeting should be requested to establish whether the parents should be alerted  of the local authority's heightened concerns for the child's safety  by the issuing of a Letter before Proceedings (in accordance with the Public Law Outline). For further information see also the Court Business Procedure. 

AT ANY STAGE IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT THE CHILD MAY BE SUFFERING SIGNIFICANT HARM CONSIDERATION SHOUD BE GIVEN TO MAKING THE APPROPRIATE APPLICATION TO THE COURT TO SAFEGUARD THE CHILD. 


6. Recording Home Visits

  • Time and date of every home visit stating who was present, confirming the Keyworker spoke with the child or providing a clear reason why not.
  • Any information gained or observations made during the visit relevant to the identified risks to the child. If the view about the risks has worsened greatly this should be discussed with a manager as soon as possible.
  • Circumstances of all family members
  • Specific information about key subjects such as sleeping arrangements
  • Factual reports of the child's presentation and behaviour
  • Any new incidents or injuries which must be subject to full Section 47 Enquiry


7. Monitoring of Performance

It is a social worker's responsibility to ensure that children subject to Child Protection Plans are visited and seen in accordance with the plan, and a Team Manager's responsibility to ensure that the visits have taken place.

Data improvement officers support this process by providing Team Managers with a weekly report identifying all children subject to a Child Protection Plan in the team who have not been visited within the previous 21 days.

Data improvement officers also provide the Head of Service, Assistant Director and Deputy Director with a monthly list of all children subject to Child Protection Plans who have not been seen in the previous calendar month. The list will include:

  • The child's name
  • The allocated social worker
  • The age of the child
  • The grounds on which the child is subject to Child Protection Plans
  • The date that the child was last seen
  • The reasons why the child was not seen


8. Practice Standards

The Practice Standards relevant to this Chapter are:

  • The focus of all my work is to maximise the safety of the child
  • Any difficulties in implementing the plan are raised with my manager
  • I continue to assess and re-assess the needs of the child - I can answer the question 'what's it like to be this child in this family'
  • Parents and carers understand what changes they need to make and are supported to do so
  • Visits are made in accordance with the child protection plan and at least every four weeks
  • Visits are purposeful and focus on the identified risks - each visit adds to the knowledge about the child and helps in further understanding
  • I ensure I see the child on their own where appropriate
  • I check the kitchen cupboards, toilets, bathroom and bedrooms as needed especially where neglect is an issue
  • The core group meets regularly and they have developed a detailed written agreement with clarity about the role of all the agencies and the parents to ensure delivery of the child protection plan
  • Reports for conferences are prepared at least five days before a conference and shared with parents, carers and children/young people in advance
  • As a key worker, I meet with the CPA at least two days prior to the conference to discuss the key issues in the case

End