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5 Children in Need of Care and Protection
5.1 Where a child's health or well-being are considered to be at risk, there is a duty on services to offer support, so that the parent can provide the necessary level of care. If the child is considered to be at risk of serious harm, a child protection review may decide to remove the child.
However, children affected by parental substance misuse can be hard to reach. It is sometimes only when the harm becomes so serious that child protection and/or statutory care agencies become involved.
The Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) is undertaking a review of services and outcomes for looked-after children. This review has had a wide scope, including issues of kinship care. "Getting our Priorities Right" provides guidance for working with children and families affected by substance misuse. Many of the themes of the "Hidden Harm" Report are already addressed in this guidance.
Key issues in relation to children in need of care and protection Best practice means: - paramount consideration being given to the welfare and well-being of the child;
- ensuring that children of substance misusing parents have their needs recognised, assessed and, where appropriate, receive services which meet their needs at an early stage. Agencies should not wait until children are considered to be at risk from harm;
- ensuring that, if a child may be at risk of harm, this overrides any agency requirements for confidentiality. Perceptions of services in both the statutory and the voluntary sector persist that sharing of information continues to be an area of concern because of confidentiality issues;
- recognising that children may hide problems, even serious ones, because they are afraid of losing their parents, and that parents may be reluctant to seek help because they are afraid of losing their children; and
- all agencies having clear child protection procedures when children are thought to be at immediate and/or serious risk of harm.
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5.2 Key Action Points
The Executive will undertake the following action to promote best practice in relation to children in need of care and protection. We will:
- legislate to introduce a duty to share information where necessary to protect children - in 2006-2007;
- legislate to implement the great majority of the Adoption Policy Review Group's recommendations, which will create a new Permanence Order that offers greater stability to children in foster care - late 2006;
- ensure that Chief Officers of local authorities, NHS Boards and Chief Constables respond to Ministerial requests for assurances that they are taking all reasonable steps to identify all children who are adversely affected by drug abuse, that their needs have been assessed and that plans to meet these needs are being implemented. The Chief Medical Officer will write to NHS Boards and GP practices reminding them of the need for care planning and information sharing in relation to families where there are child protection concerns - Spring 2006;
- roll out, across Scotland, a framework for automated messages to be sent to all practitioners involved whenever the social work system records a formal child protection activity - by March 2007. (This approach was piloted through one of the "Modernising Government Fund" 2 eCare projects.);
- through SWIA, conduct a pilot multi-agency inspection of substance misuse services, which will include the impact of these services on the children of clients - in 2006;
- make sure that all ADATs and Child Protection Committees have in place local protocols and policies for joint working across agencies with children and families affected by substance misuse, as set out in "Getting our Priorities Right" - ongoing;
- actively promote partnerships between local statutory agencies and voluntary organisations, given the important role that the latter play in tackling "Hidden Harm" - ongoing;
- continue to encourage agencies, including those whose primary focus is on adults, to make sure that their staff have access to appropriate training, including multi-agency training where appropriate - ongoing;
- monitor the impact of the extra £12m provided to local authorities for investment in local fostering services to make sure that it meets the aims of improving recruitment, retention and placement choice - ongoing;
- consider the findings of the audit of foster care commissioned from The Fostering Network, which includes recommendations about training, placement limits and allowances, and action as appropriate - in 2006; and
- develop a new national fostering strategy - 2006-2007.
5.3 Further action required
As part of the continuing implementation of "Hidden Harm - Next Steps" the Executive and local agencies will need to consider the following future action:
- explore possible facilities for children and young people so that they can access direct help for themselves. Possible services might include telephone help lines, text servicing and interactive websites.
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