| PART 2: PROMOTING
INTER-AGENCY CO-OPERATION - ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES |
| 2.1 All
agencies which work with children have a shared
responsibility for protecting children and safeguarding
their welfare. Each has a different contribution to make
to this common task. |
| 2.2 Children
rarely contact police or social workers directly about
abuse. Most child protection referrals come from other
agencies, such as schools or primary health care
professionals, or from the public, often parents and
relatives, friends and neighbours. The police and social
work services rely on others in contact with children to
tell them about concerns and to pass on information given
by children. Agencies should promote public awareness
about risks to children and work towards developing trust
between members of the public and professionals.
Professionals should inform members of the public that
they have an obligation to pass information about child
abuse to agencies with statutory responsibilities to make
inquiries, such as the social work service, the police or
the Reporter, and that confidentiality cannot be
guaranteed if a child may be at risk of significant harm. |
| |
| The
statutory agencies |
| 2.3 The
local authority social work services have statutory
duties to protect children. When the local authority
receives information which suggests that a child may be
in need of compulsory measures of supervision, social
work services will make inquiries and give the Reporter
any information which they have been able to discover
about the child. Local authorities have a duty to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in
their area and, so far as is consistent with that duty,
to promote the upbringing of children by their families,
by providing a range and level of services appropriate to
the children’s needs. Some children who have
experienced abuse or neglect will need continuing support
from the local authority, including specialist services
and counselling. Some may need to be looked after by the
local authority. Local authorities’ criminal justice
services also have responsibilities for the supervision
and management of risk from adults who have committed
offences against children.(7) |
| 2.4 The
police have a general duty to protect the public and to
investigate on behalf of the Procurator Fiscal, where
they believe that a criminal offence may have been
committed. They will give the Procurator Fiscal any
information which will assist him or her to decide
whether a criminal prosecution should take place. The
police shall refer a child to the Reporter if they
believe that a child may be in need of compulsory
measures of supervision. |
| 2.5 On
receipt of information from any source about a case which
may require a Children’s Hearing to be arranged, the
Reporter will make an initial investigation. The Reporter
may ask for information from other agencies or arrange
for the local authority social work service to undertake
an assessment or prepare a social background report.
Following this investigation and where it appears to the
Reporter that a child may be in need of compulsory
measures of supervision he or she shall arrange a
Hearing. If the Reporter decides that a hearing does not
require to be arranged he or she shall inform the child
and any other relevant person, including the person who
provided the original information. When a hearing is not
arranged, the Reporter may also, if appropriate, refer
the case to the local authority so that the child and his
or her family can be offered advice and guidance on a
voluntary basis. |
| 2.6 The
Procurator Fiscal, as the Lord Advocate’s local
representative, has a duty to investigate the
circumstances of any crime or suspected crime brought to
his or her attention. He or she acts in the public
interest and decides whether to bring criminal
proceedings. Where proceedings have started, the
Procurator Fiscal may precognosce (interview) witnesses.
Child protection encompasses effective investigation and
prosecution of offences against children. Decisions
regarding criminal proceedings against adults or children
are taken by the Procurator Fiscal in the public
interest, which includes, but is not restricted to, the
interests of the child as witness or accused. The gravity
of the alleged offences and protection of the public are
matters which require to be weighed, but in all actions
concerning children, the Procurator Fiscal will have
regard to Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child which provides that the best
interest of the child shall be a primary consideration. |
| 2.7 Health
professionals (GPs, hospital and community-based doctors
and nurses, and other health care staff) are responsible
for the physical and psychological well-being of their
patients. They may be the first to see symptoms of abuse
or neglect, and should share information about any
concerns arising from suspicions of abuse or neglect with
the social work service, the police or the Reporter at an
early stage. They may also be asked to help with
inquiries into alleged or suspected abuse or neglect.
Health professionals contribute to inter-agency plans to
protect a child and provide support and assistance to
families. Commissioners of health services for children
should ensure that providers (NHS Trusts, GPs, primary
care teams and private and voluntary providers) make
arrangements for services which contribute to the
prevention of child abuse and neglect as well as the
management of health care in child protection cases. For
example, health visitors, school nurses and other health
professionals can offer considerable advice and support
to families under stress. |
| 2.8
Education professionals and school staff are well placed
to observe physical and psychological changes in a child
which might indicate abuse. Teachers are likely to have
the greatest level of day-to-day contact with children
and they are able to contribute a great deal to the
assessment of vulnerable children. Education staff should
always share information about any concerns about a child
with the social work service, the police or the Reporter.
Education professionals also have an important role in
delivering personal safety programmes in schools. These
should equip children with the skills, knowledge and
understanding to help keep themselves safe. |
| 2.9 Staff in
other local authority departments, such as housing or
leisure and recreation, may come into contact with
children who, or families in which a child, may be at
risk. The local authority should ensure that staff across
the authority know who to advise if they have concerns
about any child with whom they come into contact. |
| |
| Churches
and voluntary organisations |
| 2.10 A wide
range of church and voluntary organisations in Scotland
work with children and provide a wide range of services
and programmes aimed at preventing or reducing the risk
of child abuse or neglect, or at helping families recover
from child abuse. Children who have been abused or who
are at risk from abuse may contact them to talk about
problems. Voluntary organisations may also be a source of
advice and expertise for statutory agencies working with
children with disabilities, communication difficulties or
other special needs. Voluntary organisations and
statutory agencies, including local authorities, the
police and health services should work to develop good
relationships. Many Churches and voluntary organisations
have issued guidelines and practical advice on child
protection and have organised relevant training for
adults who work with young people. Voluntary
organisations should discuss and share with relevant
statutory agencies information they may have about
children who may be at risk of significant harm.
Statutory agencies should, where appropriate, provide
advice and support to voluntary organisations in
promoting effective child protection practice in their
agencies. Volunteer Development Scotland has produced
helpful guidelines on child protection for voluntary
agencies.(8) |
| |
| Promoting
local co-operation - the role of Child Protection
Committees |
| 2.11
Co-operation in child protection is underpinned by joint
agency procedures prepared by local inter-agency Child
Protection Committees (CPCs), established in 1991. CPCs
monitor and regularly review local inter-agency child
protection procedures and help different agencies improve
understanding of each other’s roles and functions in
child protection. Representatives of CPCs meet regularly
with The Scottish Office to discuss national child
protection policy. |
| 2.12
Circular No. SWSG 14/97 (reproduced at Annex A) provides
guidance on the following matters in relation to CPCs: |
- purpose and functions
- budgetary
arrangements
- accountability and
authority
- agency representation
- appointment of office
bearers
- conduct of meetings
- sub-committees
- reports from and to
CPCs
|
| The Circular
also establishes the CPC’s role in overseeing
multi-agency training. |
| 2.13
Contributing to the work of the CPC is an important
responsibility for local agencies. Each agency should
ensure active participation and representation at a
sufficiently senior level to ensure that the CPC can
effectively influence the development of local policy and
practice in child protection. Representatives should
attend regularly to ensure continuity from all local
interests. This includes membership of sub-committees. |
| 2.14 Local
CPC inter-agency procedures for dealing with child
protection referrals should include: |
- guidance as to the
circumstances in which it is likely to be
appropriate to initiate child protection
procedures (i.e. at what point a concern becomes
sufficiently serious to require child protection
inquiries or investigation)
- to whom a referral
should be made, including arrangements both for
intra-agency referrals (for example to a
line-manager) and inter-agency referrals (for
example directly to the police, the social work
service or the Reporter)
- the information
required for child protection inquiries or
investigation on behalf of the Reporter to be
pursued efficiently
- how this information
should be recorded, the method by which it should
be communicated, and how it should be stored
- sufficient
information about requirements of effective joint
investigation by police and social work so that
all agencies, including education and health, may
receive referrals from members of the public
without compromising any subsequent child
protection inquiries or police investigation. Any
professional who has regular contact with
children should be able to explain to the person
making the referral what will happen next
|
| 2.15 Local
inter-agency procedures should be flexible so that as
additional information becomes available, families can be
diverted away from the child protection system as soon as
this is no longer appropriate to the needs of the child
or, on the other hand, be brought into the child
protection system if that is necessary. The procedures
should require the local authority to record the basis
for decisions to proceed, or not, with inquiries under
child protection procedures and to base such decisions on
careful evaluation of any allegation made by a child,
alongside information from all other available sources.
The procedures should also recognise that child
protection inquiries may indicate that the child does not
need protection but the child or family still has a need
for other services. A child or family’s eligibility
for help or services should not depend solely on whether
or not the child is perceived at that time to be at risk
of harm. Children should not be routed inappropriately
into the child protection system as a means of gaining
access to services. |
| |
| Requirements
of evidence |
| 2.16 Child
abuse and neglect have implications for child welfare and
law enforcement. Information gathered during inquiries
may be relevant to decisions that must be taken by the
Reporter and Procurator Fiscal as well as by the social
work services and the police. When the Reporter receives
information alleging that a child may have been the
victim of abuse or neglect, he or she needs sufficient
evidence based on the standard of proof applied in civil
proceedings, that is on the balance of probabilities that
abuse or neglect is likely to have occurred. |
| 2.17 A
higher standard of proof is required in criminal
proceedings against someone charged with an offence,
where the test is one of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
The Reporter may take action to protect a child in
certain cases when the Procurator Fiscal may not bring
criminal proceedings. All staff undertaking joint
investigations or interviews with children which may form
evidence in criminal or civil proceedings should have
access to local inter-agency guidelines on the
investigation of individual cases. |
| |
| Specialist
advice or expertise |
| 2.18 Many
staff will not deal with child protection cases very
often and will need access to specialist advice or
expertise within their agency. Some agencies have
designated individuals who can offer such advice, such as
a child protection officer or co-ordinator, or
specialists in child assessment or mental health. If an
agency does not have access to specialist or experienced
staff, they may need to seek such expertise externally
and should identify appropriate sources of advice. |
| 2.19 The
Child Protection Committee should ensure that advice
across agencies is also available locally. All agencies
should have ready access to advice from social work
services about child protection, local procedures and
family support services. Social work services will need
advice from medical, nursing and child mental health
services, and speedy access to legal advice. Each health
board should have a commissioner with responsibility for
planning and commissioning child protection related
services. Clinical resources should be sufficient to make
sure that expert medical and nursing advice on child
protection cases is made available to colleagues and
other agencies as required. A designated doctor will
provide liaison between medical services including
hospital and community services, and establish links with
local medical committees involving individual general
practitioners. A senior nurse will be responsible for
similar communication for nursing services. Voluntary
organisations may be able to offer advice in appropriate
cases. Local Child Protection Committees should include
arrangements for access to specialist advice across
agencies in local inter-agency procedures. |
| 2.20
Specialist help may be needed to communicate with
children and young people with disabilities or who have
other special needs during child protection inquiries.
Additional support should be made available as required,
including access to people skilled in alternative or
augmentative communication including makaton, sign
language or interpreters, and independent advocates.
Arrangements for communication support should be
considered in local child protection procedures. |
| |
| Staff
selection, supervision, support and training |
| 2.21 Employers
and others who recruit paid or unpaid staff or volunteers
who have substantial unsupervised access to children must
check applicants’ previous employment history and
take up references before any appointment. Employers
should explore with applicants any gaps in employment
history. They should supervise new staff carefully to
reduce the likelihood of child abuse. Local authorities
and health services should ask the Scottish Criminal
Record Office whether prospective recruits who will have
access to children have any criminal convictions. This
also applies to staff when they move to new posts which
give them access to children, to foster parents,
childminders, playgroup personnel and students on social
work, teaching or related placements. The arrangements
for disclosure of criminal convictions for statutory
bodies are set out in SWSG Circular 9/1989, SOED Circular
5/1989 and NHS Circular No. 1989(Gen)22. The Government
have extended access to information about criminal
convictions to voluntary child care organisations and the
arrangements will be extended further when the provisions
of Part V of the Police Act 1997 come into force. |
| 2.22 All
staff dealing with cases of child abuse or neglect
require regular supervision and access to consultation
and support. Each agency should ensure that practitioners
are familiar with this guidance, any internal guidelines
and the legal framework relevant to child protection and
that they are fully conversant with local inter-agency
child protection procedures. Managers, supervisors and
consultants should ensure that practitioners are able to
assess children’s needs and to communicate and
co-operate with other agencies. |
| 2.23 Staff
supervision should enable agencies to identify
individuals’ need for training. Each agency should
provide, or arrange, suitable training for staff to equip
them to respond appropriately to concern that a child may
have been abused or be at risk of significant harm. Such
training should be consistent with agency functions.
Agencies should provide training on child protection for
residential care staff, foster carers, and auxiliary and
ancillary staff who come into contact with children.
Child protection issues should be included in the
induction of new staff. |
| |
| Agencies’
responsibilities to share information about
Children’s Hearings and supervision requirements |
| 2.24 If a
Children’s Hearing makes a supervision requirement
in respect of a child the local authority should ensure
that all other agencies involved with the child and
family are informed. A child who is the subject of a
supervision requirement is looked after by the local
authority for the duration of the supervision
requirement, even if the child is living at home with his
or her family. The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 places
additional responsibilities on local authorities towards
the children they look after. Local authorities should
refer to Volume 2 of guidance issued on the Children
(Scotland) Act 1995 - Children Looked After by Local
Authorities. The staff of other agencies providing
services to the child and family have a responsibility to
inform the local authority of any matter relevant to the
welfare of the child. |
| 2.25 Where
the Reporter decides to refer the child and family for
assistance from the local authority on a voluntary basis,
the local authority should make arrangements for
providing advice, guidance and assistance to the child
and his or her family in accordance with Chapter 1 of
Part II of the Children (Scotland) Act.(9) The local authority should assess
the child's and family’s needs for support with
reference to Chapter 1, Volume 1 of the regulations and
guidance issued for implementation of the Children
(Scotland) Act 1995, Support and Protection for
Children and Their Families. The local authority
should plan with the family the services, including
services from education, health or other agencies, which
may be needed to safeguard and promote the child’s
welfare. This plan should form the basis of an agreement
with the parent or carer of the child and should be
confirmed in writing by the local authority. |
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