| PART 5:
JOINT INVESTIGATION - POLICE, SOCIAL WORK AND HEALTH |
| 5.1 Joint
investigation describes the process whereby social work,
police and health services plan and carry out their
respective tasks together when responding to complex or
substantial child protection referrals. Social work
conduct their inquiries into a child’s welfare,
police carry out criminal investigation on behalf of the
Procurator Fiscal and health services undertake medical
examination, assessment and treatment of children
concurrently. All referrals of child sexual abuse should
be considered for joint investigation. Children undergo
fewer interviews and medical examinations when these
agencies act jointly and the disruption and trauma to
families can be reduced. |
| |
| Planning
a joint investigation |
| 5.2 Detailed
arrangements for joint investigations involving social
work, police and health should be developed by the Child
Protection Committee in local inter-agency procedures.
These should describe local arrangements for access to
interview facilities, specialist medical assessments,
including forensic examinations and psychological or
psychiatric advice, and the role of any other local
agencies or specialist facilities. Agencies should agree
arrangements for resolving disputes about the management
of individual cases where these arise and specify how
these will be recorded. |
| 5.3 When the
police or social work service receive an allegation of
child abuse or neglect, they should inform the other
agency, jointly consider the referral and agree an
initial response. The police do not normally assess the
child’s welfare, although they may be required to do
so and take immediate action to protect the child in
emergency situations. Social work services have the
skills and resources to do so and can call on specialists
where necessary. Police should routinely involve the
social work service before interviewing children who may
have been abused or who may have witnessed abuse. |
| 5.4 Senior
officers in social work, police and health services
should be responsible for planning, co-ordination,
liaison and conduct of any joint investigation and
interview. These agencies need to designate officers with
expertise, appropriate training and sufficient authority
to act on behalf of their agency; and to approach other
local authorities/agencies to initiate and review joint
working. They should ensure that each agency will
implement jointly agreed decisions and provide the
resources needed to do so. |
| 5.5 The
police and social work service should share and evaluate
jointly all relevant information at a planning meeting or
discussion chaired by a senior officer in the social work
service. Health services should be consulted and involved
in planning wherever possible. A core team of
professionals will carry out the investigation jointly,
and will normally include a social worker and police
officer. |
| 5.6 The
investigation plan should consider the following
questions in relation to the child, and record who is
responsible for each task, how they will carry this out
and by when: |
- Is the child in need
of immediate protection? If so what arrangements
should be made for his or her care? Should the
local authority look after the child or can other
safe arrangements be made with the extended
family or other carers known to the child?
- What information is
available about the child’s views and
wishes?
- Is interviewing the
child the most appropriate step at this time? Are
alternative courses of action, for example,
interviewing other adults and/or children more
appropriate?
- What is the most
appropriate location and timing for any interview
with the child? Who should conduct the interview?
Is there a need for specialist input (and, if so,
who can provide it)? Who else should be present
at the interview, for example a relative of the
child, an interpreter, an appropriate adult?
- Has the child any
special needs (for example arising from either
chronic illness or physical disability, sensory
impairment or learning disabilities, language or
communication difficulties, emotional or
behavioural difficulties)? What additional
arrangements need to be made to assist the child?
- Should the
child’s statement be recorded on audio or
videotape, and how should any information be
collated and stored?
- What arrangements may
need to be made for any medical examination of
the child, including location, number and gender
of medical staff, and what are the arrangements
for obtaining consent?
- The team should
regularly assess progress achieved against the
initial plan.
|
| 5.7 As well
as dealing with matters in relation to the child, the
plan should also cover such matters as: |
- identification and
interviewing of potential witnesses
- treatment of
suspect(s) - (arrest/detention, medical
evidence/forensic examination, interview, search
warrants, etc.)
- whether there should
be liaison at this stage with the Reporter and
the Procurator Fiscal
|
| |
| Medical
examination and assessment |
| 5.8 A
medical examination or assessment is likely to be an
essential element in many joint investigations, although
this may not provide evidence that a child has or has not
been abused. Medical information may assist the planning
and management of any inquiries. Medical assessment
alongside other information from police and social work
may help decide if further investigation is necessary. |
| 5.9 A
medical assessment may have been carried out before other
professionals become involved, for example if a child has
attended a hospital Accident and Emergency Department. If
a preliminary medical examination raises concerns that
the child may have been abused, health staff should
contact the social work service in the hospital or in the
community, and/or the police. The police may consult with
the Procurator Fiscal as to the necessity for medical
examination and give instructions accordingly. Local
inter-agency child protection procedures should describe
local contacts for hospitals. The core investigating team
may ask for a medical assessment to assist an
investigation already underway. The assessment should
include a full medical history. The child may need to be
physically examined to ascertain whether there are any
signs or symptoms of abuse and to arrange any necessary
treatment. Assessments will usually involve a physical
examination of the child, unless the examining doctor is
satisfied that this is not necessary. If photographs, for
example of injuries, are required these should be taken
at the time of the medical examination wherever possible
to minimise the need for repeated examination of the
child. |
| 5.10 In
carrying out any necessary physical examination, medical
staff will have regard to the emotional and health care
needs of the child. They will also take account of the
need to collect and protect any forensic evidence of
abuse. Medical assessments, including any necessary
physical examination, should, where practicable, be
carried out in a setting suitable for children, in which
appropriately qualified staff are available and where
access is easily available to other services which may be
needed for further investigation or treatment.
Professionals should avoid unnecessary and repeated
medical examinations of a child. Where corroboration of
findings may be required, the examination should ideally
be carried out jointly by a paediatrician and a doctor
with clinical forensic training. Medical staff should try
as far as possible to take account of the child’s
gender and ethnicity and/or religion when deciding who is
best placed to examine and assess the child. Where there
is a prospect of criminal proceedings, arrangements for
medical examinations for evidential purposes should be
made by the Procurator Fiscal or the investigating police
officer whose responsibility it is to obtain appropriate
evidence with a minimum of distress to the child. |
| 5.11 The Age
of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 provides that a
person under the age of 16 years shall have legal
capacity to consent on his or her own behalf to any
surgical, medical or dental procedure or treatment,
including psychological or psychiatric examination,
where, in the opinion of an attending qualified medical
practitioner, he or she is capable of understanding the
nature and possible consequences of the procedure or
treatment. Children who have legal capacity may withhold
their consent. Even if ordered by a Children’s
Hearing, medical examinations are governed by the
provisions of the Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act
1991. Children who consent to a medical examination,
may withhold their consent to any part of the examination
including, for example, the taking of photographs. In
order to ensure that children and their families give
properly informed consent to medical examinations in
child protection inquiries, the examining doctor, if
necessary assisted by the social worker or police
officer, should provide information about any aspect of
the procedure and the uses to which these may be put.
Where, in the opinion of the medical practitioner the
child is not capable of understanding the nature and
possible consequences of the procedure or treatment, the
medical practitioner should seek the consent of the
child’s parent or guardian. Where children give
their consent, parents or carers should also be consulted
as a matter of good practice. Where a medical examination
is thought to be necessary for purposes of obtaining
evidence in criminal proceedings but consent to the
examination is refused by the parent(s) or guardian, the
Procurator Fiscal may consider obtaining a warrant for
this purpose. Where, however, a child who has legal
capacity to consent declines to do so, the Procurator
Fiscal will not seek a warrant. If the local authority
believes that a medical examination is required to find
out whether concerns about a child’s safety or
welfare are justified, and parents refuse consent, the
local authority may apply to a Sheriff for a Child
Assessment Order (see Scotland’s Children: Children
(Scotland) Act 1995 Regulations and Guidance, Volume 1: Support
and Protection for Children and their Families). A
child subject to a Child Assessment Order may still
withhold his or her consent to examination or assessment
if he or she is deemed to have legal capacity. |
| |
| Psychiatric
or psychological examinations |
| 5.12
Physical signs or symptoms may be inconclusive when
viewed in isolation, but may provide a clearer picture of
abuse or neglect when seen in conjunction with other
information. There may be a need for a psychiatric or
psychological examination for emotional or behavioural
signs of abuse, or symptoms of mental distress or
illness. In all cases during the investigation stage,
staff in all agencies working with children and families
need to be alert to behavioural indicators indicating
possible abuse, as physical symptoms are not always
present. There may be a need for close liaison with child
and adolescent mental health services during
investigation. |
| 5.13 All
professionals involved in inquiries need to record their
findings and opinions carefully. Health professionals may
also be required to produce records as evidence in Court
proceedings. Medical and other health care professionals
should provide written reports of their findings when
asked to do so by the local authority or the Reporter, as
these agencies may need to take action on the basis of
medical findings. There are established protocols for
making available to the Reporter or local authority the
findings of a medical examination conducted at the
request of the Procurator Fiscal, or the police acting on
his or her behalf. |
| |
| Abuse by
organised networks or multiple abusers |
| 5.14 Complex
cases arise in which a number of children are abused by
the same perpetrator or multiple perpetrators. These may
involve: |
- groups of adults,
within a family or a group of families, friends,
neighbours and or other social network who act
together to abuse children
- children recruited
(or abducted) for abuse by a network of adults
- children abused in an
institutional setting (for example youth
organisations, educational establishments or
residential homes) by one or more perpetrators,
including other young people
- child pornography or
drug misuse being used to entice or entrap
children for sexual exploitation
- recruitment of
children for prostitution
|
| 5.15 Sexual
abusers may plan and repeat abuse and many children may
be involved within or outwith a family. Where a single
complaint about possible abuse is made by or on behalf of
a child in a residential school or home, or a child in
foster care, the investigating agencies should consider
the possibility that the investigation may reveal
complaints or allegations about other children currently
or formerly living in the establishment or foster
carer’s household. If child protection inquiries
establish links between cases this should be drawn to the
attention of the Chief Social Work Officer(s) of the
local authority areas in which the cases are located.
They should ensure, in consultation with the police, that
arrangements for the joint investigation of linked cases
are in place which ensure that children involved are
adequately protected. The police and social work service
should agree arrangements for convening planning
meetings, setting up systems for sharing and updating
information about the investigation’s progress and
co-ordinating support services for children and families
involved. Such cases require early involvement of the
Procurator Fiscal and the Reporter. Police and social
services should agree a strategy for communication and
liaison with the media and public. If a large number of
families, parents and carers are involved the local
authority should make special arrangements to keep them
informed of events and plans to avoid the spread of
unnecessary rumour and alarm. |
| 5.16 When
planning inquiries, agencies should adopt a measured
approach to investigation which takes care not to
prejudice efforts to collect evidence for criminal
prosecution of an abuser or group of abusers, but which
has the welfare of any child or children at risk as the
paramount consideration. They should identify as far as
possible which children may have been vulnerable to
abuse. The plan must reflect the different roles of
agencies and set out arrangements for: |
- sharing full
information at regular, well structured briefings
- recording of all
activity between the agencies
- periodic joint review
of progress and future plans
|
| 5.17 When
cases involve several children and adults in different
households it may be in the interests of the criminal
investigation to prevent suspects from communicating with
one another and destroying evidence. This may require
inquiries, interviews or other assessment to be
co-ordinated. Action may need to be taken at a time of
day when a family is more likely to be at home, such as
early morning or evening, but agencies should avoid
unnecessary domestic distress and disruption. The welfare
of the child should be a primary consideration in
planning action. |
| 5.18 Local
authorities and other agencies may establish links with
neighbouring authorities and agencies to ensure access to
necessary resources when dealing with complex multiple or
organised abuse cases, for example, skilled staff and
specialist resources, such as video studios. Any
arrangement should identify the roles and
responsibilities of different authorities and agencies. |
| 5.19 Parents
should normally be fully involved in the process of
investigation. The local authority may need to restrict
information provided to families and the public to avoid
prejudicing criminal inquiries and this should be
considered in the planning process. If agencies remove a
child from his or her parents’ care, the parents
should normally be informed of the child’s
whereabouts. If the local authority suspects that parents
or carers may be directly involved in abuse of a child or
children, the social work service, in consultation with
the police, should decide when and how information to
parents or carers, and parental involvement, should be
limited in order to safeguard the child, and record their
reasons for doing so. |
| 5.20 Local
inter-agency child protection procedures should include
contingency plans to deal with such cases. |
| |
| The use
of HOLMES |
| 5.21 In
suspected multi-abuse cases the senior investigating
police officer may decide to make use of the Home Office
Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES) which is available to
all police forces in Britain. HOLMES is a computer system
which cross-refers a variety of data about incidents and
crimes in a pre-determined format. This allows forces
investigating a crime access to data on similar incidents
and enables efficient use of resources and the most
effective investigation of the cases under review. |
| 5.22 Using
HOLMES provides the following advantages: |
- an accurate record of
all available information
- up-to-date
information about the progress of all enquiries,
highlighting areas that remain incomplete
- full details,
including descriptions, of people who are the
subject of police enquiries
- a facility to produce
reports, including interim reports, for
prosecuting authorities
- a facility to
highlight significant information and indicate
priorities for further investigation
- information about the
administration of investigations and the
financial and personnel resources required to
assist decision-making by the police
|
| 5.23 The
police will arrange all equipment, staffing and
communications necessary to pursue an enquiry through
HOLMES. The HOLMES Database must remain secure and the
direction of any enquiry will be determined by the senior
investigating police officer on whose authority
information may be made available to other interested
parties. |
| 5.24 The
Data Protection Act 1984 requires the registration of
data users and computer bureaux. Users of data should
satisfy themselves that the particulars included in the
register entry permit the holding, use, disclosure or
transfer of data, or that the data are exempt from the
Act’s provisions. Users of HOLMES would require to
notify the Data Protection Registrar accordingly. This is
a task for individual police forces. |
