DurhamSafeguarding Children Partnership Procedures Manual

This document is only valid 72 hours after printing. For the latest version please visit

Child Protection Enquiries - Section 47 Children Act 1989

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This chapter provides the steps for how to undertake a strategy discussion / meeting and how to conduct Section 47 Enquires.

AMENDMENT

In May 2021, this chapter was updated to reflect local policies and procedures and the changes to Working Together in December 2020.

Contents

1. Duty to Conduct Section 47 Enquiries
2. Immediate Protection
3. Section 47 Thresholds and the Child & Family Assessment
4. Strategy Discussion / Meeting
5. The Section 47 Enquiry
6. Single Agency and Joint Agency Section 47 Enquiries
7. Involving Children, Parents and the Family's Identified Network
8. Medical Assessments
9. Achieving Best Evidence Interviews
10. The Outcome of Section 47 Enquiries
11. Timescales for Section 47 Enquiries
12. Recording
13. Further Information
14. Local Documents

1. Duty to Conduct Section 47 Enquiries

When children's social care receives a referral and information has been gathered during an assessment (which may have been very brief), in the course of which a concern arises that a child maybe suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, the local authority is required by Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 to make enquiries. The purpose of this multi agency enquiry and assessment is to enable the agencies to decide whether any action should be taken to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of the child. Any decision to initiate an enquiry under Section 47 must be taken following a Strategy Meeting/Discussion.

Responsibility for undertaking Section 47 enquiries lies with the Local Authority Children's social care in whose area the child lives or is found. 'Found' means the physical location where the child suffers the incident of harm or neglect (or is identified as likely to suffer harm or neglect), e.g. nursery or school, boarding school, hospital, one-off event, such as a festival, holiday home or outing or where a privately fostered or looked after child is living with their carers. For the purposes of these procedures the Children's social care area in which the child lives, is called the 'home authority' and the Local Authority Children's social care in which the child is found is the child's 'host authority'.

Multi agency information checks:

The social worker together with their manager must decide at what point and whether to seek parental permission to undertake multi-agency checks. If the manager decides not to seek permission, they must record the reasons why, for example it may:

• Be prejudicial to the child's safety and wellbeing;
• Have serious concern about the behaviours of the adult;
• Have serious concern that the child would be exposed to immediate risk of harm.

Where permission is sought from parents and carers and denied, the manager must determine whether to proceed, and record the reasons for the decision they make.

Each agency has a duty to assist and provide information in support of child protection enquiries. When requested to do so by Children's social care, professionals from other parts of the local authority such as housing, schools and those in health organisations have a duty to cooperate under Section 27 of the Children Act 1989 by assisting the local authority in carrying out its Children's social care functions. The social worker must contact the other agencies involved with the child to inform them that a child protection enquiry has been initiated and to seek their views. The relevant agency should be informed of the reason for the enquiry, whether or not parental consent has been obtained and asked for their assessment of the child in the light of information presented.

The social worker must contact the other agencies involved with the child who have not been involved in the Strategy Discussion to inform them that a Section 47 Enquiry has been initiated and to seek their views. The checks should be undertaken directly with involved professionals wherever possible.

The relevant agency should be informed of the reason for the enquiry, as well as whether or not parental consent has been obtained, and asked for their assessment of the child in the light of information presented.

Agency checks should include accessing any relevant information that may be held in other parts of the United Kingdom or in any other country. See also Cross-border Child Protection Cases: The 1996 Hague Convention and ADCS Guidance re Working with Foreign Authorities in Child Protection Cases.

See Information Sharing Procedure.

2. Immediate Protection

Where there is a risk to the life of a child or the possibility of serious immediate harm, an agency with statutory child protection powers (the Police, Children's Social Care (CSC) and the NSPCC) should act quickly to secure the immediate safety of the child.

When considering whether emergency action is required, an agency should always consider whether action is also required to safeguard and promote the welfare of other children in the same household (e.g. siblings), the household of an alleged perpetrator, or elsewhere.

Planned emergency action will normally happen following an urgent strategy discussion/meeting between Police, CSC, health professionals and other agencies as appropriate.

If it is necessary to remove a child from their home, wherever possible and unless a child's safety is otherwise at immediate risk, CSC should apply for an Emergency Protection Order (EPO). However, if a child is deemed at immediate risk of harm Police Protection Powers (PPP) may need to be considered. It needs to be noted that PPP should only be used in exceptional circumstances where there is insufficient time to seek an EPO or for reasons relating to the immediate safety of the child.

Police Protection Powers

Police Protection Powers (PPP) will be exercised when the Police have reasonable cause to believe that a child would likely suffer significant harm if they are not removed from the situation. This will be where there is an immediate or imminent likelihood of suffering significant harm to a child. No child may be kept in police protection for more than 72 hours.

Decisions relating to police protection are the responsibility of the police but, where possible, should include discussions with children’s social care or any other agencies as appropriate (e.g., medical staff). Where the police need to act immediately to protect a child, a strategy discussion should be held as soon as possible afterwards to plan the next steps, if not already held.

The Police Designated Officer (Inspector) is responsible for enquiring into cases in which police take children into their protection. The designated officer will take an independent oversight of the circumstances. They should check the child’s immediate welfare and consider the suitability of the environment (or ensure that the investigating officer has seen and assessed the child in person). They will regularly review the grounds for police protection to determine whether the power should remain in force.

The initiating officer is the officer who takes the child into police protection and undertakes the initial enquiries.

Once this power has been exercised the Police must do the following:

• Inform CSC in whose area the child was found of the steps that have been taken and are proposed to be taken and why;
• Inform CSC in the area the child resides;
• Inform the child (if capable of understanding) of steps taken, reason why and further steps that may be taken.
• take such steps that are reasonably practicable to discover the wishes of the child;
• Inform the parents of the child (if appropriate) and every person who is not a child but has Parental Responsibility for the child;
• Inform person with whom the child is living;
• Ensure the case is brought to the immediate attention of the Designated Officer and PPIU Child Protection Team, if not previously done or agreed;
• An incident log and safeguarding referral form must be completed with a log of actions taken, including details of Police Protection Powers, time of Designated Officer’s authority, Name of Designated Officer, full rationale, time police powers ended and reason.

Examples of circumstances where it may be appropriate for the Police to exercise their powers are set out below, this is not intended to be an exhaustive list as the determining factor is whether the child is at imminent risk and PPP is considered to be the most effective way of protecting the child:

• In circumstances where a child protection plan is in place for an unborn child to remain in hospital after birth; if a parent attempts to remove the child from hospital, PPP may need to be used to ensure the child remains in hospital until relevant steps are taken. The need for PPP should be well documented within the birth response plan which will be circulated to the relevant parties, including the Police and midwife and maternity ward;
• Where a child is undergoing medical investigation with regard to a suspected non-accidental injury; if a parent attempts to remove the child from hospital, PPP may be used to ensure that the child remains in hospital until the medical investigation is completed;
• A joint Section 47 Enquiry, where the child is considered to be at immediate risk, it would not be appropriate to leave the child at risk of harm.

A Strategy meeting must take place within 24 hours of PPP taken and a record on CSC (this included the Emergency Duty Team) and Police records. The Inspector’s agreement and rationale for PPP should be clearly recorded within the strategy discussion minutes. Police are to escalate to CSC senior manager if strategy has not taken place within 24 hours.

CSC are to hold a legal planning meeting to consider whether the child should become looked after prior to the 72hours lapsing. Police need to be regularly updated around the child’s position i.e. s20 agreement, decision to issue care proceedings). Police are to be advised as a priority when s20 agreed or when ICO granted. If there are no plans to accommodate the child, PPP will end immediately.

The S20 agreement clearly recorded in CSC case notes and document uploaded onto CSC electronic record.

Criteria for end of police protection:

• 72 hours has passed;
• An Emergency Protection Order (EPO) or Interim Care Order (ICO) has been obtained by either the Local Authority or police;
• The child has been provided with accommodation by the local authority under Section 20 and the child is no longer considered to be at risk of significant harm;
• The DO and local authority agree that the child is no longer at risk and can return home.

The Designated Officer / Police must be updated regarding the child’s position and time of ending police protection.

3. Section 47 Thresholds and the Child & Family Assessment

A Section 47 Enquiry must always be commenced immediately following a Strategy Discussion/Meeting when:

• There is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm in the form of physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect;
• Following an EPO or the use of Police Powers of protection is initiated.

The threshold criteria for a Section 47 Enquiry may be identified during the initial stages of an assessment or it may become apparent at the point of referral, during multi-agency checks or in the course of a Child & Family assessment.

Local authority social workers have a statutory duty to lead enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. The police, health professionals, teachers and other relevant professionals should support them in undertaking the enquiries.

A Child & Family assessment (see Assessment Procedure) is the means by which Section 47 Enquiries are carried out. The assessment will have commenced at the point of receipt of referral and it must continue whenever the criteria for Section 47 Enquiries are satisfied. The conclusions and recommendations of the Section 47 Enquiry should inform the assessment which must be completed within 45 working days of the date when the referral was received.

The enquiries and assessment should always involve separate interviews with the child and, in the majority of cases, the parents, and the observation of interaction between the parent and child. This will include interviews and observations of parents, any other carers and the partners of the parents.

4. Strategy Discussion / Meeting

Whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, there should be a strategy discussion/meeting. The Chair will consider all information contained within the MASH report and/or other information received regarding risk to the child(ren) and make a decision on whether threshold is met to convene a Strategy Meeting.

Within 1 hour of a decision to hold a Strategy Meeting, the Chair will make arrangements to provide the Health and Police "Single Point of Contacts" (SPOCs), and the referring agency/practitioner, together with any other relevant agency, the "Strategy Meeting Proforma". GP practices will receive a separate proforma. This will be sent via secure email to the agency's nominated SPOC.

The strategy discussion/meeting should involve Children's social care and the police, health professionals involved with the child and other bodies as appropriate (for example, children's centre/school/services involved with the adults in the family and, in particular, any referring agency). In the case of a pre-birth strategy discussion/meeting this should involve a midwife.

In Durham, a Protocol for Multi-Agency Engagement in Strategy Meetings and s47 Enquiries has been put in place.

Requests for Police Attendance at a Strategy Meeting

Urgent requests for a strategy meeting must be via 101. The Police call handler will create an incident log and provide the caller with the number. The call handler will contact the Police Strategy Team or the relevant Safeguarding Detective Sergeant who will call the referrer back and arrange a meeting at a mutually convenient time.

Non urgent requests for a strategy meeting must be via e-mail. A Child Protection Strategy Meeting Request (non-urgent) form (misc 314) must be completed and e-mailed to resolutionteam@durham.pnn.police.uk. A police incident log will be created and the log reference number will be e-mailed to the referrer. The referrer will be contacted by the Police Strategy Team Support Officer and a mutually convenient time will be agreed on which the strategy meeting can be held.

Police will attend strategy meetings virtually via video link. However face to face strategy meetings will always be held in the following circumstances:

• Strategy meetings where a child is in hospital and the strategy meeting is held at the hospital so that the paediatrician can attend;
• Fabricated and induced illnesses (FII) meeting due to the numbers of people who attend and the complexity of the chronological information that needs to be understood to inform risk assessment;
• Complex abuse cases.

Police intelligence and confidential information which is discussed in strategy meetings and conference meetings must not be recorded in the minutes of the meeting due to the confidentiality of the information discussed.

Professionals participating in strategy discussions/meetings must have all their agency's information relating to the child available to be able to contribute to the discussion/meeting, and must be sufficiently senior to make decisions on behalf of their agencies.

The Strategy Meeting should establish whether a Network Meeting has been held and if not, agree this as an action following the Strategy Discussion.

Some examples of circumstances where a strategy discussion/meeting should be convened:

• Any new referrals in respect of a child where there are concerns that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm;
• When new information on an existing case in Children's social care indicates that a child is likely to suffer significant harm;
• Unexplained injuries (where the child is in hospital, the Strategy Meeting should take place at the hospital);
• When an adult or young person assessed as presenting a risk to children has moved into, or is about to move into, the child's household or such a person is regularly visiting or about to have sustained contact with the child;
• When the likelihood of significant harm to an unborn child may be such as to indicate the need to develop a Child Protection Plan before birth;
• When a child lives in, or is born to, a household in which resides another child who is currently the subject of a Child Protection Plan;
• When a child who is currently the subject of a Child Protection Plan in another area moves into Durham unless the other authority is to retain responsibility for the case;
• When a child has sexually assaulted another child or there is a risk of such an assault occurring to another child in the same household or in regular contact with the household. For children over the age of 10 years see Harmful Sexual Behaviour Procedure;
• When a case of domestic abuse has been determined by the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) as potentially presenting a risk of significant harm to children.

This is not an exhaustive list.

A strategy discussion/ meeting should be used to:

• Share available information;
• Agree the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation;
• Decide whether an assessment under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 (Section 47 Enquiries) should be initiated, or continued, if it has already been initiated following an earlier Strategy discussion/meeting;
• Consider the assessment and the key action points, if already in place;
• Plan how the Section 47 Enquiry should be undertaken (if one is to be initiated), including the need for any medical assessment, and who will carry out what actions, by when and for what purpose;
• Agree what action is required immediately to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of the child, and/or provide interim services and support. If the child is in hospital, decisions should also be made about how to secure the safe discharge of the child;
• To determine whether a Complex Planning Meeting is required;
• Where interim therapeutic support for children subject to ongoing Police investigations is identified to be in the best interests of the child, prior consultation should take place, if possible, with the Officer in the Case, and potentially the Crown Prosecution Service, to agree appropriate parameters for such support with the aim of avoiding compromising the criminal investigative process. The child's safety and wellbeing would always be the priority;
• Agree, in particular, when the child will be seen alone, if appropriate for the child, by the social worker during the course of these enquiries and agree the methods by which the child's wishes and feelings will be ascertained so that they can be taken into account when making decisions;
• In the light of the race, ethnicity, beliefs and culture of the child and family, consider how these should be taken into account and to establish whether an interpreter will be required;
• Consider the needs of other children who may be affected (e.g. siblings and other children, such as those living in the same household, and/or in contact with alleged abusers);
• Determine what information from the strategy discussion/meeting will be shared with the family, unless such information sharing may place a child at increased risk of significant harm or jeopardise police investigations into any alleged offence/s;
• Determine if legal action is required.

It is the responsibility of the chair of the strategy discussion/meeting to ensure that the decisions and agreed actions are fully recorded. Any information that is confidential, e.g. Police intelligence should not be recorded by anyone present during this meeting. All agencies attending should take notes of the actions agreed at the time.

The Chair of the Strategy Meetings is responsible for ensuring that the minutes are distributed to all Strategy Meeting members within two working days of the meeting.

Further details can be found in the briefing note for Teleconferencing Facilities at Strategy Meetings (see Local Documents).

Timescales:

Strategy discussions/meetings should be convened as soon as possible [1] bearing in mind the needs of the child and must take place within two working days of child protection concerns being identified. There are occasions where the assessed risk is deemed to be high to the child and in such instances the meeting should be convened on the same day as the receipt of the referral. Examples of high risk circumstances include:

• Allegations/concerns indicating immediate risk of harm to the child (e.g. serious physical injury or serious neglect);
• Allegations of acute sexual abuse;
• Where the concerns are particularly complex (e.g. fabricated/induced illness/ organised abuse), the strategy discussion/meeting must be held within a maximum of five working days, but sooner if there is a need to provide immediate protection to a child.

Outcomes:

The plan made at the strategy discussion/meeting should reflect the requirement to convene an Initial Child Protection Conference within 15 working days of the strategy discussion if this is the outcome of Section 47 Enquiry. When Children's social care have concluded that an Initial Child Protection Conference is not required but professionals in other agencies remain seriously concerned about the safety of a child, these professionals should seek further discussion with the social worker, their manager and/or the safeguarding lead. The concerns, discussion and any agreements made should be recorded in each agency's files. This should be actioned within a timescale commensurate with the need to safeguard the child and in accordance with the Managing Professional Differences Policy.

In exceptional circumstances, enquiries may be more complicated and may require more than one strategy discussion/meeting. If the strategy discussion / meeting concludes that a further strategy discussion / meeting is required, then a clear timescale should be set and be subject to regular review by the social work manager bearing in mind the safety of the child at all times. Where there is more than one Strategy Meeting it should be noted that any Initial Child Protection Conference should be held within 15 working days of the Strategy Meeting, which initiated the Child Protection Enquiry.

If the conclusion of the strategy discussion/meeting is that there is no cause to pursue the Section 47 Enquiry then consideration should be given to continuing a multi- agency assessment to meet the needs of the child for any early help support services or to provide family support services to them as a child in need.

Managing Professional Differences:

Where the decision from the Strategy Discussion is that an initial child protection conference is not required but professionals in other agencies remain seriously concerned about the safety of a child, these professionals should seek further discussion with the Team Manager/Social Work Consultant and agencies should record their concerns in their agency files.

If concerns remain, the professional should discuss with a designated/lead person or senior manager in their agency. The agency may formally request that Children's social care convene an initial child protection conference. Children's social care should convene a conference where one or more professionals, supported by a senior manager/named or designated professional requests one.

If the matter remains unresolved, the Managing Professional Differences Policy should be used.

For information on electronic and digital recording of meetings, see related guidance in the Child Protection Conferences Procedure, Membership of Child Protection Conference.

[1] Working Together to Safeguard Children does not set a specific timescale for when a strategy discussion must take place.

5. The Section 47 Enquiry

Children's social care is the lead agency for Section 47 Enquiries (Children Act 1989) and the Children's social care manager or delegated deputy has responsibility for authorising a Section 47 Enquiry following a strategy discussion/meeting.

The Section 47 Enquiry and assessment must be led by a qualified social worker from Children's social care, who will be responsible for its coordination and completion. The social worker must consult with the family, other agencies involved with the child and family, and the family's identified network. This is to obtain a fuller picture of the circumstances of all children in the household, identifying parental strengths, existing safety alongside worries about the child and family. Enquiries may also need to cover children in other households with whom the alleged offender may have had contact. All agencies consulted are responsible for providing information to assist.

At the same time, where there is a joint investigation, the Police will have to establish the facts about any offence that may have been committed against a child and collect evidence as they lead the criminal investigation.

The Section 47 Enquiry should begin by focusing on the information identified during the referral/assessment and strategy discussion, which appears most important in relation to the risk of significant harm.

The Durham Harm / Worry Matrix is risk assessment tool which was devised to help practitioners map what they already know in relation to harm and to identify the gaps where they need to ask good, focused questions of the family, their network, the child and other professionals in order to analyse harm to the child. This analysis focuses on the detail of the behaviour that was harmful or worrying, how often the behaviour has happened (timespan), how bad the behaviour is (severity) and how the harmful or worrying behaviour has affected the child (impact). An understanding of the harm then allows the social worker to ask good focused questions to explore strengths and safety in relation to the harm or worries (i.e. times that the worries were less, exceptions to the worries, times that someone did something so that the child was kept safe from any worrying or harmful behaviour).

The assessment of risk will map out:

• Identify potential worries and provide an analysis of harm;
• Identify strengths and existing safety of the family;
• Consider the child's lived experiences;
• Consider what measures the family's identified network are able to take to keep the child safe now and, in the future, when the harm is present, including consideration of any need for protective action by professionals;
• Highlight worries and complicating factors which may suggest a higher level of vulnerability in the family and risk of significant harm such as parental mental health difficulties, parental drug and/or alcohol misuse, and domestic abuse or combinations of these;
• Determine the level of intervention required to improve the outcome for the child to be safeguarded in the immediate, interim and longer term;
• An analysis using danger statements, safety goals and scaling to determine next steps.

6. Single Agency and Joint Agency Section 47 Enquiries

The Police and Children's social care must co-ordinate their activities to ensure the parallel process of a Section 47 Enquiry and a criminal investigation is undertaken in the best interests of the child. This should primarily be achieved through joint activity and planning at Strategy Discussions/Meetings.

The primary responsibility of police officers is to undertake criminal investigations of suspected or actual crime and to inform Children's social care when they are undertaking such investigations, and where appropriate to notify the Local Authority Designated Officer in specific cases where there are allegations against people working, in a paid or voluntary capacity, with children.

At the strategy discussion/meeting the police officers should share current and historical information with other services where it is necessary to do so to ensure the protection of a child. Working Together to Safeguard Children requires that:

"The police will assist other organisations and agencies to carry out their responsibilities where there are concerns about the child's welfare, whether or not a crime has been committed. If a crime has been committed, the police should be informed by the local authority children's social care."

7. Involving Children, Parents and the Family's Identified Network

The child:

Children who are the subject of Section 47 Enquiries should always be seen and communicated with alone by the social worker. In addition, all children within the household must be directly communicated with during Section 47 Enquiries by either the police or Children's social care or both agencies, so as to enable an assessment of their safety to be made. It is important that the child's lived experiences are understood.

The children, who are the focus of worries, must be seen alone and their views and wishes recorded, subject to their age and willingness, preferably with parental permission. Practitioners need to ensure that they speak to the children specifically about the worries.

Legal advice should be sought where appropriate

Children's social care and the police should ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to support the child through the Section 47 Enquiry. Specialist help may be needed if:

• The child's first language is not English;
• The child appears to have a degree of psychological and/or psychiatric disturbance but is deemed competent;
• The child has a physical/sensory/learning disability;
• Interviewers do not have adequate knowledge and understanding of the child's ethnic, faith, religious and cultural background;
• It may be necessary to provide information to the child in stages and this must be taken into account in planning the Section 47 Enquiries.

It may be necessary to provide information to the child in stages and this must be taken into account in planning the Section 47 Enquiries.

Explanations given to the child must be brought up to date as the assessment and the enquiry progresses. In no circumstances should the child be left wondering what is happening and why.

If the whereabouts of a child subject to Section 47 Enquiries are unknown and cannot be ascertained by the social worker, the following action must be taken within 24 hours:

• A discussion with the police;
• Agreement reached with the Children's social care manager responsible as to what further action is required to locate and see the child and carry out the enquiry.

If access to a child is refused or obstructed, the social worker, in consultation with their manager, should co-ordinate a discussion including legal representation, to develop a plan to locate or access the child/ren and progress the Section 47 Enquiry.

The parents and the family's identified network:

In most cases, parents should be enabled to participate fully in the assessment and enquiry process, which must be explained to them verbally and also in writing by providing the DSCP leaflet re Child Protection Enquiries. If a parent has a specific communication difficulty or English is not their first language, an interpreter should be provided.

The social worker has the main responsibility to engage with parents and the family's identified network at the earliest opportunity to ascertain the facts of the situation causing worries and to assess the capacity of the family to safeguard the child.

Parents must be involved at the earliest opportunity unless to do so would prejudice the safety of the child. The needs and safety of the child will be paramount when determining at what point parents or carers are given information. Parents must be kept informed throughout about the enquiry, its outcome and any subsequent action unless this would jeopardise the safety and wellbeing of the child and/or Police investigation.

The assessment must include both parents, any other carers such as grandparents and the partners of the parents.

Where a parent lives elsewhere but has contact with the child, arrangements should be made for their involvement in the assessment process.

Appropriate, checks should be completed on a parent or connected persons, who assumes the care of a child during a Section 47 Enquiry.

An explanation of their rights as parents/carers including the need for support and guidance from an advocate whom they trust should be provided, including advice about the right to seek legal advice.

Any objections or complaints expressed by parents/carers during a Section 47 Enquiry, and the response to these objections or complaints, must be clearly recorded.

8. Medical Assessments

Consultation should take place with the named Doctor/ Paediatrician (if not part of the strategy discussion/meeting), to include the need for and the timing of a medical assessment.

A medical assessment should demonstrate a holistic approach to the child and assess the child's well-being, including mental health, development and cognitive ability.

A medical assessment is necessary to:

• Secure forensic evidence;
• Obtain medical documentation;
• Provide reassurance for the child and parent;
• Inform treatment follow-up and review for the child (any injury, infection, new symptoms including psychological).

Only doctors may medically examine the child. All other staff should only note any visible marks or injuries on a body map and record, date and sign details in the child's file.

Consent:

The following may give consent to a medical assessment:

• A child of sufficient age and understanding (Gillick competency/Fraser guidelines);
• Any person with parental responsibility, providing they have the capacity to do so;
• The local authority when the child is the subject of a care order (though the parent should be informed);
• The local authority when the child is accommodated under s20 of the Children Act 1989, and the parent/s have abandoned the child or are assessed as lacking capacity to give such authority;
• The High Court when the child is a ward of court;
• A family proceedings court as part of a direction attached to an emergency protection order, an interim care order or a child assessment order.

A child of any age who has sufficient understanding (generally to be assessed by the doctor with advice from others as required) to make a fully informed decision can provide lawful consent to all or part of a medical assessment or emergency treatment.

A young person aged 16 or 17 has an explicit right (s8 Family Law Reform Act 1969) to provide consent to surgical, medical or dental treatment and, unless grounds exist for doubting their mental health, no further consent is required.

A child who is of sufficient age and understanding may refuse some or all of the medical assessment, though refusal can potentially be overridden by a court.

Wherever possible the permission of a parent should be sought for children under 16 years of age prior to any medical assessment and/or other medical treatment.

Where circumstances do not allow permission to be obtained and the child needs emergency medical treatment, the medical practitioner may:

• Regard the child to be of an age and level of understanding to give their own consent;
• Decide to proceed without consent.

In these circumstances, parents must be informed by the medical practitioner as soon as possible and a full record must be made at the time.

In non-emergency situations, when parental permission is not obtained, the social worker and manager must consider whether it is in the child's best interests to seek a court order.

Arranging the medical assessment:

In the course of Section 47 Enquiries, appropriately trained and experienced practitioners must undertake all medical assessments.

A report should be provided by the named/designated doctor to the social worker, the GP and where appropriate, the police.

The report should include:

• A verbatim record of the carer's and child's accounts of injuries and concerns noting any discrepancies or changes of story;
• Documentary findings in both words and diagrams;
• Site, size, shape and where possible age of any marks or injuries;
• Opinion of whether injury is consistent with explanation;
• Date, time and place of examination;
• Those present;
• Who gave consent and how (child / parent, written / verbal);
• Other findings relevant to the child (e.g. squint, learning or speech problems etc);
• Confirmation of the child's developmental progress (especially important in cases of neglect);
• The time the examination ended.

All reports and diagrams should be signed and dated by the doctor undertaking the examination.

9. Achieving Best Evidence Interviews

Visually recorded interviews must be planned and conducted jointly by trained police officers and social workers in accordance with the Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on interviewing victims and witnesses, and guidance on using special measures. All events up to the time of the video interview must be fully recorded. Consideration of the use of video recorded evidence should take in to account situations where the child has been subject to abuse using recording equipment.

Visually recorded interviews serve two primary purposes:

• Evidence gathering for criminal proceedings;
• Examination in chief of a child witness.

Relevant information from this process can also be used to inform Section 47 Enquiries, subsequent civil childcare proceedings or disciplinary proceedings against adults, where allegations have been made.

10. The Outcome of Section 47 Enquiries

Children's social care is responsible for deciding how to proceed with the enquiries and risk assessment based on the strategy discussion/meeting including the views of the child, their parents and other relevant parties. It is important that they ensure that both immediate risk assessment and long term risk assessment are considered. Where the child's circumstances are about to change, the risk assessment must include an assessment of the safety of the new environment (e.g. where a child is to be discharged from hospital to home the assessment must have established the safety of the home environment and implemented any support plan required to meet the child's needs).

At the completion of the Section 47 Enquiry, the Team Manager must evaluate and analyse all the information gathered to determine if the threshold for significant harm has been reached.

The outcome of the Section 47 Enquiries may reflect that the original concerns are:

• Not substantiated; although consideration should be given to whether the child may need services as a child in need;
• Substantiated and the child is judged to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm and an initial child protection conference should be called.

Concerns are not substantiated:

Social workers should:

• Discuss the case with the child, parents and other professionals;
• Determine whether support from any services may be helpful and help secure it; and
• Step-down through the Child & Family Assessment procedures as defined in the Threshold Guidance.

All involved professionals should:

• Participate in further discussions as necessary;
• Contribute to the development of any plan as appropriate;
• Provide services as specified in the plan for the child; and
• Review the impact of services delivered as agreed in the plan.

Arrangements should be noted for future referrals, if appropriate.

The timescale for the outcome of the s47 is by six working day of the Strategy Discussion that made the decision, the outcome is to be shared with family and professionals verbally and followed up in writing.

Concerns of significant harm are substantiated and the child is judged to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm:

Social workers with their managers should:

• Convene an initial child protection conference. The timing of this conference should depend on the urgency of the case and respond to the needs of the child and the nature and severity of the harm they may be facing. The initial child protection conference should take place within 15 working days of a strategy discussion, or the strategy discussion at which section 47 enquiries were initiated if more than one has been held;
• Seek legal advice to establish if threshold is met to enter Public Law Outline or to issue care proceedings;
• Consider whether any professionals with specialist knowledge should be invited to participate;
• Ensure that the child and their parents understand the purpose of the conference and who will attend;
• Help prepare the child if he or she is attending or making representations through a third party to the conference;
• Give information about advocacy agencies and a referral to NYAS to be progressed as appropriate;
• Give information about advocacy agencies and explain that the family may bring an advocate, friend or supporter;
• • Consider and invite significant members of the family network.

All involved professionals should:

• Have relevant information and make this available to the conference;
• Provide a written report which must be provided to the Quality & Review Team at least two working days before 12 noon prior to an Initial Child Protection and at least seven working days before 12 noon prior to a Review Child Protection Conference;
• Append a chronology of significant events in the life of the child to their report for an Initial Child Protection Conference;
• Attend the conference and take part in decision making when invited;
• Suitable multi-agency arrangements must be put in place to safeguard the child until such time as the initial child protection conference has taken place. The social worker and their manager will coordinate and review such arrangements.

Feedback from Section 47 Enquiries:

The Children's social worker is responsible for recording the outcome of the Section 47 Enquiries consistent with the requirements of the recording system. The outcome should be put on the child's electronic record with a clear record of the discussions, authorised by the Team Manager.

Notification of the outcome of the enquiries, should be given to all the agencies who have been significantly involved for their information and records. This should be followed up in writing if verbally shared.

The parents and children of sufficient age and appropriate level of understanding should be given feedback of the outcome, in particular in advance of any initial child conference that is convened. This information should be conveyed in an appropriate format for younger children and those people whose preferred language is not English. If there are ongoing criminal investigations, the content of the social worker's feedback should be agreed with the police.

Where the child concerned is living in a residential establishment which is subject to inspection, the relevant inspectorate should be informed.

Where the decision about the outcome of the Section 47 Enquiry is disputed:

Where Children's social care have concluded that an initial child protection conference is not required but professionals in other agencies remain seriously concerned about the safety of a child, these professionals should seek further discussion with the social worker, their manager and/or the safeguarding lead. The concerns, discussion and any agreements made should be recorded in each agency's files.

If concerns remain, the professional should discuss with a designated/named/lead person or senior manager in their agency and the agency may formally request that Children's social care convene an initial child protection conference. Children's social care should convene a conference where one or more professionals, supported by a senior manager/named or designated professional requests one.

If the matter remains unresolved the Managing Professional Differences Policy should be used.

11. Timescales for Section 47 Enquiries

From when Children's social care receive a referral or identify a concern of risk of significant harm to a child:

• The initial strategy discussion/ meeting, which may instigate the Section 47 Enquiry must take place within two working days;
• The section 47 enquiry is to be completed by six working days of the strategy discussion/meeting, the outcome is to be shared with family and professionals verbally and followed up in writing.

The maximum period of an enquiry from the strategy discussion/ meeting to the date of the initial child protection conference is 15 working days. In exceptional circumstances, where more than one strategy discussion / meeting takes place, the timescale remains as 15 working days from the strategy discussion / meeting which initiated the Section 47 Enquiries.

12. Recording

The responsible manager must authorise Children's social care Section 47 recording and forms.

Other professionals should, record the details of the Section 47 enquiry in line with their own agency's procedures.

At the completion of the enquiry, the Team Manager should ensure that the concerns and outcome have been entered in the recording system including on the child's chronology and that other agencies have been informed.

Children's social care recording of enquiries should include:

• Agency checks;
• Content of contact with the child cross-referenced with any specific forms used;
• Strategy discussion/meeting notes;
• Details of the enquiry;
• Body maps (where applicable);
• Medical report (where applicable);
• Assessment including identification of risks and how they may be managed;
• Legal advice (where applicable);
• Decision-making processes;
• Outcome/further action planned.

All agencies involved should ensure that records have been concluded in line with agency policies and recording procedures.

All records should be checked for the correct spelling of names and any alias as well as correct dates of birth.