Referrals
AMENDMENT
In May 2021, this chapter was updated to reflect the changes to Working Together in December 2020.
Contents
- Introduction
- The Duty to Refer
- Definitions of Thresholds
- Making a Referral
- Receiving a Referral
- Concluding a Referral
- Local Documents
1. Introduction
Anyone who has concerns about a child's safety and wellbeing or wants access to help and support for a child can make a referral to First Contact. Referrals can come from the child themselves, professionals such as teachers, the police, GPs and health visitors as well as family members and members of the public.
Referrals to First Contact usually fall in to three categories:
- Provision of information such as notifications about a child;
- Requests, for services or help for a child, which will be in the form of a referral. See Recognising Abuse and Neglect Procedure.
First Contact has the responsibility to clarify with the referrer the nature of the concerns and how and why they have arisen and/or the nature of the help that the child needs.
The Single Assessment procedures and the Threshold Guidance (see Local Documents) provides guidance about the criteria for making and receiving referrals.
See also the Children's Services Referral Form and Early Help referral form (Local Documents).
2. The Duty to Refer
All professionals have a responsibility to refer a child to First Contact under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 if they believe or suspect that the child:
- Has suffered significant harm;
- Is likely to suffer significant harm;
- Has a disability, developmental and wellbeing needs which are likely only to be met through provision of family support services (with agreement of the child's parent) under the Children Act 1989;
- Is a Child in Need whose development would be likely to be impaired without provision of services.
When professionals make a referral to First Contact, they should include any pre-existing assessments such as a Child & Family assessment and chronology if available in respect of the child. Any information they have about the child's developmental needs and the capacity of their parents and carers to meet these within the context of their wider family and environment should be provided as a part of the referral information using the relevant referral form. (see Local Documents).
Safeguarding referrals should be made to Children's Social Care from 12 weeks of pregnancy, dependent on the circumstances. See Concealed Pregnancies Procedure for additional guidance.
Where a child or young person is admitted to a mental health facility, practitioners should consider whether a referral to Children’s Social Care is necessary.
Homelessness Duty
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 significantly reformed England’s homelessness legislation by placing duties on local authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness in their areas.
It added section 213B into the Housing Act 1996, which is a duty on certain public authorities to refer to a housing authority service users they consider are or may be homeless or threatened with homelessness (i.e. it is likely they will become homeless within 56 days).
The duty to refer applies to all social services functions, including early help, leaving care and child protection; and is intended to increase early identification and intervention, which is critical for safeguarding against homelessness. Earlier intervention can help prevent children and young people becoming homeless, and the possibility of them being considered ‘intentionally homeless’ and so not owed a long-term housing duty.
Before making a referral, a public authority must:
- Have consent to the referral from the individual;
- Allow the individual to identify the housing authority in England which they would like the notification to be made to; and
- Have consent from the individual that their contact details can be supplied so the housing authority can contact them regarding the referral.
The referral to a housing authority must include the individual’s name and contact details and the agreed reason for referral (e.g. that the individual is homeless or at risk of homelessness). Further referral information may include:
- Whether an individual is already homeless, and if not when they are likely to become homeless;
- Whether the individual is at risk of rough sleeping on the date the referral is made and if so whether this is imminent;
- Risk assessment information, considering risks to the individual and to others;
- Key medical information where relevant.
Full guidance can be found in the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
3. Definitions of Thresholds
Universal
Most children will achieve their full potential through the provision of universal services alone. These services can be accessed in the local community and delivered by partners including schools, GPs, hospitals, community health services, Health Visitors, Midwives and voluntary and community groups.
Early Help
This offer of support is for children and families who require additional support which cannot be provided by universal services alone or who require co-ordinated intensive support.
Durham's Early Help support offer for families brings together local partners to provide early support for children and families co-ordinated via a Team Around the Family and can include targeted services, e.g. drug and alcohol services, domestic abuse services, and Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Safeguarding
Child in Need (CIN)
A child in need under the legislation is one: who is unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable level of health or development; or whose health or development is likely to be significantly impaired without the provision of services; or a child who is disabled.
A referral should be made where there are complex needs which require a multi-agency co-ordinated response. Consent must be gained from parents/carers and recorded on the Children's Services Referral Form before it is submitted to First Contact.
Child Protection
Where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that a child (who lives or is found in their area) is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, it has a duty to make such enquiries as it considers necessary to decide whether to take any action to safeguard or promote the child's safety and wellbeing. Such enquiries, supported by other organisations and agencies, as appropriate, should be initiated where there are concerns about all forms of abuse, e.g. exploitation, physical, sexual, emotional and neglect.
4. Making a Referral
Making a Request for Early Help
If you are a professional wanting early help support for children and families in County Durham the following process should be followed:
- Obtain agreement with the family for their information to be discussed and shared with relevant agencies in order that appropriate support can be offered and provided;
- Complete the online Early Help Request form;
- Telephone the Early Help Triage Workers on 03000 267979 (Option 4).
Further guidance documents to assist in this can be found in Local Documents (see Local Documents).
Making a Safeguarding Referral
Referrals should be made to LA children's social care for the area where the child is living or is found. If a child is in immediate danger dial 999. For new referrals, this will be recorded as a referral. For referrals in respect of cases where this is a Lead Practitioner/Allocated Social Worker this will be recorded as a contact and passed to the relevant team.
All safeguarding referrals to Durham Children's Social Care should be made using the Children's Services Safeguarding Referral Form. The Threshold Guidance may be a useful reference tool to assist in making a referral.
If the child is known to have an allocated social worker, the referral should be made to them or in their absence to the social worker's manager or a duty children's social worker. In all other circumstances referrals should be made to the duty officer.
Durham children's social care should within one working day of receiving the referral make a decision about the type of response that will be required to meet the needs of the child. If this does not occur within three working days, the primary referrer should contact these services again and, if necessary, ask to speak to a line manager to establish progress.
Other information may be relevant and some information may not be available at the time of making the referral. However, there should not be a delay in order to collect information if the delay may place the child at risk of immediate significant harm.
If the primary referrer has not received a letter of acknowledgement within three working days, they should contact First Contact again.
Consent
For an early help referral, the referral must always be discussed with the family and consent for the referral should always be sought from those with parental responsibility.
For a safeguarding children referral, it is good practice to inform those with parental responsibility of your referral, unless to do so would place the child at further risk of harm.
Where a professional decides not to seek parental permission before making a referral to First Contact, the decision must be recorded in the child's file with reasons, dated and confirmed in the referral to First Contact.
5. Receiving a Referral
The First Contact Officer will review the referral to establish to ensure all sections of the Referral Form have been completed including:
- Main reason for safeguarding concern;
- Child's details;
- Sibling and other related children's details;
- Parent/carer details;
- Other significant adults;
- Reason for the referral including the concerns; the impact on the child(ren); what needs to happen to ensure the safety of the child(ren);
- Development of the child(ren) subject to the referral, including key areas of need;
- Parental/carer capacity, including key areas of parental need or risk;
- Environmental factors;
- Strengths/protective factors;
- Known risk factors to professionals if visiting the family home;
- Involvement of other services including those currently or previously involved with the child and family.
The primary function of First Contact is to establish if there are safeguarding concerns which require a statutory safeguarding assessment or if not if the needs of the child and family can be met via Early Help Services. During triage, First Contact will make a decision as to whether to triage multi-agency information through the MASH.
If the threshold for safeguarding or Early Help is not met, First Contact will identify any other support services for the child and family with the family's consent.
This is to be completed within one working day.
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub
The MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) in Durham is designed to be a central point for the screening, gathering, sharing and analysing of information about children in County Durham who may be at risk of harm or who may need support services. Only cases that are highlighted as requiring a multi-agency view are placed in the MASH.
All referrals received by First Contact are screened and if multi-agency information required will be forwarded to the MASH who will share and analyse information and determine the final threshold for either safeguarding assessment or Early Help.
6. Concluding a Referral
Any enquiry to First Contact will have the following potential outcomes:
- Pass to Universal services (e.g. Health Visiting, School Nursing, GPs, Schools, Voluntary & Community Sector Service);
- Pass to One Point Service to identify with the referrer the most appropriate Lead Professional from a range early help services;
- Refer to MASH for full triage;
- Immediate Safeguarding Action - pass to Families First Team.
Whatever the outcome of a referral, it should have been assessed by First Contact and a decision should have been made by the relevant line manager within the time scale of one working day about what should happen next. The Children's social care manager must approve the outcome of the referral and ensure that a record has been commenced and/or updated.
The receiving team will notify the referrer and family in writing of the name of the allocated social worker for the child and family with their contact details.
If the referrer is dissatisfied with the decision made by First Contact or the MASH in relation to their concern he/she should contact the First Contact Team Manager using the contact details above to discuss. Escalation to the appropriate Operations Manager and Strategic Manager should only be made in exceptional circumstances if the issue cannot be resolved following discussion with the Team Manager. See Managing Professional Differences Policy.
The child and parents should be routinely informed about local procedures for raising complaints, if they wish to, and local advocacy services.
Where the outcome of the referral leads to a need for a continuing assessment see Assessment Procedure.