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.

AMENDEMNT

In March 2023, this chapter was updated in line with local terminology.

1. Duty to Conduct Section 47 Enquiries

When the local authority social worker 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 welfare 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 a child in care 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 welfare;
  • 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 checks should be undertaken directly with involved professionals and not through messages with intermediaries. 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.

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 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 take place following an immediate Strategy Discussion/Meeting between police, children's social care, health professionals and other agencies as appropriate.

If it is necessary to remove a child from their home, a local authority must, wherever possible and unless a child's safety is otherwise at immediate risk, apply for an Emergency Protection Order (EPO).

Police Powers of Protection 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.

3. Section 47 Thresholds and the Multi Agency 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 an early assessment or it may become apparent at the point of referral, during multi-agency checks or in the course of a multi agency 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 multi agency assessment (see Children and Families Practice Guidance: Assessments) 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 strategy discussion/meeting should be co-ordinated and chaired by a Children's social care manager or Practice Supervisor.

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

Role of Social Workers and Managers in the Strategy Discussion

It is the role of Social Workers and their managers to convene the strategy discussion and make sure it:

  • Considers the child's welfare and safety, and identifies the level of risk faced by the child;
  • Decides what information should be shared with the child and family (on the basis that information is not shared if this may jeopardise a police investigation or place the child at risk of significant harm);
  • Agrees what further action is required, and who will do what by when, where an Emergency Protection Order is in place or the child is the subject of police powers of protection;
  • Records agreed decisions in accordance with local recording procedures; and
  • Follows up actions to make sure what was agreed gets done.

Role of the Police in the Strategy Discussion

During the Strategy Discussion the Police should:

  • Discuss the basis for any criminal investigation and any relevant processes that other agencies might need to know about, including the timing and methods of evidence gathering; and
  • Lead the criminal investigation (Children's Social Care/Disabled Children's Service have the lead for the Section 47 enquires and assessment of the child's welfare) where joint enquiries take place.

Role of Health Professionals in the Strategy Discussion

  • To support the Strategy Discussion, Health Professionals should gather any relevant information from other involved Health Professionals to share at the Strategy Discussion.

Location of the Strategy Discussion

Strategy discussions should be held at a suitable venue, which is most likely to maximise attendance of those who are vital to share information (e.g. a hospital, school, police station, Children's Social Care office). If the child is an in-patient in hospital or if the case is one where hospital staff hold key information, the strategy discussion should be held at the hospital to maximise input from relevant staff.

In some circumstances strategy discussions by telephone may be adequate to plan an enquiry and must include the agencies directly involved with the child. For telephone strategy discussions, all agencies should make a record of the outcome of the telephone discussion and actions agreed at the time. The record of the notes and decisions authorised by the Children's social care manager should be circulated as soon as practicable to all parties to the discussion.

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

  • 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;
  • Any new information that a child may be likely to suffer, or has suffered significant harm through being sexually exploited; undergoing FGM or being exposed to radicalisation;
  • 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 the death of a child in family, in which abuse or neglect is suspected, is confirmed and there are other children in the household;
  • 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 North Yorkshire 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 (in which circumstances a Child Protection Conference should be held in respect of both 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 welfare 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;
  • 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; and
  • 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 using an appropriate form / record. All agencies attending should take notes of the actions agreed at the time.

A copy of the record should be made available for all those, who had been invited or involved, as soon as practicable by Children's social care.

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 a maximum of 3 working days of child protection concerns being identified, except in the following circumstances:

  • For allegations/concerns indicating immediate risk of harm to the child (e.g. serious physical injury or serious neglect) the strategy discussion/meeting should be held on the same day as the receipt of the referral;
  • For allegations of penetrative sexual abuse, the strategy discussion/meeting should be held on the same day as the receipt of the referral, if it is required to ensure forensic evidence;
  • Where the concerns are particularly complex (e.g. fabricated/induced illness / organised abuse / child sexual exploitation or allegations against staff) the strategy discussion/meeting must be held within a maximum of 3 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 at which it was decided to initiate the 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 designated safeguarding professional 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 Professional Resolutions Practice Guidance.

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.

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 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 other agencies involved with the child and family to obtain a fuller picture of the circumstances of all children in the household, identifying parenting strengths and any risk factors. 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 assessment of risk will:

  • Identify the cause for concern, its seriousness, any recurring events and the vulnerability and resilience of the child;
  • Evaluate the strengths, including the protective factors, and weaknesses of the family;
  • Evaluate the risks to the child/ren and the context in which they are living;
  • Consider the child's needs for protection; from whom and how;
  • Consider the capacity of the parents and wider family and social networks to safeguard and promote the child's welfare - this must include both parents, any other carers, such as grandparents, and the partners of the parents;
  • Risk factors that may suggest a higher level of vulnerability in the family and risk of significant harm such as parental mental health difficulties, parental substance misuse, and domestic violence 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.

Multi Agency Information Checks

The social worker must contact the other agencies involved with the child 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 and not through messages with intermediaries.

The Police, Health Professionals, teachers and other relevant professionals have a duty to support Children's Social Care/Disabled Children's Service in undertaking its enquiries.

The police should:

Health professionals should:

  • Undertake appropriate medical tests, examinations or observations, to determine how the child's health or development may be being impaired;
  • Provide any of a range of specialist assessments. For example, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and child psychologists may be involved in specific assessments relating to the child's developmental progress. The lead health practitioner (probably a consultant paediatrician, or possibly the child's GP) may need to request and coordinate these assessments; and
  • Ensure appropriate treatment and follow up health concerns.

All involved professionals should:

  • Contribute to the assessment as required, providing information about the child and family, and
  • Consider whether a joint enquiry/investigation team may need to speak to a child victim without the knowledge of the parent or caregiver.
The relevant agency should be informed of the reason for the enquiry by the social worker, 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 Working with Foreign Authorities: Child Protection Cases and Care Orders Departmental advice for local authorities, social workers, service managers and children's services lawyers July 2014.

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 Designated Officer (formerly known as the LADO) 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 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 Other Significant Family Members

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.

The children, who are the focus of concern, must be seen alone, subject to their age and willingness, preferably with parental permission.

If the child is the subject of ongoing court proceedings, legal advice must be sought about obtaining permission from the court to see the child.

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 and cultural background;
  • Unusual abuse is suspected, including the use of photography or filming. ( in which case the method of interviewing the child might need to be revised).

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 strategy discussion / meeting 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 strategy discussion/meeting including legal representation, to develop a plan to locate or access the child/ren and progress the Section 47 Enquiry.

The Parents and Other Significant Family Members

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 information leaflets. 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 other family members to ascertain the facts of the situation causing concern 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 welfare of the child.

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

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

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

An explanation of their rights as parents 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 during a Section 47 Enquiry, and the response to these objections or complaints, must be clearly recorded.

8. Medical Assessments

8.1 Child Protection Medical Assessments

request_cpma

A child protection medical assessment is a 'medical assessment which is undertaken either at the request of social care or police, or when a referral has been or is about to be made by a clinician to social care in the context of concerns for the wellbeing of a child already receiving clinical care. It is a comprehensive assessment which includes the clinical history and examination, and detailed documentation including the use of line drawings and photo documentation. Additionally, the assessment includes obtaining any relevant investigations, arranging any necessary aftercare and writing a report with an opinion.' (RCPCH 2020)

The need for a child protection medical assessment to be completed should always be considered where there has been a disclosure or there is a suspicion of any form of abuse to a child.

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

A child protection medical assessment is necessary to:

  • Identify the child's health needs;
  • Help to reduce the physical and psychological sequelae of such abuse;
  • Determine the likelihood of child abuse on the balance of probability;
  • Facilitate the police investigation of a possible crime by documentation of clinical findings, including injuries and taking samples that may be used as forensic evidence in a police investigation relevant to all types of abuse;
  • Contribute to the multi-agency assessment through sharing of information.

Child protection medical assessments should be carried out by paediatric clinicians working at ST4 level or equivalent and above who have relevant Level 3 child protection competencies (RCN, 2018). Only doctors may physically examine the whole child for the purpose of child protection. 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 medical records.

Child protection medical assessments should be carried out in the presence of a named chaperone. The chaperone should be a qualified health professional who is there as a witness and to support the child and clinician. Their name should be recorded on the child protection medical assessment proforma.

Consideration should be given to support for both the child and family during the child protection medical assessment, e.g. use of interpreters or support for children with disabilities.

Consent

Informed consent should be taken for each child protection medical assessment; ideally this will be written consent, but when consent is being obtained over the telephone, documentation that verbal consent was given should be written in the child's medical record.

The following people may give consent to a child protection medical assessment:

  • The child or young person if they are deemed to have capacity;
  • 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 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.

If consent is withheld for any part of the assessment, including examination, photography or investigation then this is recorded, including subsequent discussions and any actions taken.

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.

If the local authority wishes an examination to take place but the person with Parental Responsibility refuses to give consent, the paediatrician should consider the case in its entirety and if the paediatrician decides the examination is in the child's best interest and/or there is a public interest then they should refer to the local authority to obtain consent by court order. Advice can be taken from senior colleagues and indemnity organisations. The local authority would need a court order to override the refusal of the party with Parental Responsibility.

Arranging the Child Protection Medical Assessment

Child protection medical assessments can be requested as an action arising from a strategy meeting or prior to the strategy with the intention of informing the discussions during the meeting. A child protection medical assessment should not be requested in order to determine if a strategy meeting is required.

The strategy meetings must consider, in consultation with the named Doctor / Paediatrician (if not part of the strategy discussion/meeting), the need for and the timing of a child protection medical assessment

The medical assessment of a child with suspected physical abuse should normally be commenced within 24 hours of the request to health; timing should be based on clinical need. If this standard is not met, then the reasons should be clearly recorded in the child's health record.

Either the police or Children's Social Care can request a child protection medical assessment. The assessment should be arranged with the nearest acute provider of paediatric services – either via the paediatrician on call or the hospital safeguarding children team:

Harrogate Hospital: 01423 885959 – request via the paediatrician on call

York Hospital: Friday 9am- 5pm contact the Trusts Safeguarding Children Team: 01904 726647 / Out of hours 01904 631313 request via paediatrician on call

Scarborough Hospital: Monday – Friday 9am- 5pm contact the Trusts Safeguarding Children Team: 01904 726647 / Out of hours 01723 368111 via the paediatrician on call

Friarage Hospital, Northallerton: 01609 779911 request via the paediatrician on call

Airedale – for children living in Craven: between the hours of 8.30 – 4.30 ring the Paediatric Secretarial Team on 01535 292434. Medical will be done in Children’s Outpatients, Building 22, location B20 at Airedale Hospital.

  • Out of hours: ring switchboard on 01535 652511 and ask to speak to the consultant paediatrician on call. The call will go directly to the paediatrician on call for the wards. This consultant is dealing with acute ward admissions and will prioritise the urgency of the medical with the work on the wards at the time. Out of hours medicals are carried out on the Children’s Ward, Ward 17 Location C20 at Airedale Hospital.

Child Protection Medical Reports

The assessment, professional opinion and outcome resulting from a child protection medical assessment should be clearly recorded and communicated to the requesting professional as well as to the family and child as appropriate. It can be helpful to document the summary of the initial findings and give a copy to the Social Worker or Police Officer attending the medical (with the original being kept in the child's medical record).

The child protection medical report should be completed in accordance with the guidance in the RCPCH Child Protection Companion (RCPCH, 2013).

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

Standards

Child protection medical assessments should be completed in line with good practice service delivery standards (RCPCH, 2020).

References:

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Child Protection Companion (2013)

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Safeguarding children and young people – roles and competencies (2019)

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Good practice service delivery standards for the management of children referred for child protection medical assessments (2020)

8.2 Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessments

In cases where it is reported or believed that a child has experienced sexual abuse, the initial response from all practitioners should be to listen carefully to what the child says and to observe the child's behaviour and circumstances. Practitioners must:

  • Clarify the concerns;
  • Offer reassurance about how the child will be kept safe;
  • Explain what action will be taken and within what timeframe.

The child must not be pressed for information, led or cross-examined or given false assurances of absolute confidentiality, as this could prejudice police investigations, especially in cases of sexual abuse.

In all cases, regardless of whether the abuse is recent or non-recent, consideration must always be given to whether or not the child requires a sexual abuse medical assessment. If the decision is that the medical assessment is not required, the rationale for this decision must be clearly documented. Expert professional advice regarding whether a medical assessment is indicated, can be obtained from the commissioned paediatric SARC (Sexual Assault Referral Centre) provider, Mountain Healthcare: 0330 223 1154

'Recent': Abuse which has occurred between 0 and 13 days ago

'Non-recent': Abuse which has occurred 14 or more days ago

sarc

Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessments

All CSA medicals are child centered and SARC staff will always follow the child's lead by listening to the child's verbal and nonverbal cues in order for them to remain comfortable and settled throughout their appointment. The SARC is welcoming, and child focused with work ongoing to further the aesthetics of the environment.

sarc environment

Requesting a Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessment

Requests for a Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessment can only be made by North Yorkshire Police or North Yorkshire Children and Families Service. Regardless of who makes the request there must be discussion between the allocated social worker and police officer leading the case to agree the arrangements for the assessments including who will liaise with Mountain Health.

Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessments can be requested as an action arising from a strategy meeting or prior to the strategy with the intention of informing the discussions during the meeting. A Child Sexual Abuse Medical Assessment should not be requested in order to determine if a strategy meeting is required.

It should be noted that there are different arrangements for children and young people 0-12 years, and children and young people aged 13- 18 years; and for recent and non-recent abuse.

  1. Children & Young People Aged 0-12 years, Acute Pathway (0-13 days);
  2. Children & Young People Aged 13 - 18 years, Acute Pathway (0-13 days);
  3. Children & Young People Aged 0-15 years, Non-Acute Pathway (14+ days);
  4. Young people aged 16 – 18 years, Non-Acute Pathway, (Outside of forensic timescales. Young people aged between 16-18 years will usually be seen within the adult service and professionals are encouraged to ring Mountain Healthcare for advice around forensic timescales to establish if a young person follows the acute or non-acute pathway).

See Pathways.

Cases where children may also require assessment of physical injuries in addition to child sexual abuse assessment

In cases where children also require assessment of their physical injuries, consideration should be given to prioritising this, particularly where the injuries are severe or require immediate attention and treatment. (see Section 8.1, Child Protection Medical Assessment above). Discussions should take place between police/CFS, the on-call paediatrician and Mountain Healthcare, to agree:

  • Timing of the assessments
  • Location and coordination of the assessments (N.B. it may be possible for Mountain Healthcare to conduct off-site appointments if the child is unable to attend the paediatric SARC and/or to avoid the need for multiple assessments)

Further information about the West Yorkshire SARC, The Hazlehurst Centre, can be found at: www.hazlehurstcentre.org

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 (Ministry of Justice). 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 and taking into account the views of the child, their parents and other relevant parties (e.g. a foster carer). 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, Children's social care 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 with their managers 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
  • Consider whether the child's health and development should be re-assessed regularly against specific objectives and decide who has responsibility for doing this.

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.

The Children's social care manager must authorise the decision that no further action is necessary, having ensured that the child, any other children in the household and the child's carers have been seen and spoken with.

Arrangements should be noted for future referrals, if appropriate.

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;
  • 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; and
  • 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 explain that the family may bring an advocate, friend or supporter.

All involved professionals should:

  • Contribute to the information their agency provides ahead of the conference, setting out the nature of the agency's involvement with the child and family;
  • Consider, in conjunction with the police and the appointed conference Chair, whether the report can and should be shared with the parents and if so when; and
  • 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 Children's social care manager.

Notification, verbal or written, of the outcome of the enquiries, including an evaluation of the outcome for the child, should be given to all the agencies who have been significantly involved for their information and records.

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.

Feedback about outcomes should be provided to non-professional referrers in a manner that respects the confidentiality and welfare of the child.

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 nominated safeguarding children adviser. 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 Professional Resolutions Practice Guidance 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 1-3 working days;
  • The multi-agency assessment taking place along with the Section 47 Enquiries must be completed within a maximum of 45 working days of the original referral date with progress being reviewed by a Children's social care manager regularly to avoid any unnecessary delay and to ensure that the safety of the child is reviewed effectively.

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

A full written record must be completed by each agency involved in a Section 47 Enquiry, using the required agency proforma, authorised and dated by the staff.

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

Practitioners should, wherever possible, retain rough notes in line with local retention of record procedures until the completion of anticipated legal proceedings.

At the completion of the enquiry, the social work 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 cross-referenced with any specific forms used;
  • Strategy discussion/meeting notes;
  • Details of the enquiry;
  • Body maps (where applicable);
  • Assessment including identification of risks and how they may be managed;
  • Decision making processes;
  • Outcome/further action planned.

All agencies involved should ensure that records have been concluded and countersigned 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.