2.5 Social Work Chronology |
This provides practice guidance on preparing chronologies.
This chapter was added to the manual in May 2017.
Contents
1. Practice Guidance
An up to date Chronology is a requirement for every open case to Children's Social Care. In enabling practitioners to gain a more accurate picture of the whole case, a good quality chronology is an effective tool for informing the assessment of children and their families who are considered to be In Need.
The Chronology provides a skeleton of key incidents. It is a 'sequential story' of significant events in a family's history. It contributes to an emerging picture; significantly, current events are understood in the context of historical information. It will contribute to the practitioner's understanding of the immediate and cumulative impact of events and changes upon individuals within a family and therefore inform decision making.
A significant event is an incident that impacts upon a child's safety and welfare, circumstances or home environment. This will involve professional judgement based upon the child and family's individual circumstances.
To be of value a Chronology should be:
- Succinct - if every issue/contact is recorded the value of the Chronology is diluted;
- Simple in format - thus ensuring that information is efficiently merged and sorted;
- Informative - assist with the decision making process.
A number of core issues should always be considered but may not be relevant for every case. Use professional judgement re significance:
- Births of significant persons;
- Deaths of significant persons;
- Education, training and employment details;
- Referrals to Children's Services;
- Strategy Discussions;
- Section 47 Enquiries;
- Child Protection Conferences;
- Child absconded or missing from home or care of a local authority;
- Admissions to the care of a local authority;
- Discharges from the care of a local authority;
- House moves;
- Persons moving in and out of the household;
- Details of new partners;
- Significant incidences of anti-social behaviour;
- Significant assessments by any professional agency (e.g. SEN);
- Significant referrals to key partner agencies (e.g. youth inclusion services);
- Criminal proceedings;
- Significant police service logs;
- Incidences of reported domestic abuse;
- Schools attended;
- Changes of school;
- School inclusion issues;
- School attendance issues;
- Changes in significant health professionals;
- Mental health issues;
- Other significant health issues.
Other issues that are significant to a particular family may also be recorded, for example, an observation during a home visit. Positive factors should also be recorded in order to provide balance. Examples are:
- Evidence of the family's engagement with professionals;
- Parent's self-referral for support;
- Child's presentation in school significantly improves.
A Chronology must also form the basis of any assessment undertaken with respect to children and their families. It can be used with family members to gain an insight into particular family member's perspective regarding key events.
The Chronology must be updated following each review meeting (CIN Review / Child Protection Review Conference / LAC Review / Core Group / Planning Meeting). A recommendation to update the Chronology will be made at each review of each case by the chairperson. The chairperson will nominate the most appropriate professional to update the Chronology. This will usually be the social worker.
2. Quality Assurance
Team managers will be responsible for specifically addressing the issue of the Chronology during supervision. The chairperson of each meeting will be responsible for monitoring the state of the Chronology before each meeting and for proactively following up any identified deficits subsequently. Case file auditors will also be responsible for monitoring the Chronology as part of the auditing process. Again, the auditor will be responsible for proactively following up any identified deficits subsequently. Any failure to complete outstanding tasks regarding the Chronology within the designated timescale will be reported to the relevant team manager/service manager for action.
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