Keywords

An Absconded child is a child who absents him/herself (runs away) whilst placed in accommodation provided by the Department subject to Police Protection, Remand or otherwise Lawfully Detained.

Children are Absent without Authority (Unauthorised Absence) when they absent themselves from care. Often their whereabouts are known, they may be late, have left to cool off or they may be testing boundaries.

It is not usually necessary to report such absences to the Police and others (e.g. social worker) unless there is a level of risk to the child or others.

An Acceptable Behaviour Contract (also known as an ABC or Acceptable Behaviour Agreement) is an intervention designed to engage an individual in acknowledging his or her anti-social behaviour and its effect on others, with the aim of stopping that behaviour.

It is a written agreement made between a person who has been involved in anti-social behaviour and their local commissioners, landlord or the police. ABCs are not set out in law, which is why they are usually called Agreements. Any agency is able to use and adapt the model.

The term Accommodated normally refers to a child for whom the local authority has provided accommodation, with parental consent, under Section 25 C&YP Act 2001.

However, a child is also accommodated if accommodation is arranged by the department for a child who is subject to Police Protection, Remanded or otherwise Lawfully Detained.

A child is also accommodated if s/he is subject to a Supervision Order with a Residence requirement. All children who are accommodated come within the definition of Looked After.

This is Government guidance issued in relation to the conduct of investigations of criminal offences against children, in particular the way in which interviews of children should be carried out.

The full title of this Government guidance is "Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal proceedings: Guidance for vulnerable or intimidated witnesses, including children".

Although issued in relation to the conduct of investigations of criminal offences, the principles apply to any investigation involving a child, in particular the way in which interviews of children should be carried out.

External links

Home Office - Achieving Best Evidence

This is the database that the Home Office uses to log cases of Asylum Seekers.

Association of Chief Police Officers’ system to assess the gravity of crimes.

An Adoption Case Record on a child should be opened as soon as there is an adoption plan for the child. Where the plan relates to a group of siblings, there must be a separate adoption case record for each child.

The Adopted Children Register is a register, maintained by the Chief Registrar, of all legal adoptions on the Isle of Man since 1929, including all registrable foreign adoptions since 2001.

The Adoption Contact Register is a database, maintained by the Registrar General, which allows adopted adults and their birth relatives to register their details if they would welcome contact or wish to have no contact. To be eligible for registration, applicants need to be 18 or over. Part 1 of the Register is for adopted adults to specify with which birth relative they are hoping for contact, or wish to have no contact. Part 2 of the Register is for any birth relative to register their desire for contact or for no contact with an adopted adult.

If a link is made, both parties will be notified but only the adoptee will be provided with the name and address of person wishing to have contact. The onus will be on the adopted adult to make the initial contact.

Adoption is the process by which all parental rights and responsibilities for a child are permanently transferred to an adoptive parent by a court. As a result the child legally becomes part of the adoptive family.

An Adoption Order transfers Parental Responsibility for the child from the birth parents and others who had Parental Responsibility, including the local authority, permanently and solely to the adopter(s). An Adoption Order can be made where the Court agrees that adoption is in the best interests of the child and Parental consent to adoption has been given or dispensed with by the Court.

Where a child has been placed for adoption by an adoption agency, the child must have been living with the adoptive applicants for a minimum of 13 weeks before an adoption order can be made (Section 2(1) 1984 (IOM) Adoption Act).

The child, once adopted, is deemed to be the child of the adopter(s) as if he or she had been born to them. The new relationship continues into adulthood and throughout the lives of all involved. The child's birth certificate is changed to an adoption certificate showing the adopter(s)to be the child's parent(s). A child who is not already a citizen of the IOM acquires British citizenship if adopted in the IOM by a citizen of the British Isles.

The Adoption Matching Report must be presented to the Adoption Panel when seeking a recommendation that a child be placed with a particular prospective adopter. It must set out the reasons for the proposed placement, the monitoring, supervision and review of the placement and the proposed post-placement contact arrangements.

The Adoption Register is a database of approved prospective adopters and children waiting for adoption across England, Wales and the IOM. A team of experienced social workers use the database to link children with approved prospective adopters where local matches cannot be found.

Under the Adoption Societies Regulations (IOM) 1985 section 10(2)(k), Adoption reviews must be held in relation to children placed for adoption. This supersedes the requirement to hold Looked After Review in relation to the child.

Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are a way of tackling persistent anti-social behaviour, such as graffiti, abusive and intimidating language, excessive noise, fouling the street with litter, drunken behaviour in the streets, dealing drugs.

They are used to protect people whose lives are disrupted by the actions of specific individuals. They can be used for a variety of offences and can ban people from doing things in specific places and sometimes from entering certain areas.

An ASBO is granted in a civil court, but a breach of an order is a criminal offence. For more information go to the link below and follow links for ASBOS.

External links

Home Office - Crime Reduction

Young people under the age of 17 and adults who are considered to be mentally vulnerable must have an 'Appropriate Adult' with them when they are interviewed by the police. An Appropriate Adult can be a family member, friend or often a volunteer or social/health care professional.

Appropriate Consent is sometimes required in relation to Young People detained by the Police, for example, where samples or fingerprints are taken.

Where consent is required it is usually required from the parent or guardian, from the Young Person, or in some circumstances from both. Where the Young Person is subject to a Care Order, consent may be given by the social worker or another representative of the Children and Families Section.

An Appropriate Adult, who is not the parent or guardian, cannot give such consent. For further guidance consult the Youth Justice Team Manager.

Approved Social Workers (ASWs) are qualified social workers in England and Wales and the Isle of Man trained to carry out a range of statutory duties in mental health services.

Assessment and Progress Records are being implemented under the Integrated Children's System. They replace Assessment and Action Records and are used to assess and monitor the developmental progress of Looked After children, and to inform the Care Plan. The Assessment and Progress Record builds on the information held in the Core Assessment Record. There are four age related Assessment and Progress Records.

"The Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families", issued in 2000 by the Department of Health, provides guidance on Initial Assessments and Core Assessments of Children in Need, including the timescales within which such assessments should be undertaken. The framework also provides guidance on assessment tools.

External links

Department of Health - Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families

The ASSET Assessment is a common, structured, assessment tool used across the youth justice system in England and Wales and the Isle of Man. The purpose of an ASSET Assessment for making a comprehensive and holistic assessment; identifying the needs of a young person; identifying factors contributing to offending behaviour; identifying risk and vulnerability and identifying positive factors as well as problems.

Someone who has fled persecution and made a formal application for asylum within the UK and whose claim is being processed.

BAAF has four main roles in relation to Adoption and Fostering:

• Standard Setting;
• Raising Awareness;
• Advocacy and
• Child Placements.

BAAF also provides medical and social report forms (such as BAAF Form F) for collecting information about children, birth parents and prospective adoptive parents or foster carers.

When the court adjourns a case (moves the case to another date), it may decide to remand the young person, particularly when they are charged with more serious offences. If the court chooses to remand a young person, it can remand them on conditional or unconditional bail, or to accommodation provided by the Department.

The British Institute of Learning Disabilities is an organisation which works to improve the lives of people in the UK with a learning disability.

BILD works with the government and other organisations to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities.

They also undertake research and they accredit organisations providing Physical Intervention and Restraint training for children and adults.

External links

BILD website

Breach Action may be taken against young people who have failed to comply with Court Orders relating to offending behaviour. Normally, breach action is taken after the young person has been issued and failed to comply with formal warnings. Failure to comply after warnings may lead to further Court action.

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) is the Government agency responsible for Reporting Officers, Children's Guardians and other Court officers appointed by the Court in Court Proceedings involving children.

In addition, where a parent wishes to consent to a child's placement for adoption or give advance consent to a child's adoption, the adoption agency must request CAFCASS to appoint an officer to witness the consent, having first ensured that it is given with full understanding of its implications.

External links

CAFCASS website

Identified person - within NHS and local authorities with social care responsibilities - who has the responsibility for the procedures governing access to, and the use of, person-identifiable information within the organisation, and the transfer of such information to other bodies.

A review was commissioned in 1997 by the Chief Medical Officer of England "owing to increasing concern about the ways in which patient information is being used in the NHS in England and Wales and the need to ensure that confidentiality is not undermined. Such concern was largely due to the development of information technology in the service, and its capacity to disseminate information about patients rapidly and extensively".

A committee was established under the chairmanship of Dame Fiona Caldicott, Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, and previously President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Its findings were published in December 1997. The report highlighted six key principles, listed below:

• Justify the purpose(s)
  • Every proposed use or transfer of patient identifiable information within or from an organisation should be clearly defined and scrutinised, with continuing uses regularly reviewed, by an appropriate guardian
• Don't use patient identifiable information unless it is absolutely necessary
  • Patient identifiable information items should not be included unless it is essential for the specified purpose(s) of that flow. The need for patients to be identified should be considered at each stage of satisfying the purpose(s)
• Use the minimum necessary patient-identifiable information
  • Where use of patient identifiable information is considered to be essential, the inclusion of each individual item of information should be considered and justified so that the minimum amount of identifiable information is transferred or accessible as is necessary for a given function to be carried out
• Access to patient identifiable information should be on a strict need-to-know basis
  • Only those individuals who need access to patient identifiable information should have access to it, and they should only have access to the information items that they need to see. This may mean introducing access controls or splitting information flows where one information flow is used for several purposes.
• Everyone with access to patient identifiable information should be aware of their responsibilities
  • Action should be taken to ensure that those handling patient identifiable information - both clinical and non-clinical staff - are made fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations to respect patient confidentiality.
• Understand and comply with the law
  • Every use of patient identifiable information must be lawful. Someone in each organisation handling patient information should be responsible for ensuring that the organisation complies with legal requirements.

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) promote the mental health and psychological wellbeing of children and young people, and provide high quality, multidisciplinary mental health services to all children and young people with mental health problems and disorders to ensure effective assessment, treatment and support, for them and their families.

The Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) was established in April 2007, it replaced the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales. The main function of the CSSIW is the regulation and inspection of care homes and children's homes/schools.

External links

CSSIW website

The Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales was replaced, in April 2007, by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW).

External links

CSSIW website

A Care Order can be made in Care Proceedings brought under Section 31 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 if the Threshold Criteria are met. The Order grants Parental Responsibility for the child to the local authority specified in the Order, to be shared with the parents.

A Care Order lasts until the child is 18 unless discharged earlier. An Adoption Order automatically discharges the Care Order.

All children who are the subject of a Care Order come within the definition of Looked After and have to have a Care Plan. When making a Care Order, the Court must be satisfied that the Care Plan is suitable.

Every Looked After child must have a CLA Plan completed and updated by the social worker.

The overall purpose of the plan is to safeguard and promote the interests of the child, prevent drift and focus work with the child and the family.

The CLA Plan must be regularly reviewed at Looked After Review.

The CLA Plan sets out its overall objectives and timescales (including, by the time of the second Looked After Review, how permanence will be achieved for the child), summarises the needs of the child, identifies the services required to meet those needs and describes the management and support of the plan by the local authority.

Before a Court grants a Care Order it must be satisfied that a suitable CLA Plan has been drawn up.

The CLA Plan must be regularly reviews at Looked After Review.

The CLA Plan sets out its overall objectives and timescales (including, by the time of the second Looked After Review, how permanence will be achieved for the child), summarises the needs of the child, identifies the services required to meet those needs and describes the management and support of the plan by the local authority.

Care proceedings can be brought by the local authority under Section 31 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 if there is concern that the child concerned is suffering or is likely to suffer Significant Harm attributable to the care being given to the child, or likely to be given if an Order were not made, not being what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give, or the child being beyond parental control. This test is referred to as the Threshold Criteria.

Where care proceedings are brought, the Court can make a range of orders under the Children Act 1989. If the Court is satisfied that the threshold criteria are met, it can make a Care Order or Supervision Order.

A person who provides care on a regular basis, who is not employed to do so by an agency or organisation and is usually a friend or relative.

Case Managers are responsible for assessment, planning, intervention/supervision and risk management of young offenders.

Where a decision is made that a child requires a Child Protection Risk Action Plan, the category of abuse or neglect must be specified by the Conference Chairperson.

The Child Assessment Order which can be made under Section 41 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 is for cases where there are suspicions, but no firm evidence, of actual or likely Significant Harm but in circumstances not constituting an emergency.

A Child Assessment Order directs a person who is in a position to do so to produce the child to the person named in the Order so that an assessment may take place and comply with any directions or other requirements included. The Order authorises the carrying out of the assessment in accordance with the terms of the Order.

Under Section 23(4) of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001, a child is a Child in Need if:

He/she is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him/her of services by a local authority;

His/her health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him/her of such services; or He/she is disabled.

In Isle of Man we have introduced the following categories for children:

• Children with Additional Needs (CwAN);
• Children with Complex Needs (CwCN);
• Children with Safety and Protection Needs (CwSPN).

All of these relate to the legislation of a child in need. To establish which category a child will fit, a NARRATES is carried out.

A Child with Complex Needs Plan - also known as a Child's Plan should be drawn up for children who are not Looked After but are identified as Children in Need and who are requiring services to meet their needs. It should be completed following a NARRATES CwCN or NARRATES S46 where services are identified as necessary.

Under the Integrated Children's System, if a Child is subject to a Child Protection Risk Action Plan, it is recorded as part of the CwCN Plan.

The CwCN Plan may also be used with children receiving short break care in conjunction with Part One of the Care Plan.

The following definition is taken from Working Together on the Isle of Man to protect children from harm and neglect. Inter-Agency Child Protection Procedures 2010, Page 13.

Child protection is a part of Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children. This refers to the process of protecting individual children identified as suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect.

A Child Protection Conferences is convened where a child is considered to be at risk of Significant Harm. For further detail see Initial Child Protection Conference or Child Protection Review Conference.

A Child Protection Enquiry (usually referred to as a Section 46 Enquiry) is required if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer Significant Harm.

This normally occurs after an Initial Assessment and a Strategy Discussion / Meeting.

Section 47 Enquiries are usually conducted by a social worker, jointly with the Police, and must be completed within 15 days of a Strategy Discussion / Meeting.

At that stage, an Initial Child Protection Conference is convened to establish whether the child is at continuing risk of Significant Harm. If so a multi-agency Child Protection Risk Action Plan is drawn up for the child.

Where a Child Protection Conference determines that a child is at continuing risk of Significant Harm, a multi-agency Child Protection Risk Action Plan is formulated to protect the child. A Core Group of professionals, including the Social Worker, are responsible for keeping the Child Protection Risk Action Plan up to date and co-ordinating inter-agency activities within it.

In line with Working Together on the Isle of Man, the Child Protection Register has now been replaced by a Record of Children with a Child Protection Risk Action Plan.

This Manual therefore refers to Children with Child Protection Risk Action Plans, rather than registered children.

Child Protection Review Conferences are convened in relation to children who are already subject to a Child Protection Risk Action Plan. The first review conference is normally convened three months after a Child Protection Risk Action Plan is first drawn up, then at intervals of not more than six months.

The purpose of the Review Conference is to review the safety, health and development of the child in view of the Child Protection Risk Action Plan, to ensure that the child continues to be adequately safeguarded and to consider whether the Child Protection Risk Action Plan should continue or change or whether it can be discontinued.

Child Protection Review Conferences are convened in relation to children who are already subject to a Child Protection Risk Action Plan. The first review conference is normally convened three months after a Child Protection Risk Action Plan is first drawn up, then at intervals of not more than six months.

The purpose of the Review Conference is to review the safety, health and development of the child in view of the Child Protection Risk Action Plan, to ensure that the child continues to be adequately safeguarded and to consider whether the Child Protection Risk Action Plan should continue or change or whether it can be discontinued.

This is the report which the child's social worker has to present to the Adoption Panel where the Panel’s recommendation is sought that adoption is in the child’s best interests. The author of the report must be suitably qualified and experienced and/or supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced social worker.

This is the plan for a Child in Need of Services who is not Looked After. In appropriate cases it will include a Child Protection Risk Action Plan.

The Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) is an important element of the Every Child Matters reform programme. It has been a powerful force in driving forward better local integration of children's services and the development of local partnership arrangements.

The Children and Young People's Plan (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 came into force in February 2007. They will apply to all plans published from October 1st 2007.

Under Section 23 (5) Children and Persons Act 2001, a child is a Child in Need if:

• He/she is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him/her of services by a local authority;
• His/her health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him/her of such services; or He/she is disabled.

In England, the Children Act 2004 introduced, for the first time, the role of an independent Children's Commissioner for England. The Commissioner, whose general role will be to promote awareness of the views and interests of children, was appointed in March 2005. The Commissioner's duties include advising the government of children's views and interests; encouraging organisations whose activities affect children to take account of children's views; and considering and researching matters affecting children's interests, and publishing reports on them. The Commissioner will also be able to hold inquiries, either on the direction of the Secretary of State or on the Commissioner's own initiative, into cases of individual children that have wider policy relevance.

A Children's Guardian is an officer of CAFCASS appointed by the Court to safeguard the interests of the child in Court proceedings involving the local authority.

Chronologies can be used in different ways. Many professionals, such as social workers, are required to maintain a Chronology for children on their caseload, to records all significant events and changes in the life of a child.

Also, as part of the process for Serious Case Reviews, agencies are required to draw up Chronologies relating to their involvement with children. These Chronologies are then brought together as an Overview Integrated Chronology, which can be used as an analytical tool to help understand the impact of events and changes on the child in question.

Closure Records are being implemented under the Integrated Children's System. They summarise the impact of actions and services provided to a child and family, and the evidence that supports the decision to close a case. The Closure Record should be completed by the social worker when it is planned to cease work with a child or young person and family.

These are approved prospective adopters who are also approved as foster carers. They are able therefore to provide a permanent home through adoption for a child placed with them as a foster child if rehabilitation work with the birth family is not successful.

A Young Person may receive a Conditional Discharge in criminal proceedings. A Young Person receiving a Conditional Discharge receives no immediate punishment. A period of between 6 months and 3 years is set and, as long as the young person does not commit a further offence during this period, no punishment will be imposed. However, if the young person commits another offence during this period, they can be brought back to court and re-sentenced.

A Contact Order is an Order made by the Court requiring the person with whom a child lives to allow the child to have contact with the person named in the order. The Order is made under Section 11 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001, where the child is not the subject of a Care Order.

Where a child is the subject of a Care Order, there is a general duty on the local authority to promote contact between the child and the parents.

All plans for children should include a Contingency Plan setting out the steps that need to be taken if the primary objectives are not achieved.

As part of permanence planning for Looked After Children, Contingency Plans must be drawn up to ensure that alternative plans have been explored and are available without delay if the preferred permanent outcome proves unachievable. This is sometimes referred to as 'Twin Track' or 'Parallel' Planning.

The term Core Group is normally used in relation to children subject to a multi-agency Child Protection Risk Action Plan. Core Groups are made up of professionals from differing agencies, including the Social Worker, who is responsible for implementing and monitoring the Child Protection Risk Action Plan.

In broad terms, the principle of Corporate Parenting is quite simple: that as the corporate parent of looked after children, the Government has a legal and moral duty to provide the kind of loyal support that any good parents would provide for their own children.

Where a decision is made that a child requires a Child Protection Risk Action Plan, the Conference Chair must ensure that the criteria for the decision are met, i.e. that the child is at continuing risk of Significant Harm.

This Department was set up 28 June 2007 and replaced the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

Following the change in Government in May 2010, the DCSF was replaced by the Department for Education.

External links

Department for Education (ex DCSF)

The Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010 (previously called the Department for Children, Schools and Families) and is responsible for education and children's services.

External links

Department for Education (ex DCSF)

When an asylum claim and subsequent appeal is refused, a Deportation Order will be issued. Anyone subject to a Deportation Order is required to leave the UK, and can be detained until they are removed. It also prohibits them from re-entering the country for as long as it is in force and invalidates any leave to enter or remain in the UK granted before the Order was made or while it is in force.

The Adoption (Overseas Adoptions) Order (IOM) 1985 enables adoption orders enables adoption orders in countries listed in the Order to be recognised in the IOM and registered on the IOM Adoption Children Register.

All Primary Care Trusts in England and the DHSS, Isle of Man should have a Designated Doctor and Nurse to take a strategic, professional lead on all aspects of the health service contribution to safeguarding children across all the PCT area, which includes all providers. Designated professionals provide advice and support to Named Professionals in each provider trust. They also play an important role in promoting, influencing and developing relevant training to ensure the training needs of health staff are addressed. They also provide skilled professional involvement in child safeguarding processes and Serious Case Reviews. See also Named Professional.

Each school should appoint a Designated Teacher. This person's role is to co-ordinate policies, procedures and roles in relation to Child Protection and in relation to Looked After Children.

Under Section 23 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001, a child is disabled, and will therefore be included in the definition of a Child in Need, if s/he is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from a mental disorder of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity.

The DBS is a UK organisation conducting police checks to enable an assessment to be made on the suitability of a person to care for or work with children. Different levels of check will be available for different levels of regular contact and supervisory responsibility for children.

External links

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about

A person is domiciled in a country in which he/she has or is deemed to have a permanent home. Everyone must have a domicile. A person receives a domicile of origin at birth but may acquire a new domicile by the fact of residing in a different country with the intention of remaining there indefinitely. It is not sufficient to intend to reside in a country for a fixed period of time or until some clearly foreseen and reasonably anticipated event happens.

Under Section 42 Children and Young Persons Act 2010, the Department can apply for an Emergency Protection Order (EPO) where there is an immediate risk of Significant Harm to a child. Under the Order, the Department acquires Parental Responsibility for the child. 

Amongst other things, the EPO will enable a child to be removed to other accommodation or to remain in a place where he/she is being accommodated (e.g. a hospital or foster placement).

The Department must initiate a Section 46 Enquiry when a child has been made the subject of an EPO.

Where a Looked After child is to be placed outside the UK, specific procedures have to be followed, including the obtaining of the Court's consent where the child is subject to a Care Order.

The following definition is taken from Working Together on the Isle of Man 2010, page 12.

Emotional abuse is a form of Significant Harm which involves the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child's emotional development.

It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or "making fun" of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.

These may include interactions that are beyond the child's developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying) causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.

Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Every Child Matters is the approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19, which is incorporated into the UK Children Act 2004. The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:

• Be healthy;
• Stay safe;
• Enjoy and achieve;
• Make a positive contribution and;
• Achieve economic well-being.

This means that the organisations involved with providing services to children are teaming up, sharing information and working together, to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life.

Fabricated or Induced Illness is easiest understood as illness in a child which is fabricated by a parent or person in loco parentis. The child is often presented for medical assessment and care, usually persistently, often resulting in multiple medical procedures. Acute symptoms and signs of illness cease when the child is separated from the perpetrator. Isle of Man SB has a specific inter-agency procedure to cover this issue.

Family Group Conferences are meetings held between professionals and family members, which aim to achieve the best outcomes for children through a collaborative approach. They promote the involvement of the wider family in the assessment, planning and decision-making process to achieve a resolution of difficulties for children in need, and may help to identify short-term and/or permanent solutions for children within the family network.

The Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, issued in 2000 by the UK Department of Health, provides guidance on Initial Assessments and Core Assessments of a Child in Need, including the timescales within which such assessments should be undertaken.

The framework also provides guidance on assessment tools. 

External links

Department of Health website

Fraser Competent is a term used to describe a child under 16 who is considered to be of sufficient age and understanding to be competent to receive contraceptive advice without parental knowledge or consent. (The term is therefore narrower than the term Gillick Competent although it is often used to mean the same thing.) The test is that the doctor must be satisfied that;

• The child will understand the advice.
• The child cannot be persuaded to tell his or her parents or allow the doctor to tell them that they are seeking contraceptive advice.
• The child is likely to begin or continue having unprotected sex with or without contraceptive treatment.
• The child's physical or mental health is likely to suffer unless he or she receives contraceptive advice or treatment.

The General Social Care Council is the workforce regulator and guardian of standards for the social care workforce in England. The Council was established in October 2001 under the Care Standards Act 2000. They are responsible for the codes of practice, Social Care Register and social work education and training.

A genogram is a pictorial display of a patient's family relationships and medical history. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. It can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behaviour and to recognize hereditary tendencies.

A Gillick competent child is a child under 16 who has the legal capacity to consent to medical examination and treatment, i.e. s/he is able to demonstrate that s/he has sufficient maturity and intelligence to understand and appraise the nature and implications of the proposed treatment, including the risks and alternative courses of action. The term 'Gillick competent' is also often used to describe children who are capable of giving consent to other matters requiring their decision without parental consent, i.e. where they are capable of understanding what is proposed and can express his/her own wishes. It has a wider meaning than the term Fraser Competent which specifically refers to contraceptive advice.

Every Looked After child must have a Health Care Assessment soon after becoming Looked After, then at specified intervals - depending on the child's age. The Health Care Assessment should inform a Health Care Plan (also referred to as a Health Action Plan), normally incorporated into a child's Care Plan and Placement Plan or Placement Information Record.

Every Looked After child must have a Health Care Plan which incorporates a statement of the child's health care needs and how those needs will be addressed.

Home Remedies are medicines, suitable for children, which can be bought 'over the counter', without prescription, including Paracetamol.

A person in loco parentis is in the position of a parent and has a duty to take reasonable care of a child although not holding Parental Responsibility for the child, e.g. a teacher during school hours.

See Child in Need.

Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), sometimes called Reviewing Officers, are normally qualified social workers appointed by the Department to chair Looked After Reviews and Adoption Reviews.

They must be qualified social workers and, whilst they can be employees of the Department, they must not have line management responsibility for the child's case. Independent Reviewing Officers who chair Adoption Reviews must have relevant experience of adoption work.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been set up as a single vetting and barring body for all those working with children and vulnerable adults. It has been created in response to recommendations in the Bichard Inquiry arising from the Soham murders.

Its powers are being adopted in stages. From 20 January 2008, all new referrals for List 99 and the PoCA List (Protection of Children Act 1999) referrals must be sent to the ISA, rather than the Department for Children, Schools and Families or the Department of Health. The ISA's vetting and barring scheme was formally launched in October 2009 and it became a legal requirement for individuals applying to work or volunteer with children or vulnerable adults to be registered with the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

An Initial Child Protection Conference is normally convened at the end of a Section 46 Enquiry when the child is assessed as either having suffered Significant Harm or to be at risk of suffering ongoing significant harm.

The Initial Child Protection Conference should be held within 15 working days of the Strategy Discussion / Meeting, or the last strategy discussion if more than one has been held.

Integrated Children's System (ICS) provides a conceptual framework, method of practice and business process to support practitioners and managers in undertaking the key tasks of assessment, planning and intervention and review in accordance with legislation.

ICS is designed to be supported by an electronic case record system. A key aim is to provide Children's Social Care staff with the necessary help, through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to record, collate, analyse and output the information required.

The ICS exemplars/forms are designed to work with an electronic information system, which supports single data entry of information, i.e. once entered into the system can be stored and transferred from one record to another. Stored information can be extracted for a variety of reporting functions.

An Interim Care Order can be made in Care Proceedings and has the same effect as a full Care Order while it lasts. The local authority therefore acquires Parental Responsibility for the child under the Interim Care Order.

An Interim Care Order can last up to 8 weeks on the first occasion and can be renewed for periods of up to 28 days. There is no limit to the number of interim care orders that can be made.

The Isle of Man Safeguarding Board is the successor to the Island Child Protection Committee. The Board is made up of representatives from a range of public agencies with a common interest and with duties and responsibilities to children in their area. It has responsibility for ensuring effective inter-agency working together to safeguard and protect children in the area. The Board has to ensure that clear local procedures are in place to inform and assist anyone interested or as part of their professional role where they have concerns about a child.

A Key Worker is a named member of staff who has a central role in respect of a particular Child.

See Looked After.

The term Lawfully Detained means a child who has been placed in Departmental Accommodation (e.g. a Children's Home or Foster Home) in the following circumstances;

• Under a Curfew Order,
• On a Remand to Departmental Accommodation,
• Under a Secure Accommodation Order,
• Detained by the Police and placed in departmental accommodation,
• Convicted of certain grave crimes under Section 53 of the Children and Young Person's Act 1933 or Section 90 and 91 of the powers of the Criminal Court (Sentencing) Act 2000,
• Subject to other Court imposed restrictions on accommodation resulting from criminal offences,
• Placed under Police Protection.

Lead Professional is a new concept. Where children receive multiple services, requiring support from more than one professional or practitioner, a Lead Professional should be identified, rather like the Social Worker for children subject to Child Protection Risk Action Plans.

The Lead Professional acts as a single point of contact that the child or young person and their family can trust, and who is able to support them in making choices and in navigating their way through the system.

The Lead Professional should co-ordinate services from differing agencies, ensuring children receive appropriate interventions when needed, which are well planned, regularly reviewed and effectively delivered.

The Lead Professional may be a child's social worker, but not necessarily. It should be the person who is best placed to undertake the role.

In relation to Child Protection Risk Action Plans, the lead professional is the Social Worker.

Describes the probability that the child or young person will commit a further offence. The likelihood of reoffending can be determined by undertaking an assessment. The likelihood of reoffending does not relate to the seriousness of the offence.

The term Linkworker is normally used in Residential Care/Children's Homes to describe the member of staff with special responsibility for a child. The term 'Keyworker' is sometimes used to describe the same role.

List 99 was a confidential list of people whom the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families directed may not be employed by local education authorities, schools (including independent schools) or further education institutions as a teacher or in work involving children under 18. It also included details of people the Secretary of State has directed can only be employed subject to specific conditions. Since October 2009, the List 99 has been replaced by the Children's and Adults' Barred Lists which are part of the Vetting and Barring Scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

A Looked After Child (sometimes referred to as 'LAC') is a child who is Accommodated by the department, or a child who is the subject of an Interim Care Order, full Care Order or Emergency Protection Order.

In addition where a child is placed for Adoption, the child remains a Looked After Child until the adoption Order is granted.

Looked After Children may be placed with parents, foster carers (including relatives and friends), in Childrens Homes, in Secure Accommodation or with prospective adopters.

A Looked After Child (sometimes referred to as 'LAC') is a child who is Accommodated by the department, or a child who is the subject to an Interim Care Order, full Care Order or Emergency Protection Order.

In addition where a child is placed for Adoption, the child remains a Looked After Child until the Adoption Order is granted.

Looked After Children may be placed with parents, foster carers (including relatives and friends), in Children's Homes, in Secure Accommodation or with prospective adopters.

Looked After Reviews (also called a Statutory Reviews) are held at specified intervals in relation to all Looked After Children. Looked After Review are normally chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer and are designed to ensure that adequate plans are in place to safeguard and promote the overall welfare of children; and to make recommendations, as necessary, for changes to those plans.

Looked After Reviews are convened at the following intervals:

within four weeks of the child becoming Looked After; then within three months of an initial looked after review; then subsequent looked after reviews should be conducted not more than six months after any previous review.

The requirement to hold Looked After Review ends when the child ceases to be Looked After or when the local authority has authority to place for adoption, in which case there is a requirement to hold Adoption Reviews.

The assessment and management of risks posed by serious and violent offenders and other individuals who are considered to pose a risk of harm to others. The arrangements are made in accordance with requirements on the Police and Probation Service and the requirement on other agencies to cooperate.

A member of the Adoption or Fostering Panel appointed specifically to advise the Panel in relation to medical matters on any case which is presented.

A Medical Assessment may be required as part of a Section 46 Enquiry.

NARRATES (Needs Assessment, Robust Risk Analysis, Timely Effective Support) is the single assessment framework used in Isle of Man. Following assessment, it could lead to either:

• An additional needs plan;
• A child with complex needs plan; or
• A child protection risk action plan.

The National Minimum Standards are issued under the Care Standards Act, 2000. There are different minimum standards for the provision of Children's Homes, Fostering Services, Residential Family Centres and other care settings, including those in adult provision. The 'Standards' must be met in the provision of care for children, adults and older people; and they are the standards which form the basis for inspection and registration by Regulatory Bodies. The standards are 'minimum' standards, rather than 'best possible' practice, and many homes/agencies will more than meet the national minimum standards or will aspire to exceed them in various ways.

The Secretary of State sets the National Standards for Youth Justice Services and they define the minimum level of service required of those delivering youth justice services. The national standards establish key benchmarks against which the operational delivery of YOTs and the wider youth justice system can be assessed.

Neglect is a form of Significant Harm which involves the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child's health or development.

Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home or abandonment, failing to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-takers, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child's basic emotional needs.

A Notifiable Disease is a disease which must be notifed under the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1988. For an up to date list of diseases go to the weblink below.

External links

Health Protection Agency - Notification of Infectious Diseases

The NSPCC, correctly known as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is the UK's leading charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children.

External links

NSPCC website

Ofsted (full title: Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) is the regulatory authority and inspectorate for children and learners in England.

It brings together the responsibilities of four inspectorates, including the Adult Learning Inspectorate, work from the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration, and the current work of Ofsted.

In Wales, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) continues to be the regulatory authority for Children's Homes.

External links

OFSTED website

A Panel Adviser for Adoption Panels is a social worker with at least 5 years' post qualification experience appointed to assist with Adoption Panel membership and business.

Fostering Panels also have Panel Advisers, who are appointed to assist with Panel business.

A Parallel Plan, also referred to as a Twin Track Plan, is a term used when a Contingency Plan for a Looked After Child is being explored at the same time as the primary plan for the child. As part of Permanence Plan for Looked After Children, Parallel Plans must be drawn up to ensure that alternative plans have been explored and are available without delay if the preferred permanent outcome proves unachievable.

This definition is taken from the Children & Young People Act 2001

Section 2: Meaning of 'parental responsibility'

1. In this Act, and in any enactment passed or made after the 19th March 1991, "parental responsibility", in relation to a child
   1. Means all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property; and
   2. Includes the rights, powers and duties which a guardian of the child's estate appointed to act generally would have had in relation to the child and his property, including in particular the right to receive or recover in his own name, for the benefit of the child, property of whatever description and wherever situated which the child is entitled to receive or recover.
2. More than one person may have parental responsibility for a child at the same time;
3. A person who has parental responsibility for a child at any time does not cease to have that responsibility solely because some other person subsequently acquires parental responsibility for the child;
4. The fact that a person has parental responsibility for a child does not entitle him to act in any way which would be incompatible with an order made with respect to the child under this Act or any other enactment;
5. The fact that a person has, or does not have, parental responsibility for a child does not affect -
   1. Any obligation which he may have in relation to the child (such as a statutory duty to maintain the child); or
   2. Any rights which, in the event of the child's death, he or any other person may have in relation to the child's property;
6. If a person has care of a child but does not have parental responsibility for him, he may (subject to the provisions of this Act) do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child's welfare.

Section 3: Parental responsibility for children

1. The mother and father of a child who is a marital child each have parental responsibility for the child;
2. The mother of a child who is not a marital child has parental responsibility for the child, but the father does not have parental responsibility for the child unless he acquires it in accordance with this Act;
3. Where more than one person has parental responsibility for a child, each of them may act alone and without the other (or others) in meeting that responsibility; but nothing in this Part shall be taken as affecting the operation of any enactment requiring the consent of more than one person in a matter affecting the child;
4. A person who has parental responsibility for a child may not surrender or transfer any part of that responsibility to another, but may arrange for some or all of it to be met by one or more persons acting on his behalf (who may be a person who already has parental responsibility for the child);
5. The making of any such arrangement does not affect any liability of the person making it which may arise from any failure to meet any part of his parental responsibility for the child.

Section 4: Acquisition of parental responsibility by natural father

1. The court may, on the application of the father of a child who is not a marital child, order that he shall have parental responsibility for the child;
2. The father and mother of a child who is not a marital child may by agreement (a "parental responsibility agreement") provide for the father to have parental responsibility for the child, but no such agreement shall have effect for the purposes of this Act unless -
   1. It is made in the form prescribed by rules of court; and
   2. Where rules of court are made prescribing the manner in which such agreements must be recorded, it is recorded in the prescribed manner.
3. Subject to section 16(1), an order under subsection (1) may only be revoked, and a parental responsibility agreement may only be terminated, by an order of the court made on the application -
   1. Of any person who has parental responsibility for the child; or
   2. With the leave of the court, of the child himself.
4. The court shall not grant leave under subsection (3)(b) unless it is satisfied that the child has sufficient understanding to make the proposed application;
5. A parental responsibility agreement continues in force until the child reaches the age of 18, unless it is terminated earlier;
6. In this section "the court" means the High Court or a court of summary jurisdiction, and any power to vary or revoke an order under this section may be exercised by the court whether the order was made by that or any other court.

See Serious Case Review.

The Pathway Plan sets out the route to the future for young people leaving the Looked After service and will state how their needs will be met in their path to independence.

Permanence for a Looked After child means achieving, within a timescale which meets the child's needs, a permanent outcome which provides security and stability to the child throughout his or her childhood. It is therefore the best preparation for adulthood.

Wherever possible, permanence will be achieved through a return to the parents' care or a placement within the wider family but where this cannot be achieved within a time-scale appropriate to the child's needs, plans may be made for a permanent alternative family placement, which may include Adoption.

By the time of the second Looked After Review, the Care Plan for each Looked After Child must contain a plan for achieving permanence for the child within a timescale that is realistic, achievable and meets the child's needs.

All Looked After Children must have a Personal Education Plan (PEP) which summarises the child's developmental and educational needs, short term targets, long term plans and aspirations and which contains or refers to the child's record of achievement. The social worker is responsible for coordinating and compiling the PEP, which should be incorporated into the child's Care Plan.

Physical Abuse is a form of Significant Harm which may involve including hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child.

Physical Intervention is defined as the use of force to restrict movement or mobility or the use of force to disengage from dangerous or harmful physical contact initiated by a child. Physical Interventions can include Restraint, Holding, Positive Touch and Presence.

The term Placing Authority is the local authority responsible for placing the child.

Prior to the Implementation of the Integrated Children's System, every Looked After Child was required to have a Looked After Children (LAC) Placement Plan, completed by the child's social worker. The LAC Placement Plan set out the day to day arrangements for the care of a child.

Under the Integrated Children's System (ICS), the LAC Placement Plan is replaced by the Placement Information Record, which has the same purpose as the LAC Placement Plan.

Children placed in children's homes, foster care or other Looked After placements are likely to have separate 'internal' plans or agreements to supplement the Placement Information Record.

Prior to the Implementation of the Integrated Children's System, every Looked After Child was required to have a Looked After Children (LAC) Placement Plan, completed by the child's social worker. The LAC Placement Plan set out the day to day arrangements for the care of a child.

Under the Integrated Children's System (ICS), the LAC Placement Plan is replaced by the Placement Information Record, which has the same purpose as the LAC Placement Plan.

Children placed in children's homes, foster care or other Looked After placements are likely to have separate 'internal' plans or agreements to supplement the Placement Information Record or LAC Placement Plan.

See Placement Planning Meeting.

Prior to the Implementation of the Integrated Children's System, every Looked After Child was required to have a Looked After Children (LAC) Placement Plan, completed by the child's social worker. The LAC Placement Plan set out the day to day arrangements for the care of a child.

Under the Integrated Children's System (ICS), the LAC Placement Plan is replaced by the Placement Information Record, which has the same purpose as the LAC Placement Plan.

Children placed in children's homes, foster care or other Looked After placements are likely to have separate 'internal' plans or agreements to supplement the Placement Information Record or LAC Placement Plan.

Placement Planning Meetings should be undertaken in relation to all Looked After Children.

Normally, Placement Planning Meetings provide an opportunity to consider whether the Placement Plan/Placement Information Record for a Looked After Child continue to be appropriate. In the event of an Emergency Placement or other significant event in relation to a child placed in a Children's Home, Foster Home or Secure Accommodation, an Emergency Placement Planning Meeting should be convened.

The Protection of Children Act 1989 introduced the Protection of Children Act (PoCA) List in which the Secretary of State had a duty to record the names of individuals who were considered unsuitable to work with children.

Since October 2009, the PoCA List has been replaced by the Children's and Adults' Barred Lists which are part of the Vetting and Barring Scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

A pre-sentence report is prepared by the Youth Justice Team worker with the purpose of assisting the court in determining the most suitable method of dealing with an offender (section 158, Criminal Justice Act 2003).

A privately fostered child is a child under 16 (or 18 if disabled) who is cared for by an adult who is not a parent or close relative where the child is to be cared for in that home for 28 days or more. Close relative is defined as "a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership) or step-parent. A child who is Looked After by the department or placed in a children's home, hospital or school is excluded from the definition. In a private fostering arrangement, the parent still holds Parental Responsibility and agrees the arrangement with the private foster carer.

A child in relation to whom the local authority receives notification from the prospective adopters that they intend to apply to the Court to adopt may have the status of a privately fostered child. The requirement to notify the local authority relates only to children who have not been placed for adoption by an adoption agency. On receiving the notification, the local authority for the area where the prospective adopters live becomes responsible for supervising the child's welfare pending the adoption and providing the Court with a report.

This is an Order made under Section 11 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 and prohibits a person with Parental Responsibility from carrying out a particular act in relation to a child.

This is the report prepared for the Adoption Panel following an assessment of prospective adopters. The report will generally be a full report containing detailed information, but may be a brief report if there is information, for example as a result of Police checks, to indicate that the prospective adopters would not be suitable.

The positive desistance factors in a child or young person's life. These could include strong family ties; appropriate and supported accommodation; good attendance at school/college/work; positive peer relationships.

Protocol is the Integrated Children’s System database which contains essential information and ongoing records about a child and their family.

The process of taking children into care is being improved through a revision of a judicial protocol known as the Public Law Outline (PLO).

The PLO emphasises the importance of strong judicial case management throughout a case; of narrowing the issues in dispute and seeking to resolve these at a much earlier stage; of reducing the amount of written material and oral evidence so that practitioners can focus on the big issues in a case; and of introducing a pre-proceedings gate-keeping regime to ensure local authority cases are better assessed prior to an application to court being made. With more than 80% of applications to court currently lacking a core assessment, there is a long way to go to make the system operate as intended.

External links

Community Care - How the Public Law Outline will improve case management and care proceedings

This is a court order made under section 49 Children and Young Persons Act 2001 in relation to a child who is in Police Protection or is the subject of an Emergency Protection Order, Interim Care Order or full Care Order. It operates as a direction to produce the child or disclose his or her whereabouts, and authorises a Constable to enter specified premises and search for the child using reasonable force if necessary.

Referral and Information Records are being introduced under the Integrated Children's System. They replace Essential Information Records. A Referral and Information Record should be completed by the social worker whenever a referral or request for service is made by, or on behalf of, a child or young person.

Under the Minimum Standards, Children Homes, the Registered Provider is the person or authority that owns or is carrying on a Children's Home, a group of Homes or providing an Independent Fostering Service or Voluntary Adoption Agency. Where the Registered Provider is a corporate body, such as a Local Authority or a Limited Company, a Responsible Individual must be appointed, who has delegated responsibility for the running of the service/home.

Regulation 26 - Under Regulation 26 of the Minimum Standards Children's Homes Regulations, certain significant events, such as the death of a child, the outbreak of certain infectious diseases and the involvement of the Police in managing an Incident must be notified to managers and others outside the home. The others who may have to be notified include the Regulatory Authority, Health Authority and child's Placing Authority.

Under Regulation 55 of the Minimum Standards Children’s Homes) the Registered Provider must arrange for monthly checks to be conducted of Children's Homes managed by the authority. These visits should normally be unannounced but can be announced. An Independent Person usually carries out these visits, with reports given to the Registered Provider, who has a duty to forward them to the Department.

A child who the parents wish to be adopted and in respect of whom the parents request that arrangements be made by the adoption agency to care for the child and place him or her with suitable prospective adoptive parents.

When the court adjourns a case (moves the case to another date), it will usually decide to remand the young person, particularly when they are charged with more serious offences. If the court chooses to remand a young person, it can remand them: on conditional bail, on unconditional bail to departmental accommodation, to custody (secure remand).

Remanding a young person to departmental accommodation involves the young person being Looked After by the department. Conditions can be attached to remands to departmental accommodation as with bail. Unless the type of accommodation is a condition of the remand, the department can choose what type of accommodation it provides for the young person.

Reparation Orders are imposed on Young People in relation to their offending behaviour. Orders are intended to help prevent further offending by bringing home to Young People the consequences of their behaviour and enabling them to make amends, as appropriate, to their Victims or the wider community.

By allowing the Young Person to undertake some form of practical reparation activity which will benefit the Victim (if the Victim so wishes it), it is hoped that the Victim will gain greater insight into the reasons for the offence and will therefore be able more easily to come to terms with the offence and put it behind them.

A Residence Order is a Court Order made under section 11 of Children and Young Persons Act 2001 which gives Parental Responsibility to the person in whose favour it is made. Residence Orders made on or after 30 December 2005 can last until the child is 18 unless discharged earlier by the Court or by the making of a Care Order. Prior to that, Residence Orders usually lasted until the child was 16 unless there were exceptional circumstances.

A Residence Order in favour of a relative or Foster Career with whom a child is placed may be an appropriate outcome of a Permanence Plan for a Looked After Child.

Restraint is one of four categories of Physical Intervention that may be used in exceptional circumstances to prevent likely injury to a child or others or to prevent likely damage to property. Restraint is defined as the positive application of force with the intention of overpowering a child. Practically, this means any measure or technique designed to completely restrict a child's mobility or prevent a child from leaving.

Usually this means accommodation designed and approved to restrict the liberty of children living there e.g. Secure Accommodation.

Other accommodation, e.g. a children's home, should not be used to restrict children's liberty without prior approval from the Secretary of State.

Child Protection Review Conferences are convened in relation to children who are already subject to a Child Protection Risk Action Plan. The first review conference is normally convened three months after a Child Protection Risk Action Plan is first drawn up, then at intervals of not more than six months.

The purpose of the Review Conference is to review the safety, health and development of the child in view of the Child Protection Risk Action Plan, to ensure that the child continues to be adequately safeguarded and to consider whether the Child Protection Risk Action Plan should continue or change or whether it can be discontinued.

See Child Protection Review Conference.

Describes a child or young person who has been assessed (using Asset - Risk Of Serious Harm) as having a high probability of behaving in a manner that causes physical or psychological harm (or real fear of it) to others.

Detailed Asset - Risk of Serious Harm guidance can be found in the Asset folder available from the YJB website.

External links

YJB website

This term indicates that the person has been identified as presenting a risk, or potential risk, to children. This is used rather than the previous term of Schedule One Offender.

The following definition is taken from Working Together to Protect Children 2010.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:

• Protecting children from maltreatment;
• Preventing impairment of children's health or development; and
• Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
• Undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.

A Schedule One Offender is a term previously used to describe a person who has been convicted of an offence of violence or of a sexual nature. However, under Working Together to safeguard Children 2006, the term should no longer be used and the focus should be on whether the individual poses a 'risk of harm to children'. Interim guidance has been issued explaining how people who present a potential risk of harm to children should be identified.

This is a generic term and refers to Orders made under Section 11 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001, namely, a Residence Order, Contact Order, Specific Issues Order, and Prohibited Steps Order.

Under Section 25 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001, children may be accommodated by the local authority if they have no parent or are lost or abandoned or where their parents are not able to provide them with suitable accommodation and agree to the child being accommodated. A child who is accommodated under Section 25 becomes a Looked After Child.

If there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer Significant Harm, a NARRATES S 46 is initiated.

This normally occurs after an Initial Assessment and a Strategy Discussion / Meeting.

Section 46 Enquiries are usually conducted by a social worker, jointly with the Police, and must be completed within 15 days of a Strategy Discussion / Meeting.

Where concerns are substantiated and the child is judged to be at continued risk of Significant Harm, a Child Protection Conference should be convened.

A Secure Accommodation Order is an Order (under section 27 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 authorising a local authority to Restrict the Liberty of a Looked After child in Secure Accommodation.

When a child is placed in Secure Accommodation on 'welfare' grounds, under section 27 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 the Department must arrange Secure Accommodation (Criteria) Reviews

The purpose of these reviews is to consider whether the criteria for keeping a child is secure accommodation continue to apply, on the day of the review.

The local authority must arrange for a Panel, including at least one independent person, to consider whether the criteria are met and to recommend their findings to the authority.

The first 'criteria' review should be convened within one month of the placement, and then at intervals of not more than three months.

A Serious Case Review (previously called a Part 8 Review) is conducted in the following circumstances:

when a child dies and abuse or neglect are known to be a factor in the death; where a child sustains a potentially life-threatening injury or serious and permanent impairment of health and development.

The purpose of the Review is to establish whether there are lessons to be learned from the case, identify what those lessons are and how they will be acted upon and improve inter-agency working as a result.

The following definition is taken from Working Together to Protect Children from Harm and Neglect 2010, page 13.

Sexual abuse is a form of Significant Harm which involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the Internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

The Children and Young Persons Act 2001 introduced Significant Harm as the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention in family life in the best interests of children.

Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Emotional Abuse and Neglect are all categories of Significant Harm.

Harm is defined as the ill treatment or impairment of health and development. Suspicions or allegations that a child is suffering or likely to suffer Significant Harm may result in a NARRATES S46 being undertaken.

There are no absolute criteria on which to rely when judging what constitutes significant harm. Sometimes a single violent episode may constitute significant harm but more often it is an accumulation of significant events, both acute and longstanding, which interrupt, damage or change the child's development.

The tabular format used to record plans within the Integrated Children's System is intended to support social workers in developing SMART outcomes for children or young people; i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Related to the assessment and have a clear Time-scale for completion.

Special Guardianship is a new Order under the Children Act 1989 available from 30 December 2005.

Special Guardianship offers a further option for children needing permanent care outside their birth family. It can offer greater security without absolute severance from the birth family as in adoption.

Special Guardianship will also provide an alternative for achieving permanence in families where adoption, for cultural or religious reasons, is not an option.

Special Guardians will have Parental Responsibility for the child. A Special Guardianship Order made in relation to a Looked After Child will replace the Care Order and the Local Authority will no longer have Parental Responsibility.

This is an Order made under Section 11 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 in relation to a specific issue concerning the upbringing of a child, and will be made where those with Parental Responsibility cannot agree, for example in relation to the child's religion or education. This Order is not available to local authorities.

Each Children's Home, Fostering Service and Adoption Service must publish a written Statement of Purpose.

Statements of Purpose define the objectives and welfare provision of the home/service, covering in detail those issues required by Regulations.

See Looked After Reviews.

A Strategy Discussion / Meeting (sometimes referred to as a Strategy Meeting) is normally held following an Initial Assessment which indicates that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer Significant Harm.

The purpose of a Strategy Meeting is to determine whether there are grounds for a NARRATES S46 to be undertaken.

A Strategy Discussion / Meeting or Strategy Meeting is normally held following an Initial Assessment which indicates that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer Significant Harm.

The purpose of a Strategy Discussion / Meeting is to determine whether there are grounds for a Section 46 Enquiry.

A Strategy Meeting (sometimes referred to as a Strategy Discussion / Meeting) is normally held following an Initial Assessment which indicates that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer Significant Harm.

The purpose of a Strategy Meeting is to determine whether there are grounds for a Section 46 Enquiry.

"Team Around the Child is a model of service provision in which a range of different practitioners come together to help and support an individual child.

The model does not imply a multi-disciplinary team that is located together or who work together all the time; rather, it suggests a group of professionals working together only when needed to help one particular child. In this sense, the team can be described as a 'virtual' team; in practice, practitioners will find themselves working with a range of different colleagues at different times to support different children.

The model is based on the ethos that such flexibility is essential if services for children are to be able to meet the diverse needs of each and every child. Team Around the Child places the emphasis firmly on the needs of the child, rather than on organisations or service providers."

The term Threshold Criteria is used in relation to Care Proceedings brought by the local authority under section 31 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 if there is concern that the child concerned is suffering or is likely to suffer Significant Harm attributable to the care being given to the child, or likely to be given if an Order were not made, not being what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give, or the child being beyond parental control.

The United Nations (UN) defines Trafficking in people as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, or abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purposes of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered 'trafficking in persons' even if this does not involve any of the means as set out above.

See Parallel Plan.

A child or young person under the age of 18 who has been forced or compelled to leave their home country as a result of major conflict resulting in social breakdown or to escape human rights abuse. They will have no adult in the UK exercising Parental Responsibility.

Separated Children are children and young people aged under 18 who are outside their country of origin and separated from both parents, or their previous legal/customary primary caregiver. Some will be totally alone - unaccompanied, while others may be accompanied into the UK e.g. by an escort; or will present as staying with a person who may identify themselves as a stranger, a member of the family or a friend of the family. These children will not be cared for by persons who - in the eyes of UK law - have the responsibility to do so. The separated children about whom there will be the most concern will present with an unclear history of their arrival and purpose in the UK. These children will always gives cause for concern about their safety and welfare. Separated children, by virtue of being without the appropriate parental care and protection, are vulnerable and may present for help, or be brought to the attention, of a variety of statutory agencies.

See Absent without Authority.

Universal services are those services (sometimes also referred to as mainstream services) that are provided to, or are routinely available to, all children and their families. Universal services are designed to meet the sorts of needs that all children have; they include early years provision, mainstream schools for example, as well as health services provided by GPs, midwives, and health visitors.

This term is sometimes used when a child is Looked After by the local authority, with parental consent, under Section 25 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001.

The risk that a young person might be harmed in some way, either through their own behaviour or because of the actions or omissions of others.

The welfare checklist, set out in Section 1(4) of the Children and Young Persons Act 2001 contains the factors which the Court is required to consider when making a Section11 Order which is opposed, Care Order or Supervision Order.

The list is not intended to be comprehensive and is more of an aide-memoir to ensure that the basic elements of a child's welfare are considered.

External links

OPSI (Children Act 1989)

Whistleblowing (sometimes referred to as Confidential Reporting) is the term used for policies/procedures for the reporting of concerns about colleagues or managers.

Working Together to Safeguard Children is a Government publication which sets out detailed guidance about the role, function and composition of Local Safeguarding Children Boards, the roles and responsibilities of their member agencies in safeguarding children within their areas and the actions that should be taken where there are concerns that children have suffered or are at risk of suffering significant harm.

The most recent guidance was published in April 2006.

Previous Working Together guidance was published in 1991 and 1996.

The YJB oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. They work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.