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Bromley BR1 3UH
Tel: 020 8313 4325
Website: www.bromley.gov.uk
Child Protection Conferences
A guide for parents and carers
This leaflet is intended to help you understand what happens at a child protection conference.
Updated February 2016
What is a child protection conference?
A child protection conference is a meeting between families and professionals that is held when there is a worry about the safety of a child within a family.
The purpose of a child protection conference is to:
• Share information about a child’s health, safety and wellbeing
• Look at what the family and professionals are worried about for the child
• What is working well for the child
• Identify any support needed by the family and the family network, professionals and agencies who might be able to provide this
• Identify what needs to happen in order to ensure the safety of the child
• Decide if the child needs to have a child protection plan
In Bromley we have introduced a more family friendly approach to child protection conferences called Signs of Safety to ensure the best possible outcomes for your child and family. The new child protection conference meetings will look at what is working well in your family as well as the worries before making decisions about what needs to happen to ensure your children are safe and cared for appropriately.
Who will be at the child protection conference?
As a parent, you are invited to attend the
conference, unless it may put people in danger, or it increases the level of risk to your child. We encourage you to attend and take an active part.
You may also bring someone with you as a supporter if you would like to. This can be a member of your family, a friend, or one other adult of your choice.
Anyone who has a role in caring for your child and professionals who work with your child and your family can attend. Invitations will be sent to:
• The child’s allocated social worker
• A representative from the police
• A health representative (GP, Health visitor, school nurse, midwife)
• A school representative (subject to age)
• Any other professionals working directly with the child (e.g. nursery worker, youth worker)
• Any professionals working directly with a parent/ carer
The conference will be chaired by an independent Chair.
Talking to children
It is important that your child, if they are old enough, has an opportunity to share their views about what they are worried about, what makes them happy and anything they would like to be different.
The social worker will want to talk to your children before the conference and bring information about children’s views to the conference. They will use a special age appropriate form to go through with your child to obtain their views.
Children’s views are important and we encourage children aged over 12 to attend for part of the conference, with your permission. They will be offered the opportunity to talk to an advocate (who is independent of Children’s Social care) before the meeting and they can attend with the advocate or the advocate can attend and speak on their behalf if they would prefer not to come. The social worker will speak to you about getting an advocate.
What happens at the initial child protection conference?
The Chair of the conference will meet with you beforehand, to explain how the conference will run, and to talk about the best way for you to contribute to the discussion. The Chair will help you to draw a diagram of your family tree so that we can understand who is in your family and who can offer you support.
At the start of the meeting the Chair will ask people to introduce themselves and each professional will have the chance to share information they have and summarise the most important parts of their reports if they have completed one. The Chair will record this information on a board under the headings “What’s working well” and “What are we worried about”.
You will then be invited to contribute to the discussion. You may find it useful to think about what you would like to say before the conference and do some preparation. For more information see the section below on How can I prepare?
Once everyone has had a chance to speak, a decision will be made about whether the risks to your children are significant enough that a child protection plan is needed.
Translations
Please contact us if you would like this leaflet in large print, Braille, audio or a different language.
How you can make comments and complaints
For comments, complaints or to request a leaflet telling you how to make a complaint, please contact the Children’s Social Care Complaints Officer by calling 020 8461 7644.
What is a child protection plan?
This is the plan that outlines the main areas of concern, what actions will be taken to reduce those concerns and how your children will be kept safe.
What happens after the meeting?
You should come out of the conference clear about what (if anything) needs to change. After the conference you will be sent a written record of the meeting.
If a child protection plan is made, you will be asked to attend regular meetings with other members of the Core Group. This is the smaller group of professionals who work most closely with you and your child. At these meetings, you will look at the plan and discuss what progress has been made.
How can I prepare?
You will be given a form to complete by your social worker to help you prepare for the conference. The form will ask:
· What is working well for my child?
· What am I worried about for my child?
· What needs to happen next?
If you don’t want to produce written information, you could still do some thinking before the conference, and perhaps bring along notes for yourself as a prompt.
During the conference you will be given the chance to comment about what others are saying, and to give your own information and views. You will be asked what you think should happen in the future, including any help that you feel is necessary.