Safeguarding Children Across Services by Harriet Ward Carolyn Davies

Author:Harriet Ward, Carolyn Davies [Harriet Ward, Carolyn Davies]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857002907
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

How are thresholds applied on the ground?

The role given to LSCBs in developing local policy on thresholds demonstrates the importance attributed to gaining agreements between agencies about what these should be. The studies in this Research Initiative further emphasize this issue, highlighting problems, particularly in relation to neglect and emotional abuse. The Neglected Children Reunification Study, for example, found that, whilst many social workers are able to comment on its impact on the child, they have difficulty in defining neglect. They consider that the concept is difficult to grasp, particularly as there is no one clear indicator which signals that children are being neglected. They find that neglect is less tangible than physical or sexual abuse, but emotional abuse is an even more slippery concept than neglect.

The difficulties in defining neglect and its chronic rather than acute nature also feed into difficulties of formulating protocols for agreeing thresholds. Social workers interviewed in the Neglected Children Reunification Study commented on this issue as follows:

‘To put together a threshold document based on neglect type issues is incredibly difficult.’

‘Neglect is something which is very hard to determine the point at which [it becomes] significant harm…when does it become a risk to their children?’ (Social workers)324

Similarly, neglect tends to be cumulative over a period of time, with the result that it is not always easy to be aware when the threshold for significant harm has been reached. Thus, ‘It’s easy I think for things to deteriorate gradually without you noticing.’325

Moreover, the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Study shows that agencies do not always perceive the likelihood of significant harm in the same way, so that they hold different interpretations of thresholds:

‘It’s difficult because thresholds tend to differ and they’re different for different agencies and different areas; it’s very inconsistent. There are issues around how children’s services prioritise referrals but this often comes down to perceptions of urgency. Often social care and mental health have different views in terms of how anxious they are about a certain case.’ (Safeguarding nurse)326

‘There are different views about how a case should be dealt with and as a school nurse I don’t always agree with the level of priority given to some cases. I feel that sometimes we are all on a different page.’ (Health practitioner)327

Not only are there differences between agencies but also differences between teams within them. For example, an assessment team can operate a threshold which is ‘much higher’ than that held by a looked after children’s team, with consequent confusion about who is eligible to receive services. In the current economic climate, agencies will need to be increasingly transparent about their thresholds, both between themselves and with the general public. Greater clarification about how thresholds are understood would be of benefit to all.

Further issues concerning the difficulty of setting appropriate thresholds for court involvement in cases of neglect have been discussed in Chapter 4.

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