Effective Safeguarding for Children and Young People by Blyth Maggie Solomon Enver

Author:Blyth, Maggie, Solomon, Enver [Blyth, Maggie, Solomon, Enver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Social Work
ISBN: 9781447308171
Google: g1-mAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2012-02-08T05:18:11+00:00

There remains a critical role for a senior paediatrician and a senior nurse to take a strategic, professional lead on all aspects of the health service contribution to safeguarding children within the local area. This role includes the provision of expert advice on commissioning across the whole health economy and to the LSCB, and the provision of overall leadership and direction. (Munro, 2011)

Conclusion

This chapter concludes that organisations need to guard against seeing SCRs as the only tool to understand themes in child deaths and injuries, given that the vast majority of professionals in child and mental health services have not experienced that process. It is clear that, for them, it is difficult to apply learning to their practice. Professionals will often use their own professional judgement, skills and experience and subjective strategies such as intuition to make complex decisions in autonomous situations, rather than adopt a methodical adherence to policy. In any case, single agency protocols and policies are unlikely to take into account the multiple complex and interacting risk factors that are evident in many of these tragic cases. We are heavily reliant on practitioners ‘in the field’ to respond effectively to child protection concerns.

There are opportunities through the Munro reforms for organisations and LSCBs to consider the evidence drawn out of SCRs more closely and work towards improving preventative activities such as regular local learning opportunities to consider risks posed by already well-known complex and risky families. Screening and assessment should be more sophisticated – it is not enough to identify parental mental health as a risk factor without a fuller understanding of the diagnosis, prognosis and impact on the parents’ functioning. This can only be achieved if both adult mental health and child protection services have a better awareness of, and respect for, each other’s statutory requirements, operational policies and work pressures. The development of local practice development groups based on real experiences and case studies can be a useful tool to identify common blocks in practice and promote successful strategies to overcome difficulties and conflicts.

Moreover, with the strengthening of LSCBs as multi-agency scrutiny bodies, there is a possibility to use the Munro reforms to reiterate the importance of multi-agency training for frontline staff. This includes primary and secondary health practitioners as well as those working in the child protection system. Professionals need to accept that it is unlikely that a full understanding of each other’s perspectives will be always reached. Rather, it is necessary to acknowledge differences due to different professional viewpoints, different systems and processes and, sometimes, conflicting guidance and legislation. Only then can teams in different services start to work more effectively together to consider the risks to the families with whom they are involved.

It is unlikely that the Munro Review and the government’s response will have an extensive impact on mental health services. Changes to the SCR process, the development of performance indicators and a review of inspection to include all agencies are important steps but will not necessarily change practice on the ground.

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