Multi Agency Neglect Toolkit
This multi-agency neglect toolkit has been developed to support practitioners to undertake effective assessments that enable them to accurately identify families in need of early help or onward referral to Children’s Social Care.
Importantly, the toolkit also supports restorative work to take place once neglect has been identified. Using the assessments early in intervention will support positive outcomes for children, meaning onward referral may not be required. However, should a child need a referral, professionals will be expected to demonstrate why this is so despite appropriate support and intervention. The assessments included in the toolkit, will provide a record of analysis for this purpose. Completion of the relevant screening tools and assessments is therefore an important part of any onward referral.
A new final section of the toolkit looks at how strengths-based and restorative work can begin to strengthen parenting and to heal the traumas caused by neglect.
Who should use the toolkit? The toolkit aims to create a pathway for professionals that leads from identification of potential neglect, through assessment, to strengths-based working to reduce the impact of neglect. The tools in the toolkit are available for any services, schools or organisations who work with children and families in Dorset. All professionals should be familiar with the tools provided and know when and how to use them. Managers should facilitate professionals’ attendance at relevant training events to support the use of these tools and seek assurance in supervision that they are completed where appropriate.
Why is it needed? Learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Rapid Reviews and Learning Reviews frequently highlights missed opportunities as a consequence of poor quality assessments and lack of early intervention.
‘Neglect and emotional abuse are the most prevalent child protection concerns across the UK and the number of children and young people registered as suffering or likely to suffer neglect and emotional abuse has grown significantly over the past decade.’ Neglect: risk assessment (Community Care Inform, subscription required)
Wishes and feelings of the child It is important when completing any assessments that the wishes and feelings of the child are listened to throughout. Professionals need to ensure the voice of the child runs through everything we do. There are many examples of documents to support embedding this practice. Two examples are included in this toolkit. The child’s lived experience is of paramount importance in testing out whether the apparent outcomes of interventions are having the desired impact for the child/ren. Seeking the views of the child will ensure that there is not over-reliance on parental accounts which may carry the risk of disguised compliance.
Core principles of practice The Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnership is committed to culturally competent and trauma-informed practice in all aspects of its work.
For those with a Community Care Inform subscription, the following resources will complement those within this toolkit:
Neglect Knowledge and Practice Hub
Dorset Police have a Partner Information Sharing and Intelligence form that practitioners can use where they have non-urgent (i.e. where there is not an immediate threat to life) information to report regarding concerns that a child or young person is being neglected.
