Dorset Children’s Safeguarding Toolkit: Working with parents who experience mental ill-health
Our aim
The Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children Partnership has created this place-based Dorset toolkit to provide resources, advice and guidance to practitioners working with children whose parents/carers are or may be experiencing mental ill health, so that:
- Our safeguarding work with parents who experience mental ill-health is non-discriminatory and restorative, and
- Any potential harm to the child that is associated with their parents’ experience of mental ill-health can be identified and either prevented or mitigated.
Our approach
The Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnership is committed to culturally competent and trauma-informed practice in all aspects of its work.
Safeguarding Families Together
While this toolkit has been in development, Dorset Children’s Services Safeguarding Families Together (SFT) pilot has launched. Specialist trained to support with Mental Health, Substance Misuse and Domestic Abuse problems will work in Chesil (Weymouth, Portland), Dorchester and West Dorset Children’s Services Social Care teams. The specialist workers will assist parents and facilitate positive change to allow children to remain safely within the family home.
SFT represents a significant step forward in our safeguarding partnership work, with specialists who have gained their expertise in health and other settings now embedded within Children’s Services teams
The role of this toolkit
When working with parents who experience mental ill-health, practitioners should follow the relevant procedures set out in the Children’s Services Procedures Library and the Pan Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Library. This toolkit provides additional information and resources to assist in the development of good safeguarding practice; practitioners should have regard to its contents but should use their professional judgment as to when and how to use them.
For information and guidance on supporting children and young people who experience mental ill-health, please see Emotional Wellbeing of Children in Care Pathway; many of the resources in this are also available to children who are not in care. You can also access resources through Children and young people’s mental health services – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Using the toolkit
The toolkit has the following sections:
Parents, mental ill-health and safeguarding
The experience of children and young people
Assessment and help: whole family approaches
Support for parents and carers
The toolkit has been designed to be used as a mobile, web-based resource. There are links to each section of the toolkit on the right hand-side of the screen, so that you can easily move from one to another. There is also a link at the bottom of each section which will take you to the next section. You can easily retrieve the toolkit on your mobile phone if you scan the following QR code and bookmark the web address:
Please share this QR code with your colleagues too!
Help us improve the toolkit
The toolkit is intended to develop over time, in response to your feedback and suggestions. Please tell us what you like about the toolkit, and how it can be better. You can find the feedback form by following the link at the foot of any page in the toolkit.
QR code to take you to the feedback form:
