Children's Services Practice Principles

See: Liverpool Vision.

Working Together to Safeguard Children emphasises the importance of multi-agency working ensuring a child-centred approach while also considering the family context. The guidance recognises the need to build positive, trusting and co-operative relationships with parents and carers to deliver support which is individually tailored to the needs of the family.

There are fundamental expectations to endeavour to work cooperatively which apply to all individuals, agencies and organisations working with children and families.

The Children's Social Care National Framework contains national standards for how these services should be delivered.

This is statutory guidance and must be adhered to unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

1. Safeguarding children and young people:
   Our primary responsibility is to safeguard children and young people. We will strive through authoritative practice to do this in the least interventionist way possible, responding to the needs of children, young people, and their families as quickly and early as possible, providing the right support at the right time;

2. Equality and diversity:
   We respect difference, celebrate diversity, and value all people. We work to challenge oppression and discrimination in all forms. We support everyone to achieve their full potential in line with their choices and abilities, regardless of who they are and their past experiences;

3. Being professional and accountable:
   We are accountable for providing the highest quality service we can. We will be reliable and honest in order to earn the trust and confidence of children, young people, and their families. We will show commitment to our service vision and values as well as national and local standards of practice. We will model behaviour based on our positive values and encourage other people to do the same. We will respect managerial direction. We will make time to learn and use our agreed practice models;

4. Listening and communicating clearly:
   We will be responsive, available, and take time to listen carefully. We are aware of barriers to communication and will help everyone to participate and communicate as much as they can. We will work to understand the lived experience and opinions of children, young people and their families. We will use language that is non-judgemental, jargon free and easy to understand verbally and in writing We will provide accurate information and be polite, respectful and helpful. We will ensure children, young people and families are aware of their rights;

5. The right relationships:
   We will model relationships based on kindness. We will spend time working with (rather than ‘doing to’) children, young people and families in order to build meaningful relationships and co-produced plans that are based on honesty and a clear understanding of people in their own context;

6. Participation:
   We will co-produce plans, assessments and other work together with children, young, people and families. The participation of children, young people, parents and their families will be held at the core of what we do, ensuring they are prepared for meetings and know why we are involved in their lives;

7. Working together:
   We are responsible for our role in professional networks to coordinate current work and provide the right support for families at the right time. We will look for opportunities to improve how we deliver services through collaboration with colleagues in our service, partners outside our service and the children, young people and families we work with. We will show professional curiosity and respectful challenge with each other;

8. Developing our staff:
   We prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of staff. We will endeavour to ensure staff have a manageable workload that leaves room for development. We are committed to improving our own practice. We will encourage and support the professional development of others. We will try to be creative, flexible and innovative and take an active role in our learning culture. We will protect, prepare for and make use of supervision, reflection and continuing professional development and training which is tailored to our specific services;

9. Achieving permanence:
   The best outcomes for children and young people are normally met in their own family. However, for children who can’t stay in their families, we will work as quickly as we can to help them have a lasting home where they can feel settled and belong. For children and young people in every part of our service, we will prepare life story work with them to help them understand and make sense of their own journey. We will promote independence whilst protecting our children and young people from danger or harm;

10. How we write about children, young people and families:
    We are aware that records belong to the child or young person. We will strive to accurately capture their lived experience, voice and journey. We will set out clearly how decisions have (and have not) been made. We will meet statutory requirements around recording. We will maintain confidentiality and only share information when there is a clear ‘need to know’.
    

The Children’s Social Care National Framework is a statutory guidance document that outlines the principles and objectives of children’s social care in England.

The purpose of the National Framework is to bring together essential information for those working in local authority children’s social care. It clarifies the purpose of children’s social care, factors enabling good practice, and the desired outcomes for children and young people.

It provides guidance on what practitioners must do to comply with the law. It serves as a reference unless there is a valid reason not to follow it.

The National Framework is relevant not only to local authority staff but also to safeguarding partners and agencies collaborating with children’s social care.

Practitioners can access supplementary resources, including:

Illustrated Guide: Designed for children and young people, this guide explains what they should expect from the help and care they receive.

Animated Guide: Available on YouTube, this animated guide provides an engaging overview of the framework.

A British Sign Language captioned and audio summary version.

An easy-read version for enhanced accessibility