Visits to Children Supported through a Child Protection Plan

Statutory visits to children subject to Child Protection Plans should be completed as a distinct event and should be recorded as such.

• Social worker to undertake statutory visits at intervals agreed in the plan and at a minimum of every 10 working days;
• Statutory visits to be recorded on the form including a record of child seen and spoken to alone or reason recorded as to why not;
• If there is a need for regular unannounced visits, then this should be clearly written into the Child Protection Plan;
• Arrangements for the first core group to be agreed at the Initial Child Protection Conference (ICPC) and held within 10 working days of the conference.
• Core Groups to be recorded & held at required intervals as agreed in the plan, with a minimum of one per month. Core Group meetings must notbe regarded as statutory visits even if the child is seen / is present;
• Social worker to attend all Initial & Review Conferences, providing a report in advance, at least two working days before an Initial Child Protection Conference and five working day before Review Conferences;
• All case notes of visits to be recorded and kept up to date in the child's Liquid Logic case file in accordance with the Practice Standards; Recordings to be updated within 24 hours of a critical event, such as a child coming into our care or a strategy discussion taking place; within two working days of significant events, such as statutory visits to children; and five working days for all other recordings;
• Team Manager or Deputy Team Manager to overview the child’s progress in supervision at least once every two months in line with the Supervision Policy and record evidence of supervision, management decision making and oversight within the child's Liquid Logic record.

The statutory visit to see the child who is supported by a child protection plan must always be carried out by a qualified social worker. Good practice means the child where possible should be seen alone. In circumstances where this has not been possible the reasons for this need to be recorded. The Statutory visit includes:

• The child is seen alone:
  It is important to see the child alone and in the place where they are living. The Social Worker can then assess the suitability of the accommodation and the overall circumstances of the child's living environment, including how they child responds to carers and their home environment. The child must be given the opportunity to say how they are feeling and for the Social Worker to assess and report on the safety of the child, their health and other matters relevant to their living environment. To fully assess this it may be necessary, on occasions, to see the child outside of the home. Whilst young children may not be able to verbalise their feelings, recorded observations of their mobility, signs of injury, confidence in their environment, reaction to carers are all key to assessing their well-being. Where it has not been possible to see the child alone, the rationale for this must be recorded;
• The names of all those present are recorded:
  In order to understand the child's environment, it is important to know who lives in the household and what part they play in the child's life. Consistently absent carers at visits may indicate a difficulty for the child with that adult, certainly it is difficult to assess the child's environment without seeing key carers with the child. In cases where a child protection plan is in place, visitors or associates of the family may be key to the safeguarding aspects of the child's home life or of the Child Protection Plan;
• The child's environment is assessed according to the issues of concern:
  This is particularly relevant in child protection. The home conditions should be investigated in accordance with the issues of concern, for example where there is neglect the food volume, clothing stock, appropriateness of beds, locks on doors etc should be the focus, whilst where there are concerns about alcohol misuse additional investigations of alcohol stocks, bins and cupboards will be helpful. It is important to undertake some of these visits with partner agencies in order to bench mark our assessments of poor home conditions on occasion, given that we may become desensitised to the conditions over time. It would be helpful to use tools such as Graded Care Profile;
• The child's sleeping arrangements are seen:
  Sleeping arrangements for children supported through Child Protection Plans should form part of the assessment. The standard of care in the home should be observed and recorded;
• If parent/carers refuse to allow a worker to see the child:
  If the parents continue to refuse access to the child or will not consent to you seeing the child alone, management advice should immediately be sought as you may, depending on the complexity of the case and the level of risk, need to consider bringing the Review Child Protection Conference forward or in some situations consider taking legal advice or involving the police.