Serious Case Reviews in Childcare Sector

Unit 25Understand how to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Children and Young People Outcome 1. 4 develop when and why inquiries and serious causa retreads are demandd and how the sharing of the findings informs practice. Serious bailiwick Reviews (SCRs) are undertaken when a child dies (including death by hazard suicide), by a local endorsement (and more often than not by the Local Childrens Safeguarding Board) if abuse or neglect is kn protest or suspected to be a part in the death.SCRs are not enquiries into how a child died or who was responsible that is a matter for the Coroners and Criminal Courts to determine. rather the purpose of Serious Case Reviews is to Establish whether there are lessons to be knowledgeable from the look nigh the port in which local professionals and organisations acetify unneurotic to safeguard and promote the upbeat of children. Identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted on and what is expected to change as a result. Im prove inter-agency cut backing and break up safeguard and promote the wellbeing of children.Additionally, LSCBs may decide to conduct a SCR whenever a child has been seriously harmed in any of the following situations and the illustration gives rise to concerns ab forth the way in which local professionals and services worked together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (including inter-agency and inter-disciplinary working). The two most popular deaths in young old age to be highlighted by the media which highlighted public concern about safeguarding concerns inside the children are undoubtedly the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Peter Connelly (Baby P).In both of these outcomes there was public outrage, curiously at the magnitude of Peters injuries, and part because Peter had lived in the London Borough of Haringey, North London, under the same child care authorities that had already failed ten years earlier in the case of Victoria Climbie. Her tragic circumst ances had led to a public enquiry which resulted in measures being put in carry in an effort to retain similar cases happening. The child aegis services of Haringey and other agencies were widely criticised following Baby Ps death.Following the conviction, three inquiries and a nationwide review of favorable service care were launched, and the Head of Childrens Services at Haringey removed from post. Another nationwide review was conducted by lord Laming into his own recommendations concerning Victoria Climbies killing in 2000. The death was also the subject of debate in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The publics viewpoint on the tragedy of Baby P was that it should never have happened as he was already known to tender services and was seen as many as sixty times by social services, but still died horrifically at the hands of his carers.All of these incidents have resulted in a distinct lack of confidence in the work that social workers do and the childrens secto r overall, and it will take a long time to rebuild that trust. The Baby P case in event has damaged social works public image, led to fewer people entering the profession and made it harder to retain experienced staff. It is certainly the case that social work has a rather poor public image and that it seemingly can do no right whatever it does.At times, the profession is castigated for position children at risk by failing to intervene early enough into family life, whilst on other occasions it is criticised for undermining parental authority by interfering in any case readily. Partnership working increase and tightened after the death of Victoria Climbie and include the implementation of the Children Act 2004 and the public enquiry into the circumstances surrounding her death. The inquiry, chaired by Lord Laming, found massive failings on the part of as many as twelve agencies with a role to play in protecting children.The findings led to recommendations for a radical reform of services, oddly in the areas of better joined up working and information sharing. Following this, several programmes and frameworks were later implemented into all establishments that worked with children, and these included Every Child Matters services, think around childrens and young peoples involves and the improvement of the five key outcomes which contribute to their well-being be healthy, stay safe, enjoy & achieve, have got a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being.There was also the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) system which enables multi agencies to accession and add information about a childs needs. The CAF is used at the earliest opportunity when it is highlighted that a baby, child or young mortal may need armed service in their lives in order to progress. It is used when there is concern about a child, or agencies have recognised a child has additional needs, that require further exploration and a multi-agency response.Th e assessment provides further information and understanding of the childs circumstances. Another more lately publicised incident, included the review into itty-bitty Teds nursery whereby a member of staff, Vanessa George abused toddlers at the nursery, photographed it and publicised it on the internet, showed a lack of staff supervision and training within the setting, which again caused public outrage.The serious case review for this incident report detailed a number of lessons learned, which included the hazard of mobile phones within sidereal daylight care settings. As a result locally the use of mobile phones is now prohibited in any childrens centre within the Wakefield district, as yet it is recognised that this alone will not prevent abuse or transmission of images on the internet from taking place.Other lessons learned is that staff at Little Teds Nursery did not recognise the escalation of Georges sexualised behaviour as a warning sign and there is an pressing need for staff working in early years settings to receive training to help recognise potential signs of abuse and become confident in responding to a fellow staff members behaviour. As a result, training on whistle blowing and the need for policies and procedures to be in place has become a more urgent need in the child care sector.Other recommendations set out by the Little Teds SCR include the need for The Early Years Foundation Stage to set out specific requirements for child protection training which go throughs sexual abuse and the recognition of abuse within the workplace also the need for the Government to review and consider changing the status of day care settings operating as unincorporated bodies to ensure that governance and accountability arrangements are fit for purpose and are sufficiently clear to enable parents and professionals to turn on concerns and challenge poor practice.Serious Case Reviews in Childcare SectorUnit 25Understand how to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Child ren and Young People Outcome 1. 4 Explain when and why inquiries and serious case reviews are required and how the sharing of the findings informs practice. Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) are undertaken when a child dies (including death by suspected suicide), by a local authority (and more often than not by the Local Childrens Safeguarding Board) if abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor in the death.SCRs are not enquiries into how a child died or who was responsible that is a matter for the Coroners and Criminal Courts to determine. Instead the purpose of Serious Case Reviews is to Establish whether there are lessons to be learned from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted on and what is expected to change as a result. Improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children.Addit ionally, LSCBs may decide to conduct a SCR whenever a child has been seriously harmed in any of the following situations and the case gives rise to concerns about the way in which local professionals and services worked together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (including inter-agency and inter-disciplinary working). The two most popular deaths in recent years to be highlighted by the media which highlighted public concern about safeguarding concerns within the children are undoubtedly the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Peter Connelly (Baby P).In both of these cases there was public outrage, especially at the magnitude of Peters injuries, and partly because Peter had lived in the London Borough of Haringey, North London, under the same child care authorities that had already failed ten years earlier in the case of Victoria Climbie. Her tragic circumstances had led to a public enquiry which resulted in measures being put in place in an effort to prevent similar cases happening. The child protection services of Haringey and other agencies were widely criticised following Baby Ps death.Following the conviction, three inquiries and a nationwide review of social service care were launched, and the Head of Childrens Services at Haringey removed from post. Another nationwide review was conducted by Lord Laming into his own recommendations concerning Victoria Climbies killing in 2000. The death was also the subject of debate in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The publics viewpoint on the tragedy of Baby P was that it should never have happened as he was already known to social services and was seen as many as sixty times by social services, but still died horrifically at the hands of his carers.All of these incidents have resulted in a distinct lack of confidence in the work that social workers do and the childrens sector overall, and it will take a long time to rebuild that trust. The Baby P case in particular has damaged social works publ ic image, led to fewer people entering the profession and made it harder to retain experienced staff. It is certainly the case that social work has a rather poor public image and that it seemingly can do no right whatever it does.At times, the profession is castigated for putting children at risk by failing to intervene early enough into family life, whilst on other occasions it is criticised for undermining parental authority by interfering too readily. Partnership working increased and tightened after the death of Victoria Climbie and included the implementation of the Children Act 2004 and the public enquiry into the circumstances surrounding her death. The inquiry, chaired by Lord Laming, found massive failings on the part of as many as twelve agencies with a role to play in protecting children.The findings led to recommendations for a radical reform of services, particularly in the areas of better joined up working and information sharing. Following this, several programmes and frameworks were later implemented into all establishments that worked with children, and these included Every Child Matters services, planned around childrens and young peoples needs and the improvement of the five key outcomes which contribute to their well-being be healthy, stay safe, enjoy & achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being.There was also the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) system which enables multi agencies to access and add information about a childs needs. The CAF is used at the earliest opportunity when it is highlighted that a baby, child or young person may need help in their lives in order to progress. It is used when there is concern about a child, or agencies have recognised a child has additional needs, that require further exploration and a multi-agency response.The assessment provides further information and understanding of the childs circumstances. Another more recently publicised incident, included the review into Little Teds nursery whereby a member of staff, Vanessa George abused toddlers at the nursery, photographed it and publicised it on the internet, showed a lack of staff supervision and training within the setting, which again caused public outrage.The serious case review for this incident report detailed a number of lessons learned, which included the danger of mobile phones within day care settings. As a result locally the use of mobile phones is now prohibited in any childrens centre within the Wakefield district, however it is recognised that this alone will not prevent abuse or transmission of images on the internet from taking place.Other lessons learned is that staff at Little Teds Nursery did not recognise the escalation of Georges sexualised behaviour as a warning sign and there is an urgent need for staff working in early years settings to receive training to help recognise potential signs of abuse and become confident in responding to a fellow staff members beha viour. As a result, training on whistle blowing and the need for policies and procedures to be in place has become a more urgent need in the childcare sector.Other recommendations set out by the Little Teds SCR include the need for The Early Years Foundation Stage to set out specific requirements for child protection training which considers sexual abuse and the recognition of abuse within the workplace also the need for the Government to review and consider changing the status of day care settings operating as unincorporated bodies to ensure that governance and accountability arrangements are fit for purpose and are sufficiently clear to enable parents and professionals to raise concerns and challenge poor practice.