Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 3: Identifying and responding to concerns about children 108 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 Interim Safety Plan 3.110 Guidance on immediate safety planning before a CPPM is held: • the purpose of an interim safety plan is to ensure a child’s safety as immediately as necessary until such time as a CPPM is held • an interim safety plan is about safety right now. It is operational immediately • those who are participants in the plan must understand and agree what they must do to ensure a child’s safety. Those party to the plan should be known sources of security for the child • the way that the child will be seen and heard during the period in which the plan is in place must be part of the plan. The child will be supported in understanding who they can speak with or contact at any time. A child’s version of the plan is recommended, developed with the child’s help and understanding as appropriate in each situation • the safety plan must be recorded and shared. It should be in plain language and practical detail, with no acronyms and no professional jargon • the needs and the harm that the plan must address must be defined • if risk of harm is high in a specific context, this will be specified. Agreement must be defined about how to avoid or minimise this risk • the actions that persons or services will take will be described • the ways in which the plan is monitored and the way in which any person or service party to the plan can immediately signal concern must be defined • contact details for those with defined responsibilities within the interim safety plan will be included Domestic abuse considerations in safety planning 3.111 Effective safety planning will depend on practitioner-applied awareness of: • the child’s trauma from abuse, and from seeing and hearing abuse • physical, emotional, educational, developmental, social, behavioural impact on child • the non-abusing parent’s need for a safe space to talk and a safe way of receiving information (away from perpetrator) • the perpetrator’s pattern of coercive control • multiple impact on income, housing, relationships, health • how support for non-abusing parents will also support children • when a non-abusing parent’s ability to parent has been compromised • protective factors in the child’s world relevant to safety plans • the children’s needs for advocates that they trust • potentially heightened risk following separation • multi-agency approaches that keep women’s and children’s needs at the centre 3.112 Police must always be notified of a threat to life or injury of a person. When a child is affected or is likely to be affected by such a risk, police will immediately consider the need for an IRD; and an IRD would normally be expected unless there is clear and sufficient evidence to discount the risk of significant harm deriving from such a threat. 3.113 Additional guidance on domestic abuse is provided below in Part 4.

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