Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 3: Identifying and responding to concerns about children 119 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 • even if a child does not attend the meeting, their views are still necessary before and after the meeting, ensuring that for babies and infants their presentation and pattern of behaviours need to be considered • the child’s views are obtained, presented, considered and recorded during the meeting, regardless of whether or not they are present. Consideration should be given to whether a child should attend the Core Group • reasons for agreeing that older children and young people should or should not attend a CPPM or Core Group meeting should be noted, along with details of the factors that lead to the decision. This should be recorded in the meeting record 3.164 Two practice insights on this topic have been drafted to illustrate and explain key practice considerations, offer a resource, prompt reflection and signpost selected sources. They can be found in the Practice Insights supporting document alongside this Guidance. 3.165 CPPM Record • the person taking responsibility for the record of the meeting must be sufficiently trained, and should not be the meeting Chair. The aim of the record is to provide essential information from the meeting in a form that all involved in the Child Protection Plan can understand • essential information includes those invited; attendees and absentees; reasons for child’s/parents’/carers’ non-attendance; reports received; a summary of the information shared; the risks and protective factors identified; the views of the child and parents/carers; the decisions, reasons for the decisions and note of any dissent; the outline of the Child Protection Plan agreed at the meeting, detailing the required outcomes, timescales and contingency plans; the name of the lead professional, and membership of the Core Group • participants, invitees who were unable to attend and Core Group members should receive the record when approved by the Chair within five working days of the CPPM 3.166 Provision of reports • reports should be produced to ensure that relevant, accurate and sufficient information is effectively shared with CPPM participants, where it is proportionate to do so, in order to support good decision-making • it is recommended that from single-agency reports, an integrated report should be produced by the lead professional, in advance of CPPMs. Sometimes this is not possible, for example due to last minute provision of single-agency information to the lead professional. The aim is always to achieve a shared understanding between families and professionals about inter-agency reports for and plans arising from CPPMs. These arrangements should be covered by local protocols • the report/s should include all relevant information and a chronology, to be completed by the lead professional. They should also include information pertaining to significant adults in the child’s life, and provide a clear overview of the risks, vulnerabilities and protective factors, as well as the child’s views. Other children in the household or extended family should also be considered • invitees have a responsibility to share the content of the report(s) with the child and family in an accessible, comprehensible way. Prior to an initial CPPM, consideration needs to be given as to the most appropriate means of sharing reports with the child and family, and to when it should be done