Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 2A: Roles and responsibilities for child protection 43 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 2.32 Training should be relevant to different groups from statutory, Third and other sectors, including volunteers. Training must be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect research, learning from Significant Case Reviews (which will become Learning Reviews), and practice experience. 2.33 A Scottish Knowledge and Skills Framework for Psychological Trauma and accompanying Trauma Training Plan, commissioned by Scottish Government and developed by NHS Education for Scotland is now accessible to the broader workforce, with a range of accompanying training resources. This is particularly relevant to child protection work and will help workers to understand the impact of trauma on children’s lives. It will also support in successfully delivering quality, evidence-based trauma-informed and trauma-responsive services to people affected by adverse experience. The Trauma Training Plan will also help managers and supervisors to identify and explore practitioners’ strengths, and address any gaps in their knowledge and skills. 2.34 A contextual understanding of child protection can be encouraged by clear leadership, training and supervision. Although every situation is unique, there may also be similar factors and experiences – such as poverty, exclusion, isolation, gender-based violence and racial discrimination – which could interact and accelerate the chemistry of some risks and harms. Support for practitioners: supervision 2.35 Support and supervision for practitioners involved in child protection work, regardless of professional role, is critical to ensure: • support for those who are directly involved in child protection work, which may be distressing • critical reflection and two-way accountability, which enables a focus on outcomes • the development of good practice for individual practitioners, and improvement in the quality of the service provided by the agency 2.36 Support and supervision can be both distinctly separate and joined-up activities, depending on the situation. For some professionals, such as social workers, supervision is a formal professional requirement whereas for others, including education practitioners, it is not. Regardless of the requirement for supervision, the purpose of support and supervision in ensuring accountability for practice is relevant for anyone in a professional role with specific responsibilities for child protection. Support can also help to review the understanding of a child’s situation in the light of new information, shifting circumstances or challenges to the current assessment. The Promise underlines the centrality of supervision for the workforce, including carers. 2.37 Support and supervision should be relevant to a practitioner’s professional role and scope of practice, their responsibilities, and the intensity of their involvement in child protection. Single agencies have robust standards and procedures underpinning support and/or supervision. Established standards and models of practice provide key points of reference. Midwifery applies a restorative model of supervision. Other examples include: • the Police National Decision Model • the Scottish Social Service Council Supervision & Learning Resource