Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 2B: Approach to multi-agency assessment in child protection 76 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 2.233 When considering adversity, recognise current factors which threaten wellbeing. These may include material challenges such as the effects of isolation, rural or otherwise; poor housing conditions; ill health; poverty or long-term unemployment. 2.234 When considering protective factors, consider who has reliably demonstrated support and commitment for the child’s safety and wellbeing. Significant offers that come from untested supports will usually require careful, step-by-step evaluation. Protective factors are accessible from education, health, faith, therapeutic and community sources. 2.235 Resilience is not a standard formula. It will have distinctive features for each child in context. Child protection assessment and planning should seek to identify and build on strengths. What helps this child survive and grow through periods of risk and stress? 2.236 Resilience is a concept which supports consideration of the interaction of risk and strength in a child’s day to day world. Resilience is likely to consist in the interactions between: significant close relationships; developing skills; and a child’s growing sense of identity and confidence. 2.237 A child’s resilience and experience of safety is likely to be strongly related to development of a secure base in dependent relationships; and of a growing, yet realistic confidence in themselves and their abilities to reach out, explore, learn things and get help when needed. The extent to which this capacity for resilience is realised by a child will also be influenced by their age, stage, understanding and culture. 2.238 In exploring concerns and strengths, practitioners should listen, take time and keep an open mind: • some children/young people may give an impression of resilience, when they appear to be ‘fine’ when under significant stress. It may take time to understand whether needs are hidden beneath an independent, self-sufficient front • others may be perceived as having ‘strong’ and protective attachments to significant adults; and it may take time to understand if anxiety is leading a child to cling to a source of security, avoiding healthy exploration and learning 2.239 “Children who have been harmed through relationships, must have supportive relationships in order to heal.” (Independent Care Review, 2020) 2.240 Ecological. Whatever the specific concern, effective multi-agency assessment, planning and support is ecological. This includes analysis of the interaction of relationships between a child, their family and their wider world. An ecological perspective includes consideration of the present and historical context of harm. Other factors may be relevant. These include culture, use of technology, the physical location of risks, barriers to understanding or accessing services, and the intersection of adversities including key variables like housing, health and income. 2.241 Developmental. Effective multi-agency assessment must be developmental, meaning that it should consider a child’s age, stage and transitional needs moving on to another stage, even if the preoccupation of a child protection assessment is prevention of significant harm. A developmental perspective encompasses attention to the impact of a child’s experience of attachment and of trauma, and the relevance of relationships with significant others such as siblings and non-resident parents upon assessment of risk, strength and need.