Child Protection Guidance 2021

Part 2B: Approach to multi-agency assessment in child protection 83 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Version 1.0 September 2021 2.274 Assessment can also be enhanced by learning from research, inspection findings and case reviews. Complaints can also be a systemic safeguard and trigger for learning and review of practice. Cumulative lessons from research distilled by Broadhurst, Munro et al (2010) are relevant to ‘avoiding common pitfalls’ in multi-agency child protection. These have been re-framed below as reflective questions crucial to all practitioners in child protection. Avoiding common pitfalls • What are children saying? How do they look? How do they behave? What is the apparent or potential impact of risks upon the child? • How are we engaging with parents (mothers/fathers/other family carers) to assess and reduce risk? • Has due consideration been given to information from family and others significant to this child’s safety and needs? • How have we formed a shared understanding of concerns, plans and expectations? • Are records about response to concerns thorough and accurate? Do referrers need to know about response? • There may be obvious and urgent risks. What significant but less visible aspects of case history and circumstance may have been obscured by the headline concerns? • If the focus has been on one child because of age or known harm, what are the implications for other children who may be affected? • If a conclusion has been reached early, is assessment and decision-making based on information that is sufficiently tested and corroborated from the perspectives of those who know the situation? • How are practitioners supported to engage with individuals and families with whom they experience aggression or avoidance? • Are the child and family involved experiencing a ‘joined-up’, co‑ordinated assessment and planning processes? 2.275 Research, evaluation, training and supervision all play an essential part in the protective steps outlined in Part 3, and the response to specific concerns in Part 4 of this Guidance. Improvements in child protection depend upon a learning culture which promotes understanding of lived experience and sustains a reflective, analytical and evaluative approach. Recent developments in child protection (2019-21) relevant to improvement in multi-agency child protection are highlighted below.