Safeguarding Children

Adult Care is a full partner of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP). Like all public bodies, Adult Care has a duty under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure its functions, and any services it contracts out to others, are discharged, having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The expectations of Adult Care practitioners in relation to promoting the welfare of children are summarised in Quality Practice Assurance Standard 3 - Safeguarding everyone.

All Quality Practice Assurance Standards can be found in Section 1 of the Local Resource Library.

The Care Act promotes a whole family approach in understanding and intervening in the circumstances of people needing care and support. This includes understanding the impact of the family’s situation on all members and taking necessary steps to promote the wellbeing of the whole family. Practitioners are required to promote the welfare of children with whom we come into contact through our work with families.

Adult Care assessment activity should always identify where children are involved with our customers, and practitioners should be mindful where the welfare of children could potentially be affected by the difficulties our customers and their families face, and vice versa. This may be where children are undertaking caring responsibilities and may need support as a young carer.

It is particularly important to ensure that where children have significant involvement i.e. they are sharing a home or where, as part of the assessment, it is identified that the welfare of related children is impacted on by the care and support needs of customers and carers, that those children are recorded in customer records. This should include recording the nature of the relationship to any family members to ensure that an accurate genogram can be maintained in the record.

Where there are any concerns about children’s welfare, checks should be made with Children’s Services to ascertain whether and how the family are known to Children’s Services and seek advice about how to progress those concerns.

When considering raising concerns about a child, Adult Care practitioners in discussion with Lead Practitioners should first determine whether the concern is of a safeguarding nature or a request for Early Help and support for the child and family (see below).

Children believed to be at immediate risk of harm should be referred to the Children’s Services Safeguarding Team through the Customer Service Centre.

Children not deemed to be at immediate risk of harm, but where concerns about the child or family might suggest they need additional help and support, should be subject to the Lincolnshire Early Help process. Adult Care as a partner organisation of the LSCP should engage proportionately to our level of involvement with the child in the initial Early Help process. Where the child is not known, this will include making a referral and sharing all available information to Early Help.

Further details of the referral process to Children’s Services, including guidance on children’s safeguarding and the Early Help process can be found on the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website. Where someone is 18 or over, but is still receiving children’s services and a safeguarding issue is raised, the matter should be dealt with through adult safeguarding arrangements and, where appropriate, should involve Children’s safeguarding colleagues.

• Adult Care practitioners have a duty under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people;
• All children and young people involved in or impacted by the care and support needs of adults should be recorded and linked to relevant adults in the customer record;
• Safeguarding should adopt a whole family approach, understanding the impact of harm on families and exploring the strengths in families and support networks to provide safety and support;
• When considering raising concerns about a child, Adult Care practitioners in discussion with Lead Practitioners should first make a determination whether the concern is of a safeguarding nature or a request for Early Help and support for the child and family (see below);
• Children believed to be at immediate risk of harm should be referred to the Children’s Services Safeguarding Team through the Customer Service Centre;
• When it is determined that it is a request for Early Help rather than safeguarding, practitioners should refer to Early Help by adding all of the relevant information they have to the online Early Help Child and Family Assessment Form or download a copy and sending to the Team Around the Child (TAC) Admin Team.