Children’s Policies & Guidance

Visit our Child Exploitation page for more information about child exploitation and trafficking, and useful resources for schools, families and children: Child Exploitation

The tools and pathways for Herefordshire include:

GET SAFE Practitioner’s Guide: GET SAFE aims to work in collaboration with our multi-agency partners to keep children and young people safe from the risk of harm outside of the home.

Exploitation Practice Flowchart: for young people and care leavers: The exploitation risk assessment and risk management process applies to all young people identified as being at risk of exploitation, including care leavers. This flowchart explains the pathways for these children.

Multi-agency Exploitation Risk Assessment Tool: Any professional working with children, young people or care leavers where they are concerned about exploitation, should complete this tool.

Agenda for Risk Management Meeting: This is a standard agenda template, to be used at a child’s risk management meeting. The agenda has been revised to align to the Signs of Safety approach.

Child Sexual and Criminal Exploitation Safety Plan (Practice Guidance): The child’s Safety Plan should be actively reviewed and updated at every Risk Management Meeting. This practice guide explains how Safety Plans should be used for children who are at risk of or experiencing exploitation.

Toolkit for professionals: Working with deaf and physically disabled children and young people in relation to child sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation.

Children and young people in Herefordshire can be referred to the CLIMB programme, offered by the Children’s Society, which provides positive activities to young people who may otherwise be drawn into criminal activity. For more information and referral instructions, see CLIMB

The BRANCH project, offered WMRSASC, is a support service for children and young people under 18 years, or under 24 years for those with additional needs, who are victims and/or at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). For more information and referral instructions, see BRANCH.

Intelligence Reporting:

Exploitation Intelligence Report Form: This Exploitation intelligence reporting form has been developed for use by multi-agency partners, voluntary organisations and carers, to report soft intelligence on child exploitation to the West Mercia police.

This document can be used by families, professionals and community members to help understand what intelligence is and how it can be reported: Capturing and Reporting Intelligence: Child Sexual and/or Criminal Exploitation Guidance for Families, Professionals and the Community.

Home Office Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit – This toolkit has been developed to support frontline practitioners to safeguard children and young people under the age of 18 from sexual and criminal exploitation.

Home Office – Criminal Exploitation County Lines Guidance

Childrens-society-Criminal-Exploitation-Stages-of-Recruitment – from the Children’s Society

Contextual Safeguarding is an approach that is often used to protect children vulnerable to exploitation. Contextual safeguarding is about understanding, and responding to, young people’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families. The Contextual Safeguarding Network provides an overview of all the research projects, practice support and strategic engagement in the Contextual Safeguarding programme. You can visit their website at www.contextualsafeguarding.org.uk.

Refer to the West Mercia Pathway for Children who Go Missing from Home, Care or Education –View the pathway here

There is also regional guidance about Children Missing from Care, Home and Education, for all local authorities in the West Midlands.

Visit the Child Neglect Resources page for resources and tools for practitioners to understand, identify, and respond to child neglect.

The HSCP has published a Neglect Strategy – see Neglect Strategy (Interim) 2021-23

There is also guidance for West Midlands authorities on Child Neglect – see Child Neglect regional guidance

Graded Care Profile 2 is a tool to help professional assess child neglect. Professionals in Herefordshire can access training on how to use Graded Care Profile 2 by booking on courses via www.herefordshirecpd.co.uk.

For resources and tools, see Child Protection Conference Pack

Guide to Child Protection Medical Examinations and Child Protection Health Assessments

For more information about Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews: Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

For more information about Domestic Abuse, tools and pathways, go to Domestic Abuse

The Early Help Assessment (EHA) provides a method for assessing needs for children and young people to support earlier intervention and to improve joint working and communication between practitioners.

For more information about Early Help, visit the Herefordshire Council website here

Read our learning briefing on Honour-Base Abuse and Violence – Honour Based Abuse - Learning Briefing 

For more information, see:

West Midlands Procedures: Honour-Based Abuse

Karma Nirvana – Helpline, Training, Campaigns

MET Police – What is Honour-Based Abuse

Forced Marriage Unit

Awareness of Forced Marriage e-learning course

Voluntary, community, faith-based, and provider organisations organisations make a huge contribution to supporting and enriching the lives of adults, children and young people in Herefordshire.

All organisations working with adults, children and young people and / or their parents and carers should have robust policies and procedures to ensure that they are safe, workers know and understand their roles and responsibilities and how to respond appropriately if they have concerns about a person’s safety or welfare.

Note – Some of the information below specifically refers to children and young people, but may also be useful for organisations and providers working with adults.

Resources for voluntary and community groups

NSPCC

The NSPCC has developed guidance and a wall chart called ‘Are They Safe?’ specifically for voluntary and community groups. These set out expectations and responsibilities for settings and help to identify areas where improvement may be required.

NSPCC has developed a safeguarding standards and guidance for safeguarding children, young people and adults aged 0-25 in the voluntary and community sector.

NSPCC self-assessment tool can be used to help audit your organisation’s current child protection arrangements.

The Charity Commission

The Charity Commission has a range of guidance and instructions that apply to charities in relation to their safeguarding arrangements. See Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees.

Safe Recruitment

If you run a voluntary, faith or community group you need to make sure that people who work for you (either paid or voluntary) have been recruited using correct recruitment and vetting procedures. By following the correct procedures you will be preventing unsuitable people from working with children and young people in your organisation.

Organisations must also ensure they have in place safe recruitment policies and procedures, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for all relevant staff, including agency staff, students and volunteers working with children.

DBS checks will provide information about an individual’s criminal history, to help determine whether a person is a suitable candidate for a particular role. There are different levels of DBS checks. See DBS check eligibility guidance for the charity sector and overseas aid organisations for more information. You should also check if the job role is eligible for DBS checks by referencing the DBS check – eligible positions guidance.

HVOSS (Herefordshire Voluntary Organisations Support Service)

HVOSS provide information, guidance and support to voluntary community organisations and groups in Herefordshire. They offer a range of support services to ensure that charities, community groups, village hall committees, sports and leisure clubs and social enterprises can thrive and continue to make a huge contribution to life in the county. For more information visit their website http://www.hvoss.org.uk/

A LADO referral must be completed where there are concerns that a person who works with children
has:

• Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child;
• Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or
• Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with
  children.
• A person has behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children

This is in connection with the person’s employment or voluntary activity.

The Herefordshire LADO is Terry Pilliner who can be contacted as follows:

Email:  LADO@herefordshire.gov.uk

or tpilliner@herefordshire.gov.uk

Tel: 01432 261739

Visit LADO/Managing Allegations for Referral instructions and guidance

Herefordshire has published guidance on Child on Child Abuse – see Herefordshire Multi-agency Child on Child Abuse guidance

HSCP Pre-Birth Practice Handbook for Professionals

Professional Curiosity Learning Briefing - February 2023.

The Herefordshire Professional Differences Policy should be used when a professional has a concern or a professional difference with another agency decision or action related to a child or young person. The policy explains the process to raise an escalation and respond to that challenge.

Herefordshire Professional Differences – Multi-agency resolution protocol / guidance

The notification form should be used for any escalations that reach Stage 2 – Stage 2 Notification Form

See also – Learning Briefing – Professional Differences Policy

The Right Help, Right Time Levels of Need framework has been developed by the HSCP to support practitioners at all levels working in statutory, public, voluntary and independent sectors in Herefordshire.

The document is intended to enable practitioners:

• to make decisions about how best to respond to the needs of children and young people
  and families;
• to give families access to the right help at the right time;
• to provide children and families with access to the most appropriate services for their needs

Right Help, Right Time Levels of Need

Information and resources will be available soon

Trauma-Informed Practice and ACES Briefing

To learn more, check www.herefordshirecpd.co.uk for training opportunities, or check out these resources:

E-learning: ACEs (acesonlinelearning.com)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – YouTube

An Introduction to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma-Informed Practice – West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership (westmidlands-vrp.org)

Working definition of trauma-informed practice – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Learning resources & events on trauma | Research in Practice

Introduction – Trauma-informed practice: toolkit – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Brené Brown on Empathy – YouTube

The Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership has subscribed to the West Midlands Child Protection Procedures. National, regional, and local policies and procedures that apply to professionals in Herefordshire can be found on the West Midlands Child Protection Procedures site. To access local Herefordshire policies and procedures:

1. Select “Herefordshire” in the partnership tab,
2. Go into “Content,”
3. Scroll to Section 3, which holds the local policies and procedures

Section 1 contains national guidance, and Section 2 contains regional West Midlands procedures, policies and guidance.