 We were lucky enough to hold our last LSCB meeting at Sherbourne
Fields Special School, an Ofsted badged outstanding school for children
and young people with a range of disabilities. A small group of very
articulate pupils talked to the Board about their school, their hopes and their
fears. They were so clear and so impressive that we subsequently asked
them whether they would agree to be young safeguarding advisers to the Board.
I am delighted to say that they accepted. Their first project will be to
advise University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire on how to improve the
hospital environment so that it is more accessible and welcoming for children
and young people with disabilities.
Janet Mokades
Independent Chair, Coventry
Safeguarding Children Board
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The LSCB has spent over a year listening to the
views of children and young people. It has asked them what makes them
feel safe and happy. A key theme that has emerged is the need for
consistency and continuity in worker or service.
Young people have told us how upsetting it is when
they have created a bond or a good working relationship which is then
disrupted. Having strong and trusting relationships with staff is
key to young people sharing information about their life and needs and being
willing to accept help accessing other services.
There are different types of disruption, for
example, for looked after children a placement change or a change in worker can
result in changes to their home. For other children, changes in education
such as school attended can result in needing to get to know new friends and
staff. Some young people and their families have told us that they have
experienced workers moving on, and have not been informed of the change or
because they were no longer eligible for a service (due to age or location)
they could not keep a preferred worker.
We have heard about the good work that goes on and the
difference this makes to children and young people. A parent told us
about the role of the worker in the Family Nurse Partnership that had enabled
her to be a better mum and leave a relationship where she experienced domestic
violence. Secondary school age children showed us the way that school
staff had been a constant in their lives, and cared for them, supporting them
through difficult home circumstances. A young mum brought her baby to the
LSCB with her dedicated midwife, and she explained the power of having a person
just for her – that knew her and she could call when she needed to.
Parents told us how the bringing together of services in a Children’s Centre,
as part of Acting Early had helped them understand the importance of bonding
with their baby.
We know that workers value the relationships they build with
children and families. However, the systems in which they work sometimes
do not allow them to continue to work with a young person. Sometimes,
this is will be the right thing, as part of a young person’s recovery is moving
on to another worker or service. Most times though, children, young
people and their families benefit from continuity and consistency.
The LSCB believes that all services should consider the
structures they have in place, and how they impact on the experience of
children and families. They should do all they can to minimise changes in
workers wherever and whenever possible. Where they are unavoidable a
managed handover is important. This might be between agencies or within
organisations. Ideally, there should be face to face to handover
meetings but if this is not possible, electronic or written handovers should be
completed. These are things that can be done now.
In an ideal world,
all the services that help to safeguard children would be thinking about
whether they could do things differently in order to guarantee that vulnerable
children and young people get the continuing support of one committed person
for as long as they need it. Because they have told us that this is what
they want and that this is what works. This is our challenge to services; can
you start thinking about how you might do this in the future?
Faith organisations have an important role in safeguarding
children and supporting families and like all organisations that work with
children they need to have appropriate arrangements in place to safeguard and
promote the welfare of children. Safeguarding Children Boards have a role in
engaging and supporting faith organisations around this work. (Working Together
to Safeguard Children 2015)
A project has been started between Coventry Safeguarding
Children Board and Coventry Muslim Forum to support the Forum around their
safeguarding responsibilities. There are 24 Madrasahs in the Forum where
children are taught about the Islamic Faith.
Support is being given around safeguarding policies and
procedures including safer recruitment practice.
Support is also being given to ensure that all appropriate staff
receive Level 1 safeguarding training. A number of Designated Safeguarding
Leads have completed a Train the Trainer course and work is now being done to
develop the training session. Support will be given around delivery and there
will be on-going liaison and reviews to ensure that the training is kept up to
date and there is feedback on the numbers of staff trained.
The LSCB have recently reviewed their response to the Prevent Duty, which was introduced last summer and which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. The Duty complements statutory safeguarding guidance and is intended to help schools, childcare providers, local authorities, health bodies and others to think about what they can do to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and how to access support to do this. At its core, the Duty states “Safeguarding vulnerable people from radicalisation is no different from safeguarding them from other forms of harm”.
Key aspects of the Duty are:-
- To ensure that those working with children and young people understand the risk of radicalisation, and recognise vulnerabilities that might lead people towards extremism.
- To be aware of how to share concerns and what support might be available to respond to vulnerability.
- To recognise the key role of the LSCB’s in promoting partnership working, for example through sharing information and effective multi-agency responses.
- To be aware of the work of the Channel Panel – the multi-agency group which focuses on providing support at an early stage to people identified as being vulnerable to being drawn to terrorism.
- For local partners to build the resilience of young people to extremism, for example encourage awareness of on-line safety and appreciation of fundamental British values.
The
LSCB have agreed to hold a joint event together with the Safeguarding Adults
Board to look at how to
safeguard against radicalisation, this will be held on 20 April, at Lyng Hall School. If you want to find out more about Prevent, training
opportunities, or if you have any concerns regarding this agenda then contact
Geoff Thomas, Prevent Co-ordinator, Coventry Safeguarding Board tel 024 7683 1437 Geoff.Thomas@coventry.gov.uk.
A really helpful website with materials and guidance for support to children and young people has been provided by the Department for Education – Educate Against Hate.
 Overall our ambition is to ensure that the services we commission form part of a whole system and citywide approach to improving outcomes for children. The emphasis is very much on early intervention and prevention as part of the overall Early Help offer in the city.
This means commissioning and delivering services in a different way. Our main vehicle for this work has been our Acting Early model.
We have recently successfully rolled out our 0- 5 years strand city wide. Work has already started on developing the Acting Early model for primary and secondary aged children in partnership with schools and other stakeholders. We are working in partnership with 4 secondary schools in the North East of the City (Lyng Hall, Cardinal Wiseman, Grace Academy and Foxford) in developing this model and testing out new ways of working including place based integrated teams.
The vision is to have a fully integrated 0-19yrs+ model for the city in place over the next few years.
Commissioning of services for children and young people
The responsibility for commissioning a number of services for children and young people has now transferred to the Local Authority. As of 1 October 2015 these now include Health Visiting and the Family Nurse Partnership programme.
Health Visiting has seen a significant growth of the work force over the past 4 years. The Prime Minister’s ‘Call to Action’ has seen Coventry increase from 25wte to 82wte. We are working with our provider CWPT to ensure that this resource makes a measurable impact in terms of improving the outcomes for children.
We are supporting Grapevine in developing a Parent Leadership programme, that we hope will be a valuable resource for early years services in hearing the parent’s voice and engaging them to help shape service provision.
We recently, successfully re-tendered the School Nursing service with a new specification. The new service starts on 1 April 2016 and will be delivered by the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
Public Health is now part of the People Directorate in the City Council and we are working hard with colleagues in Childrens and Education in supporting and developing the Early Help offer in collaboration with wider stakeholders.
John Forde
Consultant in Public Health
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We would like to thank Sherbourne Fields School for recently hosting our board meeting. In addition to having a tour of the school, three members of the Student Council presented their views and concerns to the board and shared the following video:
Student Voice at Sherbourne Fields
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