Dear Colleague,

I wanted to take the opportunity to write to assure you that the safeguarding of children and adults in Coventry remains a priority as we work through the current situation with coronavirus.

These are uniquely challenging times and the strength of the local partnership in the city will stand us all in good stead to meet those challenges. Working practices will continue to evolve over the coming weeks to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities. You will have received guidance from your own organisation but may I also assure you that the safeguarding partnership structure continues to operate for both adults and children.

The Partnership Team have been considering safeguarding risks and those actions that might be taken to reduce them. We will monitor and update this over the coming weeks. We will have to reassess our planned activity and adopt a pragmatic approach to what is feasible as we adapt to new working arrangements but our commitment to provide help and support where needed is as strong as ever.

Working together has never been more important.

Derek Benson
Independent Chair
Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership & Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board

Our One Minute Guides are quick, first reference guides aimed at front line practitioners across the city.

Further to a recent Serious Case Review, the Partnership has produced two new One Minute Guides for professionals on grooming and learning from a Serious Case Review, find them below:

• Grooming 
• Learning from a Serious Case Review 
• To see our other One Minute Guides, head over to our website

Despite the current challenges presented by COVID-19 Coventry Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is fully functioning with business as usual arrangements. During this period the work is being carried out remotely but MASH continue to progress referrals and provide advice to families and professionals via the telephone. It has been recognised by Coventry Safeguarding Children’s Partnership that at the moment there are many acts of kindness and support occurring within communities and that these volunteers may be best placed to spot the signs of abuse and neglect. In response to this Coventry Safeguarding Children’s Partnership has produced resources aimed at supporting the community to spot the signs and know how to report their concerns. The first of these is a series of posters signposting the community where to direct any concerns and can be found here What to do if you are worried about a child .The second is an awareness raising guide for volunteers explaining what safeguarding is, signs to look out for and how to report concerns and can be found here Safeguarding Training Guide  Please share these throughout your organisations.

A regional domestic abuse campaign was launched last week. This campaign has been worked on by a number of partners, including the WM Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, WM Police, Public Health England, Violence Reduction Unit, WM Combined Authority, Domestic Abuse Consortia (Coventry and Warwickshire Haven, BSWomen’s Aid and BCWomen’s Aid), regional domestic abuse leads).

It contains some suggested social media posts and links to social media images that can be downloaded. In addition, it has guidance for professionals, allowing us all to play our part in keeping victims safe.

There are also resources for employers to help them understand the issues and support employees that might be victims of domestic abuse.

Please can you distribute this information to all staff within your teams and wider networks and share the social media posts on your organisations social media. The information can be found here:Domestic Abuse Resource