Monday 25th November – Friday 29th November

Safeguarding week is nearly here, with a wide range of engaging 1-hour briefings and lots of other exciting information to improve your safeguarding knowledge and strengthen your practice. Click on the links below to book your place on the following sessions:

1 hour briefing - Modern slavery and exploitation

1 hour briefing - Voice of the child

1 hour briefing - Neglect: looking in the toolbox

1 hour briefing - Understanding contextual concerns

1 hour briefing - Parental substance misuse and the impact on children and families

1 hour briefing - What makes a good referral?

1 hour briefing - Non-accidental injuries in infants

1 hour briefing - Child safeguarding practice reviews (CSPRs) - Local and National

1 hour briefing - A trauma informed approach to multiple compound need

1 hour briefing - An update on fabricated and induced illness and perplexing presentations

Places on the 1-day conference have now been allocated, and there is a reserve list for those who were not initially offered a place. Places were allocated to ensure a broad range of representation from across the partnership. To view the links above in a flyer format (this makes it easier to share with colleagues) please click on the link below - 

Safeguarding week 2024 flyer

There are other sessions taking place as part of safeguarding week / fortnight through Partners:
NHS fortnight sessions:
Join colleagues from a range of organisations across the Partnership to
find out more about a variety of briefings that are designed to fit around
your work day……….
NHS Sussex Safeguarding Fortnight flyer

Katie Bennet (Service Manager for WSCC Early Help) has led the review and update of the Neglect Strategy for the WSSCP.

Welcome to the BIG launch of the Neglect Strategy 2024-2029!

Following a full review of the 2020-2023 Neglect Strategy for West Sussex, we are very pleased to present the WSSCP Neglect Strategy 2024-2029. This strategy is for all services, workers and their managers who come in to contact with children, young people and families in West Sussex. The strategy sets out how services can effectively recognise and respond to neglect with an emphasis on early identification and provides a common language, approach and toolkit to apply in practice.

To read this strategy in full click on the link below - 

https://www.westsussexscp.org.uk/professionals/neglect-and-abuse

Neglect is a challenging aspect of abuse and staff often have difficulty identifying and tackling neglect in order to protect and support children and their families. A 1-day training course is available to book onto and will provide you with the opportunity to look more closely into neglect, identify tools and resources that will support your work around this area. To book your place visit the WSSCP training calendar by clicking on the link below - 

Book my place on the WSSCP Neglect training

We have some exciting sessions coming up on new topics that will really support your understanding around these aspects of safeguarding. Delivered by subject specialists, they will provide you with the space to reflect on your practice and provide practical ways to support your work with children, young people and their families - 

An Introduction to Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse – Taking a Multi-agency Approach

Communicating with children when you have concerns around child sexual abuse

Parental Substance Misuse and the Impact on Children and Families

Working with Black and Global Majority Children, Families & Communities through an Anti-Racist Lens (Cultural Competency)

Child Protection Conference Attendance and Expectations

A Deep Dive Into Extreme Misogyny

Trauma Informed Approaches in a Multi - Agency Context

You can see all of the WSSCP training courses by clicking on the link below -

WSSCP Training Calendar

We are delighted to announce Reboot is now open to young people with Early Help and Social Workers.

In the past, young people with Social Workers and Early Help workers were automatically excluded from Reboot. This was due to assumptions that these young people were already receiving regular support and we did not want to duplicate/overwhelm.

We identified that these young people are often the most vulnerable in our society and, following a summer pilot, we have witnessed Reboot can complement the work of Children’s Services with bespoke offers that are suitable to the individual.

Who is suitable for Reboot?

• Young People aged 10-17yrs old residing in Sussex and:
• are coming to notice of Police, i.e. exhibiting early signs of becoming involved in crime, violence, missing episodes or repeat victimisation; and/or
• involved in offences in line with the Gravity Matrix (low-level, involved in finalised investigations scoring 1 or 2); and/or
• Have come to the notice of Police plus other risk factors e.g. – violence in the home, alcohol/drug use, exploitation concerns, school avoidance, mental wellbeing concerns.

Who is not suitable for Reboot?

• Young people who have previously been referred to Youth Justice Service for out of court disposal (OOCD), previously issued a Youth Caution (YC or YCC) or charged with an offence.
• Young people who are currently RUI (released under investigation - consider Turnaround).
• Young people with complex needs, more suited to specialist intervention.
• Young people who already have multiple services involved.
• Young people who have not come to notice of Police.

Young People with Social workers

• If we identify a young person who is suitable for Reboot with a Social Worker, we will liaise directly with the Social Worker to discover if we can offer a complementary intervention.
• Young people on CPP, CIN plan and LAC are all now considered, however if the LAC is from out of county, they will not be deemed suitable due to the likelihood of location change mid-intervention.

Referral Pathways

Reboot referrals are made by Police Officers/PCSO’s; we do not accept referrals from external/partner agencies.

What can Reboot offer?

Following a collaborative conversation between Social Worker and Reboot coordinator, Reboot can offer one or more of the following:

• 1-2-1 Mentoring
• Online individual counselling
• Family support (Changing Chances)
• 3-month gym pass

Please note, Social Services will remain the lead agency, please do not close a YP due to their involvement with Reboot.

NSPCC's Development and Implementation Team are hosting an event that will explore protecting children from domestic abuse and will feature:

• Keynote: Nicole Jacobs, Domestic Abuse Commissioner
• What NSPCC are doing to protect children from Domestic Abuse: NSPCC Policy Team
• How DART fits and compliments local services :Amy Patterson from DASU
• Introduction to Domestic Abuse Recovering Together programme (DART)
• Supporting healthy relationships with young people: Niamh Kennedy, Talk Relationships

And much more!

Register for your free place by clicking on the link below - 

The Prevention of Abuse & Neglect: Protecting Children from Domestic Abuse

The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) are official organisers of Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Anti-Bullying Week 2024 will take place from Monday 11th - Friday 15th November, with the theme: Choose Respect. Odd Socks Day is taking place on Tuesday 12th November, with adults and children being encouraged to wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique.

For full details, including access to resources for your event click on the link below - 

Anti-Bullying Alliance

Here are the details of upcoming Youth practitioner learning events. You can find the links below to sign up or to share with youth practitioner colleagues who might be interested.

The  event in Worthing is taking place on Tuesday, 5^th November. There are less than 15 spaces left for each event – book your spot now to avoid missing out!

• either Worthing on Tuesday 5 November
• or Eastbourne on Tuesday 12 November.

The content is the same on both days.

The events are free one-day learning event for frontline youth practitioners in Sussex.

There’ll be the opportunity to:

• hear from four speakers
• discuss and feedback on various topics including safeguarding, exploitation, and serious violence
• share best practices and challenges
• and develop connections and networks.

It is hoped there will be a good mix of frontline youth practitioners from a variety of backgrounds and organisations (charity and voluntary sector, education, residential (care home), etc.).

The message below has been shared by Change Grow Live - 

Change Grow Live’s Children and Young Persons Therapeutic Service is a county wide service commissioned by WSCC Public Health that provides up to 12 weeks of play/arts-based therapy and counselling to children and young people affected by parental substance use.

We are pleased to announce we are reopening our Therapeutic Service for new referrals.

Please see our new website including online referral form here: Children & Young Persons Therapeutic Service -West Sussex| Change Grow Live

Please note: West Sussex Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Network (DAWN) Service is also welcoming any new referrals for adults, young people and families needing support with their drug and/or alcohol use.

You can access more information and referral form here:

https://www.changegrowlive.org/drug-alcohol-wellbeing-network-west-sussex

This summer the NSPCC published a new report on the multi-agency response to identifying and tackling neglect.

The report shows that in 2023/2024, neglect was the top concern reported to the NSPCC Helpline and draws on findings from a national poll and focus groups which stated 83% professionals across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education believe there are not enough services available to provide support for children experiencing neglect.

The findings of this report chime with the Panel’s emerging analysis of serious child safeguarding incidents where neglect was a feature. Although the Panel’s work is focussed on the most serious incidents, where children have died or been seriously harmed – and the NSPCC report focusses more broadly, including on the role of universal services, it is clear that there needs to be a renewed practice and policy focus on neglect.

We encourage safeguarding partners and frontline practitioners to read the report and look forward to publishing our own briefing paper on neglect in the coming months. Click on the link below to read the report - 

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/2024/too-little-too-late-identifying-and-tackling-neglect