Section 5: The Referral and Assessment Process

5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Common Assessment Framework
5.3 ContactPoint
5.4 Shielding on ContactPoint
5.5 The Lead Professional
5.6 Referral and Contacts to Children's Social Care
5.7 Responsibilities of the referrer
5.8 Referrals from members of the public
5.9 The Assessment Framework
5.10 Referral Criteria
5.11 Making a referral of a child where there are concerns for their welfare
5.12 Referrals to the Emergency Duty Team
5.13 Referral response
5.14 The Assessment Process
5.15 The Initial Assessment
5.16 The Core Assessment
5.17 Pre-birth referral and assessment
5.18 Flowcharts

5.1 Introduction

This section outlines what should happen if somebody has concerns about the welfare of a child and, in particular, concerns that the child may be suffering, or may be at risk of suffering, significant harm.

It sets our clear expectations about the way in which agencies and professionals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The principles underpinning the work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children

Children have varying needs which change over time. Competent professional judgement is required if children are to achieve their full potential. Such judgement is based on sound assessment of a child's needs, the parent's capacity to respond to those needs and the wider family circumstances.

Everybody who works with, or who has contact with children, parents and other adults, should be able to recognise, and know how to act upon, evidence that a child's health or development is, or may be, being impaired, or is suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm. All work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children should:

Be child centred;
Be rooted in child development;
Focus on outcomes for children;
Holistic in approach;
Ensure equality of opportunity;
Involve children and families;
Build on strengths as well as identifying difficulties;
Be multi agency and inter disciplinary in approach;
Be a continuing process not an event;
Provide and review services;
Be informed by evidence;

At all stages of referral and assessment, consideration must be given to issues of diversity, taking into account:

The impact of cultural expectations and obligations on the family
The family's knowledge of UK law, norms and expectations in relation to parenting and child welfare;
The impact of the family if recently arrived in the UK and their immigration status;
The need to use interpreters for discussions about parenting and child welfare, even though the family's day to day English may appear to be adequate. See Section 9.59: Working with interpreters.

It is the responsibility of each agency to ensure that staff training and development incorporates the above principles.

5.2 The Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is an assessment tool that should be completed when a professional in any agency has concerns that a child will not progress towards the five Every Child Matters priority outcomes (being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being) without additional services.

This early assessment and intervention is important because incidents of neglect and abuse within families are on a continuum and situations where abuse is developing can, at times, be resolved by preventative services outside the child protection system.

The CAF is a shared assessment tool used across agencies that work with children. It consists of:

A common process, to enable practitioners to undertake a common assessment and then act on the result;
A standard form, to help practitioners record and, where appropriate, share with others, their assessments and plans/ recommendations for support;
A pre-assessment checklist which practitioners may use to help decide who would benefit from a common assessment.

The common assessment is designed for when:

There are concerns about how well a child is progressing in terms of their health, behaviour, progress in learning or any other aspect of their well-being;
The child's needs are unclear or broader than a single service can address.

The CAF is not to be used for those children in need or in need of protection.

Protocols and guidance are in place in North Yorkshire in relation to criteria for referral. Common Assessments are focussed on 'Level Two: Coordinated Early Intervention' on the spectrum of need as defined by the North Yorkshire Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership. More information may be found in the Levels of Vulnerability Document (2007) Best Practice: NYSCB website.

The common assessment covers three domains:

Development of the unborn child, infant, child or young person;
Parents and carers;
Family and environment.

Completing a common assessment should:

Enable the professional to identify the child's needs;
Provide a structure for systematic gathering and recording of information;
Record evidence of concerns and a base line for measuring progress in addressing them;
Provide a framework for a referral discussion to LA Children's Social Care for an initial or core assessment or to another service for a specialist assessment.

Completing a common assessment can also provide a standardised written referral proforma to support a telephone referral.

Good practice note:

Where there is immediate need for a child protection assessment and response, professionals should contact Children's Social Care directly and make a referral rather than starting or completing a common assessment.

Common assessment data base

CAF is supported by a data base which records the names of all children subject to a common assessment and the lead professional responsible for coordinating and reviewing services to the children and family.

This data base is held by the Integrated Services Section of the NYCC Children and Young People's Service. It is administered by the Integrated Service Locality Coordinators. The addresses and contact details are included in Appendix 2.

Any professional who believes a child may not reach their potential without extra support and who believes the child would benefit from a common assessment should in the first instance check the CAF database held by the locality coordinator who oversees the area in which the child or young person lives. The data base will inform whether a common assessment is current.

Where a common assessment is current the professional should contact the lead professional to share his/her concerns and, subject to consent having been given, information in order for the lead professional to update the common assessment and review the single or multi agency action plan in respect of the child.

When the data base reveals that a common assessment has not been completed, the professional should undertake the common assessment and follow the process as outlined in the CAF procedures. However this should be treated with some caution as a child or family's circumstances can change significantly in a relatively short period of time.

When a database check reveals that a common assessment has been completed but is no longer active, the original common assessment can be used to inform the new common assessment.

If a common assessment is received for a child that has moved into the area, this will be entered onto the CAF data base and a multi-agency CAF meeting convened to either create, or review the existing, common assessment action plan.

Where a common assessment is raised or received where the child accesses services with another local authority area, the Integrated Service Manager (ISM) will liaise with the named CAF lead for that area. Similarly if the child lives out of county but accesses services in North Yorkshire.

To ensure compliance with Climbie Recommendation 32, that only "one electronic database system is used by all those working in children and families services for the recording of information", the Integrated Service Locality Coordinator will ensure that all enquiries are checked against the local authority Customer Services Database. This will allow contacts to be recorded against the child's name to alert services where there may be developing concerns for a child and ensure that common assessments are not started for children already assessed as children in need or children in need of protection.

The role of the Integrated Services Manager (ISM)

The Integrated Services Manager is responsible for the management, monitoring and quality assurance of the Common Assessment Framework process within their respective Integrated Services area. Where a common assessment has been completed across two or more Integrated Services area, the ISM covering the child's address where they are ordinarily resident will take the lead.

Common Assessment Framework within Localities: A Three Stage Process

	Actions
Stage One: Identify child who may benefit from a common assessment	Use of the pre-assessment checklist to decide: No further action required (do not continue with CA) Which other agencies the practitioner should speak to prior to completing a common assessment to ensure that their initial judgement is accurate and that they have access to any further information. Concern/ support requirement can be met through existing service or through existing referral procedures within a single agency e.g. where the issue is simply health related such as a GP referral to a health specialist ( do not continue with CA) There are additional needs that would benefit from multi-agency support and therefore a common assessment may be appropriate Specific additional needs that require a specialist assessment (do not continue with CA) e.g., where special education provisions are appropriate Child in need or child protection concerns identified - referral to Children's Social Care (do not continue with CA).
Stage Two: Initiating Common Assessment	Where consent is obtained, the common assessment will be carried out with the child, and parent/ carer as appropriate. Where additional needs are identified through a common assessment that cannot be met by current working arrangements, a multi-agency meeting may be convened and chaired by the Integrated Service Manager, or designate to develop a common action plan for the child, young person or family.
Stage Three: Multi Agency Planning and Delivery	If the common assessment identifies a need for multi-agency support for the child or family, a multi-agency CA meeting will be convened to address the needs of the child or family. This meeting should be held within 15 working days of the Integrated Services Team (Locality Coordinator) receiving the common assessment where possible.

"Team Around the Child Meeting"

To convene such a meeting, the Integrated Services Team will invite appropriate representatives from relevant agencies in accordance with consent permissions.
Families or young people will be invited to attend and supported to participate fully in the meetings.
Prior to the multi agency CAF meeting, all agencies and partnerships will consider the Common Assessment Framework areas in order to provide any relevant information they hold on the named child/ children.
This information should form part of the agency's case file. This will be brought to the meeting in hard copy and the information presented verbally. Where an agency cannot be present, they should submit this information to the Chairperson of the Team Around the Child meeting to share on their behalf or confirm they have no relevant information to share.
Where more than one child is discussed at a meeting, consideration will be given to the scheduling of the meeting to allow for any specific needs of the child or family and to allow staff from relevant agencies to be present in relation to the cases in which they may have involvement.
The multi-agency action plan will be completed for each child or family at the meeting. A lead professional will be identified for the implementation of each action plan, taking into account any views from the child, young person or family.
A review date will be set for the action plan.
The action plan will be circulated in a secure way to all relevant practitioners and the child/ family following the meeting by the lead professional, supervised by the Integrated Service Manager.
If as a result of the assessment or action planning meeting, it is identified that the child requires a specific specialist service e.g. specialist health service, the common assessment information will be passed to that service as part of the referral.
If the whole case transfers to another service lead, e.g. enters Child In Need/ Safeguarding Processes, the common assessment case will be closed and relevant information will be passed to the appropriate service. This will be recorded on the electronic CAF recording system and a note made in the manual case file. The family and members of the Team Around the Child will be informed in writing of the case transfer.

Sharing information, confidentiality and consent

Common assessments cannot be undertaken without consent. Consent should be written, informed and explicit, clearly explaining the process, the information that will be shared and with whom and options to refuse, limit or withdraw consent and any implication that may have on service delivery. Consent should be recorded on the common assessment form.

Information will be held only for as long as is necessary. Information held by the ISM in a joint file on a common assessment, action plan and correspondence will be held for six years after the completion of the intervention, and then securely destroyed. The date of destruction will be recorded. Where the lead professional's agency's retention periods are longer than six years records will be held in line with statutory guidance (e.g. where a child that becomes looked after, information held by Children's Social Care relating to this child will be retained for 75 years after case closure in line with statutory guidance).

Information to be shared with another agency will usually require explicit consent but where there are concerns for the welfare or safety of the child, the need for consent changes. Further information is available in Section 3: Information Sharing, Confidentiality and Consent.

5.3 ContactPoint

Regulations, which came into force on 1 August 2007, provide the legal framework for ContactPoint under section 12 of the Children Act 2004. ContactPoint is a basic online directory available to authorised staff who need it to do their jobs. It is a key part of the Every Child Matters programme and aims to ensure that:

Less time is spent trying to find other practitioners working with the same child.
There is quicker assessment of whether a child is receiving universal services (education, primary health care).
Multi-agency working is more effective, there is less duplication of work and a better service experience for children and young people;
This is a national system and thus works for children who receive services across, or move across, local authority boundaries.

ContactPoint holds the following information:

Name, address, gender, date of birth and an identifying number for all children in England (up to their 18th birthday);
Name and contact details for:
parents or carers
educational setting (e.g. school)
primary medical practitioner (e.g. GP practice)
other services working with the child.
Indicator to show if a practitioner is the lead professional for a child and/or if they have completed an assessment under the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).

Explicit consent is required to record contact details for sensitive services (defined as sexual health, mental health and substance abuse). ContactPoint does not and will not contain any case information (such as case notes, assessments, medical data or exam results).

Access to ContactPoint

Access to ContactPoint is strictly limited to those who need it to do their job. This will include those working in education, health, social care, youth justice and some voluntary organisations. Before being granted access, all authorised users must have completed identity checks, enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure and mandatory training. To access the system all users will need a unique user name, password, security token and PIN. Access will be audited and monitored.

Authorised users will be able to access ContactPoint through their case management systems, through a secure web link or through another authorised user (known as mediated access). It will not be possible for any user to access a case management system held by another agency.

5.4 Shielding on ContactPoint

Individuals whose circumstances may mean that they are at increased risk of significant harm, or for other reasons specified in statutory guidance, may be able to have some of their details hidden on ContactPoint.

Hiding or shielding children's records on ContactPoint is determined on a case by case basis. ContactPoint Guidance sets out limited circumstances where shielding would be applicable. Chiefly these are when there are strong reasons to believe that by not doing so would be likely to:

Place a child at increased risk of significant harm;
Place an adult at risk of significant harm;
Prejudice the prevention or detection of a serious crime;
Provide a link between pre and post adoption identities; or
Put a child's placement at risk ( e.g., in the case of adoption and other placements).

The following case examples provide some direction on the instances in which children and young people's records may be shielded.

When a child or family are involved in witness protection;
Where a child has fled domestic abuse. Note that whilst a refuge can choose to supply a frontage in terms of address, the record of a child may also be shielded.
Where there is increased risk of kidnap/ harm to the child.

Who may request a record is shielded?

Agency representatives may identify children based on application of the criteria above and practitioners also may identify cases in which a record should be shielded in the course of their work. Parents/carers or a child/young person may request that a record is shielded by discussing this with a practitioner or by contacting the local authority ContactPoint Manager (See Section 2 for contacts).

Prompt action must be taken where there are strong reasons to believe a record should be shielded. Where the situation is urgent, practitioners can request a child or young person's record is shielded through the North Yorkshire ContactPoint Management Team which will ensure that it is instantly shielded.

LSCB Shielded Records Panel

The North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board has undertaken to manage the Shielded Records Panel for children and young people's records on ContactPoint in the county. The Panel comprises senior managers from the Children and Young People's Service, Health and the Police and is chaired by the LSCB Legal Adviser. The Panel meets on a monthly basis to review:

All shielding requests that have been submitted within that past month
Those shielding requests reaching their six-month review cycle, and:
Un-shielding requests received.

Reviews to determine shielding may where appropriate consult;

Any professional who has requested shielding/ un shielding;
The professional's line manager to confirm that this is appropriate;
Other practitioners involved with the child;
Child/ young person and/or their parents.

Shielding Review

ContactPoint will not hold any details of the reason for shielding. For accountability and audit, the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board will keep a log of;

Which agency and who made the shielding request;
All shielding requests made;
Any decisions made as part of the shielding process or review.

It is the responsibility of the practitioner/ agency making the request to inform the Shielding Review Panel when a shield is no longer required in order for it to form part of the next scheduled review meeting.

Subject access requests to a shielded record

Information should only be released with extreme caution. Even confirming the correct spelling of a child's name may confirm the whereabouts of a child. Such decisions will be made on a case by case basis involving the North Yorkshire Data Management Officer and taking into account the requester's identity, the nature of the shielding decision and the views of practitioners working with the child.

Emergency Shielding Override

Provision is made in legislation for some practitioners to have Emergency Shielding Override rights. This access is restricted at any time to the four Detective Inspectors of the Protecting Vulnerable Persons Units in North Yorkshire Police and the three General Managers within Children's Social Care.

The ContactPoint Management Team will immediately conduct an investigation into the reasons for using the override and a written report of the investigation will be made available to the LSCB Manager within five working days of the override.

Accountability

The full Shielding Policy is available on the North Yorkshire County Council website. The policy is owned by the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board but forms part of the wider ContactPoint Policies which are owned by the North Yorkshire Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership.

Any complaints or comments about the Shielding Policy will be managed through the NYCC Complaints System.

5.5 The Lead Professional

Every Child Matters: Change for Children (2004) sets out an agenda for integrated frontline services, including the role of the lead professional.

The lead professional performs three core functions:

to act as a single point of contact for the child or family;
to co-ordinate the delivery of the actions agreed;
to reduce overlap and inconsistency in the services received.

Many professionals working with children already undertake these functions as part of their job. A lead professional is accountable to their home agency for their delivery of the lead professional functions. They are not responsible or accountable for the actions of others.

Who should be the lead professional?

A lead professional can be any adult who works with and supports a child or young person. The most important selection criteria, is that they be the best placed to coordinate provision to meet the child's needs, and have a good relationship with them. For example, this means a lead professional could be a teacher, sports coach, youth worker or even a parent.

What skills and knowledge are required in a lead professional?

Lead professionals need the knowledge, competence and confidence to:

develop a successful and productive relationship with the child and family, and communicate without jargon;
organise meetings and discussions with different practitioners;
use the Common Assessment Framework and develop support plans based on the outcomes;
co-ordinate the delivery of effective early intervention work and ongoing support;
Work in partnership with other practitioners to deliver the support plan.

5.6 Referral and contacts to Children's Social Care

First contact with Children's Social Care should be made through the North Yorkshire County Council, Customer Service Centre.

All referrals and contacts will be recorded onto the Integrated Children's System (ICS), a case management tool for case recording within Children's Social Care.

Referrals are requests for action from Children's Social Care to the perceived need of a child or young person or their family. Contacts are where information is forwarded to Children's Social Care but the intention is there will be no action arising from this unless the information adds to a picture of the child that suggests to Children's Social Care that action is needed. Experience of Serious Case Reviews is that children have been harmed where agencies have had concerns that in themselves would not warrant a referral for a service but added together reflect an increasing concern for a child.

Recommendation 12 of Climbie notes that agencies should have in place systems to record each new contact with the child. Children's Social Care will then ensure that they have in place a system that records contacts with the child or young person in addition to the usual system to record a referral about that child's welfare.

5.7 Responsibilities of the Referrer to Children's Social Care

If Need for Urgent Medical Attention

If a child is suffering from an apparent serious injury or medical condition, attention must be sought immediately from Accident and Emergency (dialing 999 where appropriate).

Initial Response to the Child

Where abuse is alleged or suspected, the initial response to the child should be limited to listening carefully to what the child says in order to:

Clarify the concerns;
Offer reassurance about how s/he will be kept safe and;
Explain what action will be taken.

Although it is appropriate to ask a child how an injury occurred, the child must not be pressed for information, led or cross-examined or given false assurances of absolute confidentiality. Such well-intentioned actions could destroy the trust of the child and prejudice police investigations, especially in cases of sexual abuse.

Children and young people need to understand how they will be involved in decision-making and the planning processes. They should be helped to understand what key processes are, how they work and that they can contribute to decisions about their future in accordance with their age and understanding. However, they should understand that whilst their wishes and feelings will be taken into account, ultimately, decisions will be taken in the light of all available information contributed by themselves, professionals, their parents and other family members and significant adults. Children of sufficient age and understanding often have a clear perception of what needs to happen to ensure their safety and welfare.

Discussion with the Parent/Carer about making the Referral

When considering making a referral to Children's Social Care, practitioners are normally expected to discuss any concerns with the family and seek their agreement for a referral to be made. However, discussing with the parent the intention to refer should only be done where such discussion will not place a child at risk of significant harm, or increased risk of significant harm, or put any other person at risk of harm. This would include, for example:

If the concern is about possible sexual abuse;
If the child may be put at further risk, e.g. physically harmed or threatened;
If the perpetrator may be alerted and possibly take action to destroy evidence;
If the safety of anyone else, including the referrer, is likely to be put at risk;
Situations where there is an indication of fabricated or induced illness.

Where discussion has not taken place due to the above reasons, normally the family will subsequently be told who has made the referral, unless there are exceptional circumstances not to make this public. The referrer should therefore plan with his/her line manager, or Named Person in the agency, how to deal with the situation when contact next takes place with the family.

Advice in Relation to Making a Referral

Advice may be sought about the appropriateness of making a referral to Children's Social Care. This would normally be from the Named Person for child protection within the practitioner's agency or can be sought from Children's Social Care, for example, the Deputy Service Manager of the area where the child lives.

Advice can also be sought out of hours from the Emergency Duty Team.

Referral Information

Wherever possible referrers should supply the following information when making a referral to Children's Social Care:

Full names, any other surnames, date of birth and gender of the child/ren;
Details of any siblings and their current whereabouts;
Family address and (where relevant) school/nursery attended;
Identity of those with parental responsibility;
Names and dates of birth of all household members;
Ethnicity, first language and religion of children and parents/carers;
Any special needs of child/ren;
Any significant/important recent or historical events/incidents in child or family's life;
Nature of the concerns, how and why they have arisen including details of any allegations, their sources, timing and location and what appears to be the needs of the child and family;
Child's current location and emotional and physical condition;
Whether the child needs immediate protection;
Details of alleged perpetrator, if relevant;
Referrer's relationship and knowledge of child and parents/carers;
Known involvement of other agencies/professionals, e.g. GP;
Information regarding parental knowledge of, and agreement to, the referral.

Written Referrals

Unless the circumstances are of an urgent nature or it is believed that a child has suffered or is at risk of significant harm, referrals to Children's Social Care should be made by phone to the Customer Service Centre and followed up in writing within 48 hours. Staff at the Customer Service Centre will immediately put the referral details onto the ICS system for the relevant Children's Social Care team to receive.

There is an expectation that a written referral will be formally acknowledged by Children's Social Care within one working day of receipt.

If the referrer has not received an acknowledgement within three working days they should contact Children's Social Care again.

Referral by Phone or in Person

Where a referral is made by telephone or in person, due to the urgency or seriousness of the situation, it should be made clear to the person in Children's Social Care who is receiving the information whether or not the child and/or parent knows that Children's Social Care are being contacted and, if so, whether they are in agreement with this and whether they have given consent for information to be shared.

Referrers should record the information they give and ask for that information to be read back to them at the end of the conversation.

At the end of the discussion, both parties should be clear about who will be taking what action, or that no further action will be taken. Both parties are responsible for making a record.

Confirming the Referral in Writing

Where a referral has been made by telephone or in person, the referrer should confirm the referral in writing, within 48 hours, using the relevant multi-agency confirmation of referral where this is available.

Further Responsibilities of Referrer

The fact that abuse has been reported does not absolve people who first discover it from further involvement. They have a responsibility to work collaboratively with Children's Social Care, to ensure adequate protective measures are in place.

If the referrer is not in agreement with the response to the referral, reference should be made to Section 15: Resolution of Professional Disagreement.

5.8 Referrals from members of the public

Where referrals from members of the public are concerned, the person in Children's Social Care who is taking the referral information is responsible for ensuring that consent is sought from the referrer to disclose his/her name and/or identifying details to the family concerned or to other professionals.

If consent is refused, the name and/or identifying details of the referrer are not to be disclosed to the family or other professionals.

The position is to be made clear and recorded by the person taking the referral.

Children's Social Care should decide and record next steps to action within one working day.

5.9 The Assessment Framework

The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (Department of Health et al.2000) – the Assessment Framework – provides a systemic multi-agency approach to analyse and record what is happening to a child within their family and the wider context of the community in which they live.

The assessment framework involves gathering and analysing information in three domains:

Children's developmental needs;
Parents' or caregivers' capacity to respond appropriately;
Impact of the wider family and environmental factors on parenting capacity and children

Staff in all agencies should be competent in contributing to the assessment of a child using the Assessment Framework.

The Assessment Framework has been amalgamated with the looked after children's documentation to form the Integrated Children's System (ICS) and to be used as the basis of the child's record.

Where appropriate staff should also be competent in the use of the HOME Inventory and the Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales which accompany the Assessment Framework. The Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment Inventory has been shown to be a good predictor of outcomes for children and is generally well received by families.

An overview of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families is available in Appendix 4.

An overview of the HOME Inventory and the Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales which accompany the Assessment Framework is included in Appendix 5.

5.10 Referral Criteria

Professionals in all agencies have a responsibility to refer a child to Children's Social Care when it is believed or suspected that the child:

Has suffered significant harm (see section 4);
Is likely to suffer significant harm (see section 4); or
Has developmental or welfare needs which are likely only to be met through the provision of family support services (with agreement of the child's parent).

5.11 Making a referral of a child where there are concerns for their welfare.

Concerns about the welfare of children and young people, including concern about their deliberate harm should be referred through the North Yorkshire Customer Service Centre. The address and contact details are included in Appendix 2, LSCB Procedures.

Referrals that need to be made outside of office hours should be made to the Emergency Duty Team. The Emergency Duty Team (EDT) will act on behalf of Children's Social Care, providing an out of office hours service that includes weekends and public holidays.

In addition to Children's Social Care, the Police and NSPCC also have powers to intervene where a child has suffered significant harm. However a professional's first point of referral should be to Children's Social Care unless the child is in immediate danger when the Police should be the first point of contact.

In most situations where it would not compromise the safety of the child or other children in the family, the professional referrer should have informed the parents/carers of the intention to make the referral. This is quite different from obtaining consent. This issue is explained in detail in Section 3, LSCB Procedures, Information Sharing, Confidentiality and Consent.

Checks and Information Gathering

All referrals to Children's Social Care are initially received by the NYCC Customer Service Centre. Designated staff within this team will manage all calls where there are concerns for children's safety or welfare.

All referrals will initially be regarded as a potential child in need. The referral should be immediately forwarded to the relevant Children's Social Care Team via ICS and evaluated by them on the day of referral (and no later than within one working day) by the operational Deputy Service Manager/ Service Manager, and a decision made and recorded regarding the next course of action.

At this time an early decision will be made as to whether the referral is for all the children in the household/ family or for the child/ren presenting as the subject/s of the referral. Where there are child welfare concerns, the presumption should be that all children in the family/household will be subject to a referral. Only a Children's Social Care Service Manager can stand down the status of the referral to that of a referral for the single child or children. The decision should be recorded on the child's record.

If a discussion takes place between staff at the Customer Service Centre and Children's Social Care or a discussion takes place between Children's Social Care and the referrer and no further action is taken by Children's Social Care, a record must be kept of the discussion within ICS and the decisions made including advice and/or the referral of the child for a service from CYPS Integrated Services.

When taking a referral, the designated Customer Service Centre staff must establish as much of the following information as possible:

Full names ( including aliases and spelling variations), date of birth and gender of the child/ren;
Family address and ( where relevant) school/ nursery attended;
Identity of those with parental responsibility;
Names and dates of birth of all household members;
Ethnicity, first language and religion of the children and parents;
Any special needs of children or parents;
Any significant/important recent or historical events/incidents in the child or family's life;
Cause of concern including details of any allegations, their sources, timing and location;
Child's current location and emotional and physical condition;
Whether the child needs immediate protection;
Details of the alleged perpetrator, if relevant;
Referrer's relationship and knowledge of the child and parents;
Known involvement of other agencies/ professionals;
Information regarding parental knowledge of, and agreement to, the referral;
The information held on ContactPoint, where available. If there is a flag, establish the reasons for this.

At the end of the call, the referrer will be informed by the Customer Services Contact Centre staff that the referral will be immediately forwarded via ICS to the appropriate Children's Social Care team and a member of this team is likely to contact them to discuss the situation further.

At the end of the discussion with Customer Services Centre Children's Social Care, the referrer should be clear about the proposed action, timescales and who will be taking it or that no further action will be taken.

All referrals from professionals should be confirmed in writing by the referrer within 48 hours.

If the referrer has not received an acknowledgement within three working days, they should contact Children's Social Care again.

The duty social worker should gather information through:

Discussion with the referrer
Consideration of any existing records for the child and for any other members of their household using Integrated Children's System (ICS) and possibly archived records.
Checking whether the child is subject to a child protection plan;
Checking whether there is a past or current common assessment (CAF);
Involving other agencies as appropriate (including the police if an offence has been or is suspected to have been committed or probation if the child is at risk of harm from an offender).
Create an ICS record in respect of each child in the family/household (except on an occasion where a decision has been made by a Service Manager not to include siblings).
Ensure where a child from the same family is living in another household, or a child from another is involved, that separate referrals are completed.
In the case where a parent is under 18 years ensure consideration is given to whether any risk to his/her child/ren is/are also a risk to the parent. A separate referral to be made on ICS for the young parent.
Ensure when information identifies a child/young person as an alleged abuser and s/he is not part of the same family or household of the alleged victim, s/he is made subject to a separate referral.
Ensure the ICS record has been updated on the day the referral is received.
Advise the Service Manager/ Deputy Service Manager if the referral connects to any employee, foster carer or contracted service provider.

The process should establish:

The nature of the concern;
How and why it has arisen;
What the child's needs appear to be;
Whether the concern involves abuse or neglect and what is the foundation of those concerns.
Whether there is any need for any urgent action to protect the child or any other children in the household.

Personal information about non-professional referrers should not be disclosed to third parties (including subject families and other agencies) without consent of the referrer.

5.12 Referrals to the Emergency Duty Team (EDT)

The Emergency Duty Team accepts all referrals where concerns regarding significant harm of a child are raised outside of normal working hours.

Referrals to EDT

Referrals to EDT are generally taken over the telephone. The referrer should supply as much detail as possible and EDT will input the information directly onto the Integrated Children's System where a child or young person is known to Children's Social Care. Where a child is not known to Children's Social Care, EDT will make a direct referral to the Customer Service Centre to be included on the system when staff return to duty.

Action to be taken by EDT

Depending on the content of the referral and the information received, the action taken by EDT will vary.

Where there are child welfare concerns the EDT member receiving the referral will consult with the EDT Manager or Team Manager on duty, and then make all the enquiries of relevant agencies that are available, checking records wherever possible.

The EDT Manager/ Team Manager may initiate a Section 47 investigation.

Where there are child welfare concerns, as a minimum the EDT Manager or Team Leader will convene a Strategy Discussion. This must involve the Police and may include any other agencies known to the family that are working at the time. Investigations will be undertaken by EDT when circumstances suggest this is required immediately.

The EDT Manager or Team Manager will ensure that any decision taken to handover the enquiries to (daytime) Children's Social Care staff is communicated to other agencies concerned. They will make sure all appropriate records are sent to the Customer Services Centre, if a "new" referral and directly to the appropriate Children's Social Care Team if the child/ren is/are known for attention the next working day.

Where Children's Social Care have already begun an investigation and are required to work into the evenings or at a weekend, EDT should be informed. EDT will support staff working out of hours where requested.

If concerns are raised about a looked after child or a child subject to a Child Protection Plan from another local authority, EDT will contact that local authority immediately as it is their responsibility to coordinate the responses. However North Yorkshire EDT will take immediate action to secure the safety of the child or young person and where the local authority is unable to respond will ensure the s 47 investigation takes place.

5.13 Referral Response

The immediate response to referrals may be:

No further action at this stage ( the presumption is that the referral will be passed to Integrated Services for completion of a possible CAF);
An initial assessment of needs ( to be completed within seven working days);
Possible provision of services;
Emergency action to protect the child; or a Strategy Meeting where the child and/or family are well known or there is clear indication at the outset that a Section 47 Enquiry is required ( note that on ICS an Initial assessment will be opened then closed with the reason that a Strategy Meeting is to be held);
A Core Assessment if indications exist that the case is particularly complex or several initial assessments have previously been completed;

It is the duty of the Service Manager/ Deputy Service Manager to authorise on ICS the outcome of the referral and any other actions to be taken.

Where there is a decision not to progress the referral, the referrer must be given a reason when they receive the outcome and this must be recorded within the child or young person's case file on ICS. There is a presumption that unless otherwise stated the referral will be passed to Integrated Services for a completion of a possible CAF.

Concern is raised when a child is admitted to hospital

If a child is admitted to hospital and the staff have either child care or child protection concerns, Children's Social Care should immediately be notified as per these procedures. Liaison must take place between Paediatric staff and Children's Social Care within one day to agree what action, if any, is required. The child should not be discharged form hospital without a written plan being agreed which highlights how these concerns will be addressed.

Good Practice Note

No child known to Children's Social Care who is an inpatient in hospital, and about whom there are concerns over his/her safety and welfare, is to be allowed to leave hospital until it has been established by Children's Social Care that the home environment is safe, the concerns of the medical and nursing staff have been fully addressed, and there is a social work plan in place for the ongoing promotion and safeguarding of the child's welfare.

Communication with the referrer

The Duty Social Worker will acknowledge the referral and feedback to other professionals. This will take place on the day the referral is received, or the following day of this is not possible.

Professionals should be informed in writing of the appropriate action depending upon the decision.

All referrals to Children's Social Care made by phone should be confirmed in writing by the referrer within 48 hours using the confirmation of referral form or the CAF document. Children's Social Care should record receipt of the confirmation of the referral.

If Children's Social Care receives a child protection referral by letter or fax, an acknowledgment should be sent to the referrer within one working day of receiving it. If a professional referrer has not received acknowledgment within three working days they should contact Children's Social Care.

No Further Action

Where there is to be no further action feedback should be provided to the relevant professionals about the outcome of this stage of the referral and if a referral has been made to Integrated Services.

In the case of referrals from members of the public feedback must be consistent with the rights of the child and their family to confidentiality.

5.14 The Assessment Process

Appendix 3 provides a table of audit standards for initial and core assessments undertaken in North Yorkshire.

Appendix 4: Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families.

Appendix 5: Overview of the HOME Inventory and family pack of questionnaires and scales.

5.15 The Initial Assessment

The Initial Assessment is a brief assessment of each child referred to Children's Social Care where it is necessary to determine whether the child is in need, the nature of the service required and whether a more detailed Core Assessment should be undertaken.

When a referral is received the presumption is that an Initial Assessment will take place. If there is a prima facia view that the case requires an immediate Strategy Meeting, the Initial Assessment will be opened on ICS then closed with a short reasoning for this. The Strategy Meeting will then be held.

Where a common assessment has been completed this information should be used to inform the Initial Assessment. The Initial Assessment must be completed within a maximum of seven working days of the date of the referral.

There are no circumstances in which national guidance permits extension to the above timescale. Where it becomes apparent that an extension is required, the Deputy Service Manager must review the file, record the reason for the extension and agree a new timescale. Examples where delay may be unavoidable include where an interpreter has to be arranged or to avoid a religious festival. Any delay must be consistent with the welfare of the child.

The Initial Assessment should be led by a qualified and experienced local authority social worker. The social worker should, in consultation with their manager and the other agencies involved with the child and family, carefully plan action with clarity about who is doing what:

Whether the child should be seen and spoken to with or without their parents;
When to interview the child/ren (within an appropriate timescale);
When to interview parents and other relevant family members;
What the child and parents should be told of any concerns;
What contributions (historical and contemporary information) to the assessment from other agencies should be and who will provide them;
Whether information from abroad is required. If it is then professionals from each agency will need to request information from their equivalent agencies in the countries in which the child has lived.

Personal information about non professional referrers should not be disclosed to third parties (including subject families and other agencies) without consent.

A parent's permission should be sought before discussing the referral about them with agencies. If the manager decides to proceed with network checks without the parent's knowledge or permission, they must record the reasons, e.g, not doing so would:

Prejudice the child's welfare;
Aggravate seriously concerning behaviours of the adult;
Increase the risk of significant harm to the child;
Prejudice a criminal investigation.

The network checks should be undertaken directly with the involved professionals and not through messages and intermediaries.

The relevant agency should be informed of the reason for the enquiry, whether or not parental consent has been obtained and asked for their assessment of the child in the light of the information presented.

All discussions and interviews with the family members should be undertaken in their preferred language and where appropriate for some people by using non-verbal communication methods.

Children's Social Care should make it clear to families (where appropriate) and other agencies that the information provided for the assessment may be shared with other agencies and contribute to the written form completed at the end of the assessment.

If in the course of the assessment it is found that a school age child is not attending an educational establishment, the education service where the child lives should be contacted to establish the reason for this. The education service must then take responsibility for ensuring the child receives education as soon as possible.

Information from previous local authorities

If the child and their parents have moved into North Yorkshire, all practitioners should seek information from their respective agencies covering the previous addresses in the UK and abroad.

Information from foreign countries can be accessed via many embassies in the UK, details of which can be found at the website of the foreign and Commonwealth Office ( www.fco.gov.uk). In some cases specialist assessments and information can be undertaken or obtained through independent consultants or through specialist agencies such as International Social Services (UK): www.issuk.org.uk.

It is never acceptable to delay immediate action required whilst information from foreign countries is accessed.

Outcome of an Initial Assessment

The focus of the Initial Assessment is the welfare of the child. In the course of an Initial Assessment, Children's Social Care should ascertain:

Is this a child in need? (s17 Children Act 1989)
Is there reasonable cause to suspect that this child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm (s47 Children Act 1989).

The possible outcomes of an Initial Assessment are:

No further action (presumption is that a referral will be made to Integrated Services for possible completion of a CAF);
An initial plan for the immediate provision of services to promote the child's health and development;
Instigation of a s17 core assessment for a more in-depth assessment of the child's needs and circumstances;
Instigation of a strategy meeting, a child protection enquiry and a s47 core assessment;
Emergency action to protect a child.

The outcome of the Initial Assessment should be:

Discussed with the child and the family and provided to them in written form. Exceptions to this are where this might [lace a child at risk of herm or jeopardise an enquiry;
Taking account of confidentiality, provided to professional referrers.

The Deputy Service Manager/ Service Manager must authorise the outcomes of an initial assessment consistent with the Initial Assessment Record (DoH 2002). The Deputy Service Manager must also record and authorise the reasons for decisions, future action to be taken and that:

The child/ren has been seen or that there has been a recorded management decision that this is not appropriate ( e.g., s47 enquiry and police investigation initiated which will plan the method of contact with the child);
The needs of all the children in the household have been considered;
An ICS chronology has been completed and/or updated;
Written feedback has been provided to the family, other agencies and referrers about the outcome of this stage of the referral in a manner consistent with respecting the confidentiality and welfare of the child.

If the criteria for initiating s47 enquiries are met at any stage during an initial assessment, the assessment shall be regarded as concluded.

Standards for Initial Assessment are outlined in Appendix 3: Audit Standards and Criteria.

5.16 Core Assessment

A core assessment should be undertaken when a more in-depth assessment is necessary to understand the child's developmental or welfare needs and circumstances and the parents' capacity to respond to those needs, including the parents' capacity to ensure that the child is safe from harm now and in the future.

The decision to undertake a core assessment may be taken:

At the conclusion of an Initial Assessment which recommends further assessment;
When a strategy meeting / discussion initiates a s47 enquiry;
When new information is obtained on an open case.

Children's Social Care is responsible for the coordination and completion of the assessment, in partnership with other agencies. A core assessment must be led by a qualified and experienced local authority social worker and should be based on the Assessment Framework (see Appendix 4 for a summary and diagram of the Assessment Framework).

The core assessment must be completed within a maximum of 35 working days, this includes the maximum seven working days taken to complete an initial assessment.

It may be necessary to commission specialist assessments (e.g. from child and adolescent mental health services) which it may not be possible to complete within this time period. This should not delay the drawing together of the core assessment findings at this point.

Where it becomes apparent that a timescale will require extension a Service Manager must review the electronic record, record the reason for the extension and agree the new timescale.

Any request to Children's Social Care from another agency for a core assessment must be given serious consideration and if there is a decision not to undertake the core assessment, the decision and the reasons for it must be recorded in the child's electronic record and conveyed in writing to the referring agency.

A Service Manager/ Deputy Service Manager must authorise the outcomes of a core assessment and ensure that:

There has been direct communication with the child alone (using their preferred language/ method of communication) and their views and wishes have been recorded and taken into account;
All the children in the household have been seen and their needs considered;
The child's home address has been visited and the child's bedroom has been seen;
The parent has been seen and their views and wishes have been recorded and taken into account;
The analysis has been completed;
The assessment provides clear evidence for decisions on what types of services are needed to provide good outcomes for the child and family;
The ICS record is up-to-date.

If the assessment is that further support is required, a child in need plan should be agreed with family and other agencies. This should be monitored and reviewed regularly at maximum intervals of six months.

Core Assessments should be updated on an annual basis.

Social workers should note that the core assessment report is separate to the Section 47 report and the social workers report to a Child Protection Conference. ICS requires that there are three separate reports in such cases.

Similarly an updated Core Assessment report is a separate report from those prepared for Core Groups or Conferences.