Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Executive Director, Children and Learning, providing analysis to understand why some families come back to Child Protection Planning for a second or subsequent time.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Learning and the Deputy Director, Children and Learning, were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

An overview was provided setting out current levels of repeat child protection plans, issues raised by the analysis and action in train to improve outcomes, including the implementation of the Family Safeguarding Model. 

The Panel discussed a number of key points as follows:

• The limitations of previous social work practice in Southampton and the legacy that this has created.
• The importance of good handovers between social workers to support effective decision making.

• The engagement of key partners in child protection plans.
• The actions taken to reform practice that provide assurance that the number of repeat child protection plans will continue to reduce.
• The delivery of the recommendations outlined in the analysis and the proposed review in 6 months’ time to identify if progress has been made.

  RESOLVED

i)  That, to reinforce the message about the value of good practice, the analysis of repeat child protection plans is circulated to all social workers.

ii)  That, reflecting concerns raised in the analysis relating to the impact of changes in social worker, the service undertakes an audit on the quality of handovers provided by social workers.

iii)  That the scheduled follow up analysis of repeat child protection plans is provided to the Panel when it is available.