Child Protection

This report contains a summary and recommendations from the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie.

This is the fourth of four volumes of comprehensive guidance on the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Regulations, Directions and Guidance which are included in this and the other volumes are designed to provide guidance on the implementation of Parts II, III and IV of the Act. Volume 4 contains a bibliography of relevant legislation and circulars; references relevant to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 as a whole; and references which relate to individual parts of the Regulations and Guidance. Also included is a complete index to all four volumes.

This document contains eight case examples focusing on different aspects of information sharing. These eight case examples support the cross-Government guidance document Information Sharing: Practitioners’ Guide by illustrating for practitioners the practical application of the guidance. The case examples cover a range of situations of relevance to everyone who work with children and young people, whether they are employed or volunteers, working in the public, private or voluntary sectors.

The Department of Health, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office have worked together to produce this practice guidance. The guidance is issued as part of the Home Office led Action for Justice programme, which said that good practice guidance on the provision of therapy prior to trial for vulnerable or intimidated adult witnesses would be issued.

This short training scenario was originally used in the context of introductory child protection training. It gives brief information from which participants are asked to identify what they are concerned about and what they would do next. A school is concerned about the behaviour of a disabled child.

The government made a commitment in the 1998 White Paper 'Modernising Social Services' to put in place new arrangements to commission from all of its Chief Inspectors of services involved with children a joint report on children’s safeguards.

This is the first of those reports and draws on the findings of a wide range of inspection activity undertaken by individual inspectorates. In addition, a joint inspection was undertaken to address inter-agency arrangements for safeguarding children.

This short training scenario was originally used in the context of introductory child protection training. It gives brief information from which participants are asked to identify what they are concerned about and what they would do next. Concerns have been raised about John by his Scout leader.

This study of home supervision conducted from 2000-2002 was commissioned by the Scottish Executive. The research team obtained data from social work case records; reporters; panel members; teachers; social workers; families; a national data set of children on home supervision; and key informants in local authorities. The overall aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of home supervision in promoting beneficial changes in the life of the child.

This is an interactive learning activity which allows for greater flexibility than a traditional role play. In this activity, participants have the opportunity to ‘act out’ their understanding of what happens in a Case Conference, based on their existing level of knowledge and experience. For ‘first timers’ this will be an introductory experience. This task last approximately 60-90 minutes and is suitable for groups of 10 to 20. It is aimed at newly qualified social workers or as part of basic child protection training.

This report provides guidance on the support available to young runaways; analysis of reasons and risks; statistical information; procedures for professionals and examples of good practice.