What is the Role of the Lead Social Worker?

 Every child who is the subject of a Child Protection Plan must have a named lead social worker, who will be a qualified social worker from Children’s Social Care with relevant experience.

The lead social worker is responsible for:

• making sure that the outline Child Protection Plan drawn up at the conference is developed into a more detailed inter-agency plan by the core group
• completing any outstanding aspects of the core assessment, with contributions from core group members where necessary
• initiating any legal action recommended by the child protection conference as necessary to safeguard the child
• acting as the lead professional for inter-agency work with the child and family
• co-ordinating the contributions from family members and other agencies to planning, implementing, and reviewing of actions within the Child Protection Plan
• maintaining purposeful and regular visits to the family, in line with any recommendations of the Child Protection Plan, including seeing the child, alone where appropriate, at least every 4 weeks
• developing a therapeutic relationship with the child which may include undertaking direct work with the child
• regularly ascertaining the child’s wishes and feelings and keeping them up to date with any developments or changes in the Child Protection Plan
• recording details of all visits, including whether bedrooms and the upstairs of the family home are seen (where necessary, as part of the Child Protection Plan), and whether the child has been seen alone and if not, who else was present and why the child was not seen alone
• initiating, in consultation with other members of the core group, any appropriate action if there is any evidence of harm to the child or an increased level of risk
• notifying all agencies and the Safeguarding Unit of any changes in circumstances (e.g. changes of address, school, GP) This is crucial where a family goes missing or moves to another area.

It is the responsibility of all agencies and individuals involved with the family to keep the lead social worker fully informed of any significant events or changes to the family’s circumstances.

Where the lead social worker is unable to fulfil any of their duties, they must inform their line manager.

If access to the child is prevented for whatever reason, this should be referred to the Team Manager immediately for a decision on action to be taken. 

Any permanent change of lead social worker must be notified verbally and confirmed in writing to all relevant agencies and the family within 5 working days.

Ref:

Working Together Chapter 5  Para 5.113 – 5.115

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDANCE:-

Visits to children with a Child Protection Plan

• As a minimum, children subject to a child protection plan should be seen by the lead social worker every 4 weeks, and more frequently if specified in the child protection plan.
• Children should be seen alone (with parents agreement), or babies awake, for part of the visit.
• Children’s bedrooms should be seen at a frequency agreed as part of the child protection plan.
• Observations should be made of the standard of care and interactions within the home and progress evaluated against the actions specified in the Child Protection Plan
• A child subject to a child protection plan should be seen no less than every 10 working days by professionals involved in delivering the plan. 
• Some visits should be unannounced and some visits should include all members of the family in order to be able to observe interactions between members of the family in prepared and unprepared conditions.
• If parents refuse, or any professional has difficulty gaining direct access to the child this must be referred to the lead social worker/Team Manager for a decision on action to be taken

Joint Visiting

This guidance supplements guidance on lone working and on arrangements that should be put in place by all agencies in respect of the health and safety of employees.

A joint visit should be considered if:

• The family may play one professional off against another.
• There is a difference of opinion between agencies about interventions or thresholds
• There is already established multi agency involvement with the family under Child in Need/Family Support/Child Protection Plan/ Child Care Plan
• There is a new safeguarding referral in respect of the family
• There are any identified actual or potential risk factors with consequent concerns for the safety of a professional

Joint visits may involve colleagues from within a service or practitioners from another agency. Police involvement should always be considered where there are identified or potential risk factors.

Where there are specialist concerns e.g. mental health, domestic violence or alcohol/substance abuse, a joint assessment with the relevant specialist worker should be considered.

Planning is required prior to completing a joint visit to:

• Gather relevant background information from previous records and colleagues who have had involvement with the family
• Clarify respective roles during the visit e.g.
  • Who will take the lead role
  • Who will talk to the child
• Clarify what issues will be addressed on the visit
• Agree actions to be taken if one party to the visit is unable to attend as arranged, including arrangements for informing the parent/carer if the visit is then subsequently cancelled.
• Agree who will be completing the record of the visit

NB If there are safety issues, it is advisable for the visit to be re-arranged rather than one practitioner visiting alone.

Prior planning should not take place immediately prior to the visit outside the child/family’s home. Practitioners should arrange to meet together before approaching the child/family’s home and should not wait outside the home in view of the child/family for the other practitioner to arrive.

It is the responsibility of the agency identifying the concerns and requesting the joint visit to co-ordinate the visit.

The reason for the visit and for the visit being undertake jointly should be explained to the parent/carer by the professional taking the lead role.

The visit should be recorded:

• By both practitioners if from separate agencies
• By the responsible worker if both workers are from the same agency

Any difference of opinion that cannot be resolved through discussion should be referred to the practitioner’s respective line managers

If there are safety concerns it may be more appropriate to meet the parent/carer in a safe venue e.g. a Children’s Centre/practitioner’s office.