The initial child protection conference brings together family members, the child where appropriate, and those professionals most involved with the child and family. It follows on from Section 47 enquiries, and takes the decision on whether children need formal Child Protection Plans to safeguard and promote their welfare.
Its purpose is to:
- Bring together and analyse, in a multi agency setting, the information obtained about the child’s health and development needs, and the parents’ or carers’ capacity within the context of their wider family and environment to respond to those needs in order to ensure the child’s safety and to promote the child’s health and development
- Make judgements about whether the child is at continuing risk of significant harm and the likelihood of a child suffering significant harm in the future
- Decide what future action and interventions are needed to protect the child and promote his or her welfare, how action will be taken forward and with what outcomes.
The decision whether to or not to convene an initial child protection conference will be made by the Duty/Team Manager and will be subject to endorsement by the designated person within the local authority Safeguarding Unit. However a conference must be convened:
- When, following a Section 47 Enquiry, there is an indication that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm caused by any person with whom the child lives or has substantial contact. This includes failure (or likely failure) on the part of parents or carers to provide adequate protection from harm
- When, following a Section 47 Enquiry, there are indications of likely significant harm to a child who is not yet born
- There is continued or increased concern about the likelihood of significant harm despite the provision of Section 17 ‘child in need’ support services
- Where a child is found to be living in a household with an adult who has been assessed to be a Risk to Children
- Where a child lives in, or is born to, a household in which resides another child in respect of whom there is a Child Protection Plan
- When a child has moved permanently into the area and for whom there is a Child Protection Plan
