Key points
Child protection conferences are essential for sharing information. Everyone should make attendance an extremely high priority. You may not think you have much information but hearing what is said by other people could provide you with information which is critical to protecting the child in the future. Everybody who attends will be encouraged to take an active part and based on the information shared contribute to the decision-making process.
How to do it
The social worker will provide the chairperson of the case conference with a list of who should be invited after checking with anyone who they think will have a view and the chair will decide. It will always include a social worker, police officer, and Health staff and, if the child is of school age, appropriate teaching staff who have direct responsibilities for the child.
A conference cannot make a decision about making a child subject to a child protection plan unless there is a social worker present and at least two other professional groups or agencies that have had direct contact with the child.
Students and researchers from any of the professions may attend case conferences but their attendance is for observation only and the prior agreement of the chairperson of the conference must be sought. The chairperson will make this decision after consulting with the other professionals and the parents before the case conference. Only if all these parties are satisfied that observation is reasonable will consent be given.
The consent of the parents must be recorded in the case file or minute of the conference.
All professionals attending a child protection case conference have a professional responsibility to contribute fully to the process, pass on relevant information and give their opinion appropriately throughout the meeting.
Parental Attendance
Parents are invited to attend case conferences. Parents have a right to know about decisions concerning their children and should be able to challenge or correct statements made about them and to be able to state their own case. Openness and honesty are necessary for establishing a working relationship with parents and without this, prospects of effecting change to the benefit of the child are limited.
Parents should therefore be invited to attend case conferences unless:
- there is an increased risk to the child if one or both parents are to attend
- there will be information said which cannot be given in the presence of the parents who may be the alleged perpetrators or witnesses to an alleged crime;
- it is necessary to share third party information at the case conference which could not be discussed in the presence of the parents.
However parents can be asked to leave temporarily while some of this information is shared.
If the parents’ right to attend is withdrawn by the Chair of the conference, the reasons must be given and recorded in the minutes.
These situations will arise most frequently in initial case conferences, rarely in reviews; they should not be used as a means of routinely excluding parents and should never be used as a means of avoiding painful confrontations. Where parents are excluded from all or part of the case conference, it is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that clear arrangements are made to convey the substance and outcome of the meeting to them.
Attendance at case conferences can be a difficult for parents and they should be helped to contribute by good preparation beforehand. The social worker has an important role to play in this but often there is a real or perceived conflict of interest and parents might wish to bring a friend for support to the case conference. This would be at the discretion of the Chair but should not be refused without good reason. In addition, it is the responsibility of the social worker to help the parents attend where necessary and to ensure that they are clear about the purpose and procedure of the case conference. The meeting has no legal status and therefore solicitors are not allowed to attend.
Lessons from Research
The Caleb Ness inquiry showed how a ward nurse felt so uncomfortable and belittled at his case conference that she felt unable to express her concerns as she believed that no-one was listening to her anyway. It is important those present voice their worries at the conference and equally important that those present are helping other people feel comfortable and included enough to say what they think.
Without exception children say that they want the choice to be involved in some way or other, which could vary from sending in their views, being in the building to see who comes, to partial or full attendance in the meeting. Unfortunately they are often left out of the conference process, and very few are encouraged to contribute or had the options fully explained. So the role of the social worker is also to make sure that any children involved feel part of the process and are offered real choices.
Ref. Sue Maskell & Carol Salmon; Can they fix Liverpool and Why doesn’t Daddy live here anymore? Children’s Participation in Child Protection Conferences; Dec 2001
