Where a child is to be the subject of a child protection plan it is the responsibility of the conference to consider and make recommendations on how agencies, professionals and the family should work together to ensure that the child will be safeguarded from harm in the future. This should enable both professionals and the family to understand exactly what is expected of them and what they can expect of others. Specific tasks include the following:
- appointing the lead statutory body (either local authority children’s social care or the NSPCC) and a lead social worker (who is the lead professional), who should be a qualified, experienced social worker and an employee of the lead statutory body;
- identifying the membership of a core group of professionals and family members who will develop and implement the child protection plan as a detailed working tool;
- establishing how the child, their parents (including all those with parental responsibility) and wider family members should be involved in the ongoing assessment, planning and implementation process, and the support, advice and advocacy available to them;
- establishing timescales for meetings of the core group, production of a child protection plan, and for child protection review meetings;
- identifying in outline what further action is required to complete the core assessment and what other specialist assessments of the child and family are required to make sound judgements on how best to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child;
- outlining the child protection plan, especially, identifying what needs to change in order to achieve the planned outcomes to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child;
- ensuring a contingency plan is in place if agreed actions are not completed and/ or circumstances change, for example, if a caregiver fails to achieve what has been agreed, a court application is not successful or a parent removes the child from a place of safety;
- clarifying the different purposes and remit of the initial conference the core group, and the child protection review conference; and
- agreeing a date for the first child protection review conference and under what circumstances it might be necessary to convene the conference before that date.
