The agencies most involved may judge that a parent, caregiver or members of the child’s wider family are willing and able to co-operate with actions to ensure the child’s future safety and welfare and that the child is therefore not continuing to, or be likely to, suffer significant harm. This judgement can only be made in the light of all relevant information obtained during a section 47 enquiry, and a soundly based assessment of the likelihood of successful intervention, based on clear evidence and mindful of the dangers of misplaced professional optimism. Local authority children’s social care have a duty to ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings and take these into account (having regard to the child’s age and understanding) when deciding on the provision of services. A meeting of involved professionals and family members may be useful to agree what actions should be undertaken by whom and with what intended outcomes for the child’s health and development, including the provision of therapeutic services. Whatever process is used to plan future action, the resulting plan should be informed by the core assessment findings. It should set out who will have responsibility for what actions including what course of action should be followed if the plan is not being successfully implemented. It should also include a timescale for review of progress against planned outcomes. Family Group Conferences (paragraphs 10.2–10.4) may have a role to play in fulfilling these tasks.
