1.2.6 Mutil Agency Practice Guidance for Core Groups

A named Lead Social Worker must be appointed by the child protection conference for each child who is the subject of a Child Protection Plan. Where more than one child in a family or household has a Child Protection Plan it is best to appoint a single Lead Social Worker. They must hold a recognised social work qualification.

The Lead Social Worker will not be the only professional to have contact with the family, or even be the person who sees those most often. The Child Protection Plan is a multi-agency plan. Each professional will continue to have their respective responsibilities for child protection in addition to the task designated in the plan. In addition, the Lead Social Worker has specific responsibilities as set out below.

• Convening regular Core Group meetings. The frequency of these meetings may be recommended by the child protection conference.
• Coordinating and ensuring the implementing of the Child Protection Plan and intervening when this is not achieved.
• Developing the Child Protection Plan into a co-ordinated inter-agency plan, which is reviewed against objectives regarding progress made on its implementation
• Submitting the Child Protection Plan and report to the conference Chair before each review child protection conference regarding progress made on implementing the plan.
• Maintaining regular and frequent visits to each child and their family/carers as the Child Protection Plan sets out.
• Alerting their managers to any difficulties that are experienced in seeing and speaking alone to a child and agreeing the action necessary to resolve those difficulties.
• Co-ordinating the contributions of family members to required activities and ensuring that the parents know and understand how the need for a Child Protection Plan can be reduced.
• To actively keep up to date with the case and to seek out new and additional information. This will require the reading of case files and updating chronologies.
• Acting as a Lead Professional for the inter-agency work, providing a focus and a contact for information about the child/ren, keeping those involved up to date with new and additional information and informing those who become newly involved about the Child Protection Plan.
• Completing the Core Assessment of the child and family with contributions from the Core Group and others and progressing any other assessment work recommended by the conference.
• Being involved in any further enquiries about the alleged or suspected abuse of any member of that child's previous and current households and extended family. Keeping all professionals informed of changes of adults in the household.
• Ensure that the child is involved in the Child Protection Plan (age appropriate) and understands the child protection process. The child is at the centre of the plan.

The child protection conference will agree the membership of a Core Group consisting of the child, parent/carers and professionals drawn from all relevant involved agencies. The work of the Core Group will address the risks in meeting the needs of the child and the capacity of the parents to protect and promote his/her welfare. It will focus on developing any existing strengths that the family are able to demonstrate.

Membership of the Core Group should include the Lead Social Worker, who leads the Core Group, the child if appropriate, family members and professionals or foster carers who will have direct contact with the family. Although the Social Worker has the lead role, all members of the core group are jointly responsible for the formulation and implementation of the Child Protection Plan, refining the plan as needed, and monitoring progress against the planned outcomes set out in the plan. The function of the Core Group is to:

• Bring together all persons who are jointly responsible for making and implementing the Child Protection Plan.
• Develop the Child Protection Plan at the first meeting.
• Decide at its first meeting who will need to do what to complete the core assessment on time.
• Be jointly responsible for developing the Child Protection Plan as a detailed working tool.
• Jointly monitor and report progress on implementing the Plan and/or any contingency plan to the next child protection review conference.
• Allocate tasks identified in the Child Protection Plan to Core Group members and review their progress as required.
• Maintain a focus on strengths as well as areas that need to be improved in considering the needs and progress of the child and family.
• Meet as a group no less than once every two months after the first review conference (see Section 5, Frequency of Meetings) or at a level agreed by the Core Group, sufficient to safely progress the work. All meeting dates should be scheduled at the first Core Group meeting. Changing the date of a Core Group should be avoided. In the event this is unavoidable the Lead Social Worker should advise all members of the change.
• Maintain a record of group discussions and decisions using the Core Group record template.
• Review its membership as and when necessary ensuring representation from all main agencies.

• Recommend to the conference Chair if the conference should be reconvened at an earlier date than already agreed.

A Core Group meeting should never assume functions that are the responsibility of a review child protection conference. Consideration should be given, following consultation with a Team Leader or Operational Manager, to convening an earlier conference if the particular circumstances of the case suggest this would be appropriate. Core group members should always relay their concerns to their line manager and the Lead Social Worker. It is also advisable to consult with the Child Protection Chair about these issues. It is difficult to be prescriptive about specific criteria that may prompt such an eventuality, but the following are possible pointers.

• A serious level of non co-operation with the protection plan and agencies implementing it and the child's safety and wellbeing is not improving.
• Partial level of parental co-operation with some agencies; the Core Group would need to carefully evaluate whether the protection plan could be effectively delivered in these circumstances.
• New knowledge emerging which means that the protection plan requires review.
• When the level of chronic risk to the child is higher than the initial assessment revealed, reconvening an urgent review child protection conference is essential. For one off incidents which place a child at risk of significant harm; legal advice would need to be sought in order to give the child immediate protection.

The child protection conference is convened following the Section 47 Enquiry. It will consider the information that has been obtained in a CAF, initial or core assessment about the child's developmental needs and the parents' capacity to meet them in the context of their wider family and environment. If a core assessment has been started but not completed, the Key Worker and the Core Group will continue the assessment and formulate the details of the Child Protection Plan. A completed Core Assessment will be presented at the first review child protection conference.

A core assessment is defined as an in-depth assessment of which the central and most important aspect is the needs of the child and the capacity of his or her parents or caregivers to respond appropriately to these needs within the wider family and community context. While this assessment is led by a social worker, it will invariably involve other agencies, or independent professionals, who will either provide information they hold about the child or parents, contribute specialist knowledge or advice or undertake specialist assessments. At the conclusion of this phase of assessment, there will be an analysis of the findings, which will provide an understanding of the child's circumstances and direct the planning, case objectives and the nature of service provision. A Core Assessment is deemed to have commenced at the point the initial assessment ended, or a strategy discussion decided to initiate enquiries under Section 47. The child's views must be present in the assessment and the assessment should capture the child's experience.

An outline Child Protection Plan will be agreed by the child protection conference. The Lead Social Worker will draw up a full and detailed Child Protection Plan in consultation and with input from the members of the Core Group. Each individual child will have a plan. The aim of the plan is to:

• Safeguard the child (ren) from further harm.
• Set out the outcomes for the child and family that partner agencies and ideally the child and family will aim to achieve
• Set out the concrete measures for determining the outcomes are achieved and what the desired improvement looks like.

• Describe the activities that are necessary to ensure the protection of the child. (Any agency that cannot meet its commitment to the plan must inform the Child Protection Chair at the conference)

The Child Protection Plan should include the following:

• A description of the needs of the child and what services are required to help meet them.
• Clear and precise outcomes which describe what needs to change and to be different to ensure the child's safety and well being.
• Realistic strategies and specific actions to achieve these outcomes with dates.
• Concrete measures for determining whether the outcomes are achieved.
• A timescale to bring about the required outcomes which identifies the points in time at which progress will be reviewed.
• Who will do what to achieve the outcomes, including professionals and family members.
• A note of the resources required to achieve the outcomes and who is responsible for securing the authorisation for their use.
• Specification of the agreed frequency of contact between the family and the agencies involved and the roles and responsibilities of the professionals who have routine contact with the child.
• Contingency plans where plans and timescales are not met.

• The names and contact details for the Lead Social Worker and Core Group members and who should be contacted in their absence.

Each Core Group member (including the parents/carers and if appropriate, the child) should be given their own copy of the Plan. It is good practice to produce a written agreement as part of, or in addition to the Plan, which is negotiated between the child, the family and professionals regarding the implementation of the Plan. A Working Together Agreement is contained within the Core Group Meeting Record.

The Plan should take into consideration the wishes and feelings of the child, the views of the parents, insofar as this is consistent with the child's welfare. The Lead Social Worker should make every effort to ensure that the children and parents have clear understanding of the objectives of the Child Protection Plan that they accept it and are willing to work to it. If family members' preferences are not accepted about how best to safeguard the child, the reasons for this should be explained.

It is good practice for the first Core Group to take place straight after the initial or review conference. This is clearly stated in the invite to professionals and parents. If this is not possible the first Core Group meeting must be within ten working days of the conference. The dates for Core Group meetings for the forthcoming review period should be agreed at the first core group meeting. After that the Core Group should meet within six weeks of the first meeting and at a minimum frequency of once every two months following the first review conference. More regular meetings may be required according to the needs of the child.

The first meeting of the Core Group will agree a Chair and a Vice Chair.

In the event that a child subject to a Child Protection Plan should move school, a Core Group should be held at the new school within 10 working days.

The venue is subject to reasonable negotiation. The accessibility, comfort and confidentiality of the venue for parents and carers are important considerations.

It is a requirement for the first Core Group Meeting to be either chaired by the Lead Social Worker's Team Leader or Operational Manager.

The Lead Social Worker will usually chair subsequent meetings. It is recognised that chairing and minuting such a meeting can be difficult so the Core Group will ensure the minuting is shared amongst the professionals in the Core Group.

Attendance should be restricted to the family members, and those professionals actively engaged in implementing the Child Protection Plan. Where a family member's presence would prevent the Core Group from functioning, consideration may be given to excluding the individual. The Lead Social Workers Team Leader will make this decision.

The conference will designate who will be members of the Core Group. If the allocated professional cannot attend the Core Group Meeting they must ensure their line manager is informed. The line manager will endeavour to provide cover; if this is not possible a written report must be provided to the Core Group Meeting.

The Lead Social Worker or a representative must always attend the Core Group.

Every effort should be made to achieve the attendance of relevant family members at the Core Group Meetings. An interpreter must be invited if needed. The Core Group is an essential working meeting and the parents/carers participation is necessary. Small meetings will be less overwhelming and intimidating for parents. It is reasonable for parents/carers to be accompanied by a friend or relative if they wish. It is an important task of the Core Group to encourage and welcome the parent/carer to the group to ensure they participate and contribute fully.

The absence of family members from the Core Group Meetings is unfortunate, but their non-attendance should not prevent the group from developing and implementing the Child Protection Plan. The effectiveness of the group will be diminished, but the prime consideration is the welfare of the child/ren. Advice should be sought from the Child Protection Chair where there is non-co-operation or superficial compliance. In some cases this may also result in the seeking of legal advice and orders being applied for.

The child/young person should be encouraged to attend the Core Group, where it is felt the child is able to understand the purpose of the group. In their absence their view must be sought prior to the meeting.

Where there is conflict between agencies the advice of the Child Protection Chair should be sought.

The agenda of the first Core Group, following the conference, is to develop the Child Protection Plan and plan completion of the Core Assessment. Core Group members will sign their agreement to the Child Protection Plan. The Core Group thereafter will monitor progress of the Child Protection Plan and ensure the Core Assessment is written within time scales.

The Working Together Agreement is contained within the Core Group Meeting Record template. The agreement confirms the provision of services to parents and children. The agreement also allows parents and appropriate children to identify what is expected of them in order to achieve the outcomes of the Child Protection Plan.

The first Core Group Meeting will also allocate tasks to be completed, within set time scales. Each agency will undertake their part of the Core Assessment ensuring that the Lead Social Worker has all information in order to compile the Core Assessment.

It is the task of the Core Group to record the main discussion and decision points of the meeting on a form designated for this purpose. The Lead Social Worker will be responsible for the distribution of updated plan/minutes.

The record should be distributed to all parties involved in the Child Protection Plan, within seven working days.

The Lead Social Worker should inform Core Group members of the content and outcomes of other meetings held regarding the child/ren such as Looked after Children Reviews. Such meetings could inform the content and outcomes of core group meetings despite their different purpose and focus.

Supervisors in all agencies responsible for the supervision of staff with child protection responsibility should acquaint themselves with this guidance. The supervisor should ensure that they have an oversight of those children who have a Child Protection Plan. The supervisor should satisfy themselves of the following during supervision;

• The Child Protection Plan remains effective in keeping the children safe and progress is being made in the achievement of planned outcomes.
• The Child Protection Plan is meeting and promoting the needs of the children.
• The Core Group is meeting within timescale and is effectively progressing the Child Protection Plan.

During supervision it is important the supervisor supports the supervisee in reflecting upon the work undertaken, what has gone well and what could have been done better. The supervisor must challenge where appropriate.

If the supervisor has a concern in relation to the safe working of the Child Protection Plan or Core Group it should be immediately raised with their child protection lead.

A Child Protection Plan can only be removed at a Child Protection Review Conference. The Lead Social Worker and Core Group should ensure that the child/young person has adequate and appropriate support when it is recommended the Child Protection Plan be removed. The recommendation for the child to be removed from the Child Protection Plan should be agreed at the Core Group prior to the Child Protection Review Conference. Any disagreement should be clearly recorded in the Lead Social Worker's report to conference.

The Core Group will also consider if the child requires continuing support once the Child Protection Plan ends. This will depend upon the child/young person level of need. Continued support of the child/young person will require parental consent. If continued need is identified the Core Group will consider the level of support required as follows;

• A Child in Need Plan is required, identifying the services to be provided with timescales. The Lead Social Worker would remain as the Lead Professional and be responsible for ensuring the plan is reviewed.
• The child has continuing additional needs requiring multi agency support but not requiring intervention from children's social care. Prior to the Review Child Protection Conference the Core Group will identify those professionals who will continue to provide services and the Lead Professional. This will be the Team around the Child (TAC) and needs and strengths will be assessed to determine support required using the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

• A child who does not require multi agency support may still benefit from a CAF and a Lead Professional.

Please click here for further information about the CAF process and the support available for practitioners.