4.10 Implementing the Child Protection Plan, Core Group and Allocated Social Worker Role

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Contents

• 1. Introduction(Jump to)
• 2. Core Group(Jump to)
• 3. Formulation of Child Protection Plan(Jump to)
• 4. Allocated Social Worker Role(Jump to)
• 5. Children's Services Team Manager Role(Jump to)
• 6. Further Assessment(Jump to)
• 7. Intervention(Jump to)
• 8. Professional Disagreement about Implementation of a Child Protection Plan(Jump to)
• 9. Possible Injuries or Health Concerns to Children who are Subject to a Child Protection Plan(Jump to)
• 10. Unallocated Child Protection Children and Families(Jump to)
• 11. Death of Child Subject to a Child Protection Plan(Jump to)
• 12. Guidance on Children and Young People Subject to a Child Protection Plan that Travel within and Outside of the UK(Jump to)

1. Introduction

The Liquid logic Children’s System provides for the use of a 'child's plan' for all Children in Need who are not being looked after or leaving care. Children's Services is responsible for ensuring these plans are developed and implemented.

A child's plan should identify how the following will be addressed:

• Identified developmental needs of the child.
• Attributes which impact on the parents' / carers' capacities to respond to the child's needs.
• Wider family and environmental factors which may have an impact on the child and family.

The plan should be specific about the actions to be taken, identifying who is responsible for them, services / resources required to meet the needs of the child/ren and family, planned outcomes and agreed timescales.

An initial child's plan or a subsequent plan should be developed for those children in need were

• An Assessment has identified the need for agency service provision;
• A Child Protection Conference has decided not to implement a (or to discontinue the) Child Protection Plan, but recommends that further support or intervention is provided.

Refer to the Children's Services Child in Need and Looked After Children procedures for information on initial and child's plans for those children in need who are not subject to a Child Protection Plan.

When a Child Protection Conference has been held and an outline Child Protection Plan agreed for a child, a Child Protection Plan must be implemented, see Section 3, Formulation of Child Protection Plan.

An Allocated Social Worker (see Section 4, Allocated Social Worker Roles) from Children's Services is appointed to co-ordinate  all aspects of the Child Protection Plan and the forum to undertake this co-ordinated multi-agency work is the Core Group.

Family Group Conferences  (FGCs) / Family Network Meetings must (this requires consent that must be acquired during the initial stages of planning and supported by the independent Chair at the Initial Conference) be used both as part of a Child in Need Plan and as part of a Child Protection Plan and must be considered at every initial conference (see Surrey Social Work Procedures Manual, Family Group Conferences Procedure). 

The allocation of each child who is a full-time or part time member of a household to the same allocated worker should always be considered. When household members are allocated to different allocated workers the respective social workers must keep themselves aware of the care plans for each child so that these are consistent, and the work is well coordinated.

2. Core Group

Also see: Core Group Checklist.

Responsibilities

The first Core Group is to be chaired by the allocated social worker.  If judged by a team manager to be a complex core group meeting, and/or where the child is subject to a repeat child protection plan, team manager to chair the first core group meeting. 

The allocated social worker (whose membership will have been identified at the Child Protection Conference) is responsible for the formulation and implementation and review of the detailed Child Protection Plan, previously outlined at the Conference.

All members of the Core Group are jointly responsible for:

• Collecting and sharing information to assist the Allocated Social Worker in continuing to implement the child protection plan of work and in updating the assessment.
• Complete interventions with the family, and to ensure progress of the plan.
• Making recommendations to subsequent Review Conferences to amend the existing and future child protection plans.
• Identifying possible further assessments /and services that are or maybe required and referring to locally available services. Each agency is responsible for taking requests back to their own agency for consideration.
• Sharing responsibility for recording the Core Group minutes, all minutes will be uploaded on LCS by the allocated social worker, who will take responsibility for distributing the minutes and reviewed child protection plan to the core group participants. It is a shared responsibility of all core group members to take minutes and share these with the allocated social worker.
• If there are concerns around non-engagement from parents, core group meetings to be held in accordance with statutory guidelines.

It is the responsibility of core group members to review the child protection plan including complete, amend and update the plan to reflect the progression of the plan and within the family. If any member of the Core Group is aware of difficulties implementing the protection plan due to changed or unforeseen circumstances, or a member of the core group meeting perceive increased risk to the child, the Allocated Social Worker must be informed immediately, and consideration given to recalling the Core Group meeting to re-consider the protection plan.

If the difficulty in implementing the plan impacts on the child's safety the Allocated Social Worker and all Core Group members should consider:

• A Section 47 Enquiry (if criteria is met due to a new incident or changed circumstances); and / or
• Bringing forward the Core Group Meeting or requesting to bring forward the Review Child Protection Conference; and / or.
• Consider escalation to potential legal proceedings or referral to practice and resource panel.

If members are concerned that there are difficulties implementing the protection plan arising from disagreement amongst professional agencies or a Core Group member not carrying out agreed responsibilities this must be addressed by:

• Firstly, discussion with Core Group members.
• Secondly if required the involvement of respective team managers and escalated to service manager if necessary.
• If the situation remains unresolved see Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership Inter-Agency Escalation Policy and Procedure; 7.2 The Surrey FaST Resolution Process

In exceptional circumstances where a parent may be excluded from participating in a Core Group Meeting, the allocated social worker must take responsibility for enabling the parent to contribute and should advise the parent that (s)he can make a written submission to the Core Group meeting.

All children subject to child protection plan for more than 12 months, are reviewed by Service Managers by the social work team and the child protection co-ordinator for each quadrant.

CP Visits

The core group will agree and plan which other core group members will be undertaking visits to the child, in addition to the social worker.

The frequency of visiting must be determined in the child protection plan and reviewed by the core group and will be specified in the child protection plan. This will be dependent on the degree of concern for the child and no less than at least every 10 days.

The core group will agree methods of communication to ensure information sharing related to visits undertaken (i.e., joint core group email / telephone call/ meeting via MS teams) or when another core group member may need to step in and undertake a visit.

Membership

Membership of the Core Group will have been identified at the Initial Child Protection Conference and recorded in the minutes.

The first Core Group is to be chaired by the allocated social worker.  If judged by a team manager to be a complex core group meeting, and/or where the child is subject to a repeat child protection plan, team manager to chair the first core group meeting. 

Membership will include parents / carers, child (if appropriate) and other relevant family members if agreed by those with PR.

Professionals and foster carers in direct regular contact with the child should also be included, such as volunteer workers from charities and third sector agencies.

Timing

The date of the first Core Group meeting must be within ten working days of the Initial Child Protection Conference and the date arranged at the end of the Initial Conference. The Conference should provide an indication of the required frequency of subsequent Core Group meetings.

Good practice would be for subsequent Core Group meetings to be held at least every six weeks. More regular meetings may be required according to the needs of the child.

Review conferences must set the date of the next Core Group meeting and subsequent required timescales.

Core Group members to endeavour to meet 10 days before the review conference to discuss the recommendation of a plan of continued protection or a plan of support.

Core Group Minutes

At the end of the Core Group meeting the allocated Social Worker will obtain the minutes if completed by another member of the Core Group and will complete and finalise the core group minutes on LCS. See LCS Guide on Recording CGM minutes.

Once the notes have been finalised on LCS the manager will be prompted to review, make comments and quality assure and approve the minutes. Once approved the Social Worker to close the meeting process and will distribute the minutes or arrange for Business Support to distribute the minutes to all Core Group members, the GP, and family within (see above LCS guidance document for detailed instructions).

The timescale for sending out the Core Group Minutes is 10 working days.

It is good practice to ensure that LCS clearly list the Core

3. Formulation of Child Protection Plan

Working Together to Safeguard Children states that:

“Social Workers with their managers should develop the outline child protection plan into a more detailed inter-agency plan and circulate to relevant professionals (and family where appropriate)”

Chapter 1 ‘Processes for managing individual children/families.

The Independent Chair will consider the social workers outline plan contained within the social work report to conference.  This outline plan will include contributions from the Family Network Meeting or the Family Group Conference and will incorporate actions owned by parents.  This plan will be further developed into a multi-agency plan to be developed and progressed further through the core group.

The overall aim of the Child Protection Plan is to:

• Ensure the child is safe and prevent her / him from suffering further significant harm.
• Promote the child's health and development i.e., her / his welfare.
• Provided it is in the best interests of the child, to support the family and wider family members to safeguard and promote the welfare of their child.

Parents must be enabled to understand:

• Causes for concern which resulted in the decision to formulate a Child Protection Plan.
• What is expected of them as part of the plan for safeguarding the child.
• What support the parents can expect from Childrens Services / Social Worker and involved partners and family.
• What needs to change in the future and contingency plans if no progress.
• What the intended outcomes of the intervention and services are.

All parties must be clear about the respective roles and responsibilities of family members and different agencies in implementing the plan.

The Core Group will, as described above, regularly review and when necessary and modify the child's protection plan and this will be discussed at the Review Conference.

The Child Protection Plan should be used to clarify expectations and assist in joint working towards shared goals and outcomes.

Outline Child Protection Plan

An outline plan, for each child, must be drawn up at Initial and Review Conferences by the CP Chair; this will include the recommendations developed within the conference, from the conference report and the intervention leading into the conference (for example, actions identified within Family Network Meetings.)

The aim of the outline plan is to assist the Core Group to form a clearer focus of work with the family and to explicitly define individual professional and family expectations / responsibilities.

A family’s needs and potential difficulties/disabilities should be considered at this stage to ensure they have a CP plan in a format they can easily read, understand, and work to i.e., translated to first language, visual, or at appropriate reading level.

Child Protection Plan

Most Child Protection Plans will be finalised in the Family Safeguarding Team’s and Safeguarding Adolescent Team or Children with Disabilities Teams. Team Managers will ensure that any Child Protection Plan effectively addresses the needs and risks identified at the Initial Child Protection Conference and subsequent Review Conferences. 

The plan should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) and cover:

• The domains of the Assessment
• Specific and achievable services or actions, including urgent actions designed to respond to the identified needs and risks.
• Start date, frequency, and length where applicable of each input.
• Person / agency responsible for each action, including any family members must inform the allocated social worker of any changes of any agency involvement, e.g., changing GP or schools.
• Roles and responsibilities of professionals in routine contact with family, including specialist resources. If involvement of the Family Safeguarding / Safeguarding Adolescents / Children with Disabilities Team has not yet happened consultation by the social work assessment team with one of the FS Managers should occur before FS are included in the Child Protection Plan.
• Explicit description of the nature (i.e., family composition, who lives in the home, frequency, location, and the presence of parents) of contact with the child and parents / carers of each Core Group member.
• Planned outcomes of each intervention within specified timescales, including required progress to be achieved and how and when this will be judged.  Format of the CP Plan to be considered and meet the needs of the parent’s abilities.
•  References to Operation Encompass
• Convening a Family Group Conference / Family Networking Meeting as soon as possible.
• Frequency of reviews of the plan and the date of the next Core Group meeting.

Planned interventions or specialist interventions should additionally address:

• Ethnic / cultural / religious considerations - e.g., necessity for an interpreter, avoidance of appointments with family on significant religious festivals.
• Issues arising from any disability.
• Identification of needs and risks to the child and means of protection.
• Identification of parenting strengths (consider all parents / carers).
• Identification of what needs to change to reduce the likelihood of the child suffering significant harm.
• Identification of actions to promote the child's health and development and actions to support the family and wider family members in promoting the welfare of the child.
• Identification of any further Interventions and /or specialist assessments/ Interventions.
• Establishment of specific short and long term aims and objectives, with clear time scales.
• Identification of measurements for success (how will the family and professionals know there has been change?)
• Method of monitoring and evaluating progress, including identifying professional(s) responsible.
• Consideration of a contingency plan if circumstances change quickly, or if insufficient change occurs.

Where there appears to be a proposed commitment of significant resources in a Child Protection Plan or where there is inter-agency dispute about how, or by whom, a Child Protection Plan should be delivered; issues should be escalated by the child’s social worker to the relevant Service Manager /AD in a timely way.

If the plan's contents have not been discussed with any of the parties / agencies concerned, the reasons must be stated on the plan.

Any dissent about the plan, by family or professionals, must be recorded, with reasons.

The Child Protection Plan should be shared in writing at the first core group by the child’s Social Worker.

Where a child who is subject to a Child Protection Plan is accommodated, the Child Protection Plan should specify what action needs to be taken before the child is returned home.

For a child subject to a Child Protection Plan that has links to a foreign country (e.g., foreign national child, a child with dual nationality or a British child of foreign national parents/origin), consideration should be made to inform the relevant Embassy.

See Guidance: Working with Foreign Authorities: Child Protection Children and Care Orders.

Agreeing the Plan with the Child

The Plan must consider the wishes and feelings of the child. The social worker must explain it to her/him (in accordance with age and development), using an interpreter if required.

The social worker should give the child a copy of the Plan written at a level appropriate to her/his understanding and in her/his preferred language and (s)he should be provided with the opportunity to record her/his comments, including areas of disagreement. If the child wishes to have a copy of the Plan (with the parent/carer) consideration should be given to him/her having an amended copy of it. Such options can be discussed with Advocacy services (Antser), Surrey County Council’s commissioned advocacy service.

Agreeing the Plan with the Parent / Carer

The Plan must consider the views of the parents, insofar as they are consistent with the child's welfare. If family preferences are not accepted about how best to safeguard the child, the reasons should be explained.

Family members should be clear about the evidence of significant harm, what needs to change and what is expected of them and professionals as part of the plan.  Families should be encouraged to comply with the plan and understand the outcomes that may result of non – compliance. (see Non Compliance Practice guidance: Working with Hostile, Non-Compliant Clients).

The Plan should also incorporate arrangements and expectation of parents and / or services that will provide support to the family to address the issues covered in the plan.

A separate Written Agreement (See Surrey CC Social Work Procedures Manual, Written Communication with Children and Young People Guidance) should only be used in an exception in the assessment service where there is no CIN or CP Plan in place or when an emergency situation arises in a CIN or CP situation. In Family Safeguarding, Disabled Children’s Services a written agreement should only be in place in exceptional circumstances to ensure that the primary carer understands the expectations and their responsibilities to keep the child/ren safe in the absence of a plan or review of a plan.

The family should be given a copy of the Plan where appropriate this should be in their preferred language.

The family must be told about its right to complain and the procedure for so doing.

Circulation of Child Protection Plan to Core Group

The Allocated Social Worker must record the Child Protection Plan and circulate it to all Core Group members, the GP, and Team Manager Conference Chair.

Agency and Professional Responsibility

All agencies are responsible for the implementation of the Child Protection Plan and all professionals must ensure they are able to deliver their commitments, or if not possible, that these are re-negotiated.

4. Allocated Social Worker Role

At every Initial or pre-birth Conference, where a decision is made that a child should be the subject of a Child Protection Plan, the conference record will identify the Allocated Social Worker. This section includes information on statutory visits.

Note: The allocated social worker should see the child, alone when appropriate, in accordance with the CP plan

The Allocated Social Worker should:

• Convene and chair second and subsequent Core Group meetings.
• Ensure the outline plan is developed, in conjunction with Core Group members into a detailed multi-agency protection plan.
• Clearly note and include in the written record any areas of disagreement.
• Ensure Core Group members, child (where appropriate) and family have the opportunity to sign the protection plan and that it is copied and circulated to all signatories and maintained on the child's social care record.
• Ensure that if the child or parent / carer changes GP that the new GP is provided with full information about the child and his / her parents or carers.
• Attend MAPPA and Risk Management Meetings (RMM) as required and contribute to assessment and plan.
• The child protection plan should also be on the adult service user's record if the parent is known to LA adult social care or health services.
• Obtain a full understanding of the family history (which must involve reading Children's Services records, including those relating to other children who have been part of any households including the current carers of the child - additional information should be obtained from relevant other agencies and local authorities).
• Complete the Assessment of the child and family (if not previously completed), securing contributions / information from Core Group members and any other agencies with relevant information.
• Co-ordinate the contribution of family members and all agencies in putting the plan into action and reviewing the objectives stated in the plan.
• Ensure the child(ren) are seen at least every ten working days by the Allocated Social Worker or by another professional member of the Core Group, where necessary or a part of the CP Plan, and must be recorded on the child’s record.
• See the child (infants and babies to be seen awake) as agreed in the child protection plan. The frequency of visiting must be determined in the child protection plan and reviewed by the group.
• Allocated See the child (infants and babies to be seen awake) as agreed in the child protection plan. The frequency of visiting must be determined in the child protection plan, for it to depend on the degree of concern (no less than once every four weeks) and reviewed by the core group.
• See the child on their own on at least alternate occasions.
• Ensure the voice of the child is obtained throughout the child protection process.  A child should be a part of the following, where appropriate; attendance at the conference/core group and if not appropriate the Social Worker should gain updated information from the child to be shared within these meetings and a child should have the opportunity to contribute their plan.
• Ensure that the child's bedroom is seen every 8 weeks or as defined in the child protection plan. Ensure (s)he sees the child alone (with parent's agreement) or babies awake at every visit (if parents refuse permission the Children's Services line manager must be informed). For this purpose, a child under 18 months is a baby and the focus should be on his or her interaction with, and attachment to his or her main carer. 
• A child of 18 months old or a little older may not want to leave their main carer, but the social worker should attempt to engage him/her in some sort of play to see if they are capable of sustaining this. This may also give indications as to whether there are injuries/difficulties in movement.
• You must discuss with a manager any concerns or lack of cooperation from parents/carers.

The frequency of Allocated Social Worker and other professional contact above is the minimum standard and depending on the degree of concern, the Child Protection Plan may provide for more frequent visiting and provide additional requirements e.g., unannounced visits, ensuring all rooms in house are seen.

 If the allocated social worker or any other involved professional has difficulty obtaining direct access to the child, the team manager should be informed, as well as other core group members. This must result in a plan of action agreed between core group members and the police including consideration of convening a review conference (See Surrey equivalent Non Compliance by Parents or Carers).

Routine Written Records

The Allocated Social Worker must maintain a complete and up-to-date record on the social care record, to include:

• Time and date and purpose of every home visit, stating who was present, confirmation that the Allocated Social Worker spoke with the child (including if alone), or providing a clear reason why not.
• Any information gained or observations made during the visit relevant to the identified risks to the child.
• Circumstances of all family members.
• Specific information about key subjects such as meals and sleeping arrangements (the Allocated Social Worker must observe the child's bedroom at least once between conferences).
• Factual reports of child's presentation and behaviour (these should be specific and avoid non-specific labels such as 'disturbed').
• Any new incidents or injuries, which must be subject to full enquiries using the Section 47 Enquiry forms.
• A chronology on the front of the file / in the electronic record to include significant events in the child's life, including incidents, injuries, family changes etc.
• Date, time and content of any communication which relates to the child and family (distinguishing between fact and opinion).
• A clear plan for further action.
• Details of any direct work undertaken with the parent / child.

Responsibility for Convening Conferences

Dates for Review Conferences are set at the previous Conference. If the date has to be changed the Independent Reviewing Service must send letters to participants.

Consideration should be given to bringing forward the date of a Review Conference in the following circumstances:

• Following a new and significant incident relating to concerns about child protection, usually involving a Section 47 Enquiry.
• When there is a significant change in the circumstances of the child or family.
• When there are plans to return a looked after child home and this is inconsistent with the outline Child Protection Plan agreed at the most recent Conference.
• When there are significant difficulties in implementing the Child Protection Plan e.g. Non Compliance by Parents or Carers Procedure.

The decision to bring forward the date of a Review Conference should be made after discussion with the Team Manager and authorised by the Service Coordinator (Line Manager of Independent Chair).

Absence of the Allocated Social Worker

It is the responsibility of Allocated Social Worker, in liaison with her/his line manager to ensure clear cover arrangements when the Allocated Social Worker is absent on planned annual leave, training etc. For unplanned absence it is a responsibility of the Team Manager to arrange suitable cover.

Parents and child must be informed of planned absences, cover, and contact arrangements.

For unplanned absences (e.g., sickness) it is a responsibility of the Team Manager of the Allocated Social Worker to ensure arrangements are in place including the checking and taking any necessary action, resulting from post, e-mails, and telephone contacts.

If the Allocated Social Worker is to be absent from work for an extended period, her / his manager should consider reallocating the child/family.

5. Children's Services Team Manager Role

The Team Manager has a vital role in managing the progress of the child/family’s situation and supporting the Allocated Social Worker.

The manager should:

• Read and countersign all significant recordings, assessments, and decisions on the child's file / electronic record, including the chronology.
• Where there is complexity, a Team Manager will chair the first Core Group meeting and/or subsequent meeting where necessary.
• Discuss the progress of the protection plan and any concerns in every supervision, including ensuring that there has been adequate direct contact with the child(ren).
• Ensure Group supervision / supervision and management decisions are clearly visible and dated on the child's record.
• Read and countersign Conferences reports and the protection plan.
• Review the plan with the Allocated Social Worker when unexpected developments or crises occur, and together make a decision whether to recommend that a Review Child Protection Conference date be brought forward.
• Attend all Initial Conferences and as many Review Conferences as possible.
• Confirm the visiting frequency of the Allocated Social Worker and the frequency of Core Group meetings.

6. Further Assessment

The social worker and Team Manager must, in every supervision session, consider the needs and risks to the child and identification of any further Interventions and /or specialist assessments/ involvement of adult specialist practitioners

Further assessments and interventions may be helpful in the following circumstances:

• On transfer of a child.
• Prior to consideration of discontinuing the Child Protection Plan.
• When a child has been subject to a Child Protection Plan for a year.
• When consideration is being given to the implementation of care proceedings.
• In particularly complex children/families.

7. Intervention

Intervention must be provided to give the child and family the best opportunities of achieving the required changes, identifying, and developing the strengths within the family.

If a child cannot be cared for safely at home, (s)he will need to be placed elsewhere whilst work is undertaken with both child and family. In these circumstances, consideration must be given to identifying alternative safe placements in the child's family and community.

Intervention should address the child's needs and may involve action to promote her or his health, development and safety, particularly with regard to the need to develop a secure parent-child attachment.

Critically, decision making must consider if the child's developmental needs can be responded to within the family and within timescales appropriate for that child.

8. Professional Disagreement about Implementation of a Child Protection Plan

Concern or disagreement may arise over another professional's decisions, actions or lack of actions in the implementation of the Child Protection Plan, including Core Group meetings. Additionally, where a professional in any agency has concerns about the response of another agency, it is expected that the individual professional will take responsibility for raising those concerns through their line management and across to other agencies promptly. Where a fast resolution is needed due to the current high level of risk to the child, then the SSCP’s FaST Resolution process should be followed. 

The FaST Resolution process takes 10 working days (maximum) to complete and this therefore ideal for resolving issues urgently, when a child is deemed to be at risk as a result of professional disagreements.  To support this process agencies have nominated a single point of contact (SPOC) who will assist with identifying the right person to escalate up to at each stage of the 5-stage process. Details of these SPOCs can be found here.

Any policy or practice issues which are raised by such disagreements should be reviewed by the 'Operational Board' with a view to providing further guidance if necessary.

9. Possible Injuries or Health Concerns to Children who are Subject to a Child Protection Plan

If a child is subject of a Child Protection Plan experiences new injuries a strategy meeting should be considered and should always include input from health professionals within the strategy meeting. All new injuries or inconclusive conclusions following a Section 47 enquiry, must be discussed with the relevant Independent Chair. Any additional concerns raised by a health professional, during the course of this enquiry must also be shared with the Independent Chair.

On conclusion of the child protection investigation the Team Manager and the Conference Chair must discuss and decide whether the Review Child Protection Conference will be brought forward to consider the context of the new injury.

Where there is any disagreement, this should be referred to the Assessment, Family Safeguarding or Children’s with Disabilities (CWD) Assistant Director for resolution and final decision.

All management decisions and reasons must be recorded in case notes on LCS.

10. Unallocated Child Protection Children and Families

Priority Status

All children on child protection plans must be allocated to a named social worker, and this should be awarded the highest priority.

Directors of Children's Services are professionally accountable for ensuring that there are sufficient human resources to provide the required services and for alerting the SSCP and elected Members to any systemic inability to allocate child protection children.

Any period without a named social worker arising from staff vacancies or sick leave must be kept to a minimum and monitored for purposes of local management and formal returns to the Department of Education. This will be in the form of a monthly report (Tableau performance report) to the Director of Family Resilience & Safeguarding.

Safeguards Pending Allocation

All professionals relevant to the 'outline' or 'agreed' protection plan, including previous Conferences chairs, as well as family members must be informed in writing by a Children's Services Team Manager if there is no allocated social worker and advised of routine and emergency professional contact arrangements, pending allocation.

Unallocated children must be:

• Discussed at each allocation meeting.
• Reported to the Assistant Director / Director of Family Resilience and Safeguarding.
• Regularly monitored at management meetings.

The Children's Services Team Manager remains accountable for:

• Ensuring that any statutory or explicit duties - e.g., Looked After Children Reviews or Child Protection Review Conferences, are met, deploying duty staff as required.
• Resolving any immediate issues which arise for the child/family/network.
• Ensuring that her/his manager remains aware that a child on a child protection plan is unallocated.
• Ensuring that the family are kept updated.
• Ensuring that regular 'duty' visits are undertaken on unallocated children on child protection plans.

11. Death of Child Subject to a Child Protection Plan

When a child who is subject to a Child Protection Plan dies, from whatever cause, the Allocated Social Worker or her/his manager must immediately complete a Cause for Concern Notification’ Children's Services 3645 and inform the Assistant Director who in turn will inform the Director of Family Resilience & Safeguarding / Director of Corporate Parenting/ Director of Quality & Performance.

See Death or Serious Injury to a Child for details of notification arrangements of serious child care incidents.

12. Guidance on Children and Young People Subject to a Child Protection Plan that Travel within and Outside of the UK

See: Practice Guidance in Regard to Children and young People Subject to a Child Protection Plan that Travel Within and Outside the United Kingdom.