This summary guide is principally for the social worker leading a child protection enquiry relating to concerns that a child is being, or is at risk of being, sexually abused. It explains how you can keep the child at the centre of your planning and conduct of the enquiry.
It is also relevant to any other practitioners working with the child at this time (in school, for example), to help them understand what is happening.
Under Families First arrangements in England, the child protection enquiry will be led by a Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT).
What is a child protection enquiry?
At this point, a multi-agency strategy discussion (or meeting) will have been held to consider the child sexual abuse concerns. If this discussion ended with a decision to hold a child protection enquiry, this enquiry will seek to answer the following questions:
- Has the child suffered, or are they likely to suffer, significant harm?
- What is the impact of the harm on the child?
- Who is responsible for the harm?
- Who can keep the child safe and supported?
- What plan needs to be put in place and what action needs to be taken?
If the police believe a crime may have been committed, they will conduct a criminal investigation as part of a ‘joint enquiry’.
During the child protection enquiry, which should be completed within 15 working days, the social worker will:
- visit the child and their family;
- if they are accompanied by the police, this may be called the joint visit
- gather information from other practitioners who know the child/family.
How may the child be feeling?
To be made the subject of a child protection enquiry, the child will have been considered very recently to be in danger of actual or likely significant harm; the police may have taken immediate action to protect them, and this action may be ongoing. When the enquiry begins, the child is likely to be feeling a complex range of emotions:
- The involvement of authorities may have been a shock and distressing.
- The child may hope for help but fear consequences for themselves and their family.
- They might feel blamed, vulnerable, or responsible for family distress, especially if the person abusing them is someone in her family.
- The thought of talking about their experiences may make the child feel afraid, under pressure, embarrassed or ashamed.
- If sexual images of them have been discovered, the child will be worried about who might have seen these.
“Everything that happened, I only knew in bits.”
“I didn’t want to say anything because I knew the next step would be taken.”
“Everything kind of improved and I was much happier for that.”
“[My social worker] was mint; absolutely mint. If she said she was going to do something, she’d do it straight away.”
“The lady who came asked me lots of questions. She put me under pressure.”
For the sources of the quotations above, please download our full guide to this stage of the Response Pathway.
Planning the child protection enquiry
Concerns about sexual abuse may coexist with concerns about other harms such as neglect, parental substance misuse, or domestic abuse. When planning the enquiry, maintain a clear focus on concerns of sexual abuse and how it may intersect with other harms.
- Decide who you want to talk to, and where and when these conversations should take place – this is likely to include the child, members of their family (including, in the case of intra-familial abuse, the person of concern), the person who raised concerns, and any practitioners and other safe adults who may have relevant information.
- Prepare to visit the child, which you may want to do with another practitioner who knows them well. Think about how you can talk to them without other family members present, if possible.
- Identify and address any communication needs, including needs related to language, learning disability, physical disability or neurodivergence.
- And if this is a joint enquiry, liaise with the police to discuss how the visit will be conducted.
A multi-agency approach is essential for effective information sharing and building a picture of the child's circumstances. Practitioners from different agencies may have important information that contributes to the picture of concern, so it is important to request relevant information from all practitioners who know the child and the family. Make them aware of the child sexual abuse concerns, otherwise they may struggle to know what information is relevant. The information you need will depend on how they know the child/family.
- Check the child's understanding of the situation, what the enquiry involves, and how they can get in touch with you.
- Identify the child's concerns and what they want to happen.
- Find out more about what has happened to them child
During your conversation, and at other times (such as when the child is around their parent(s) and any family members suspected of sexually abusing them), look for any emotional, behavioural and physical signs that may indicate child sexual abuse.
Bear in mind that any child who has faced discrimination or prejudice, or had poor previous experiences of agencies’ involvement in their lives, may be reluctant to trust and talk to you.
Non-abusing family members are those who are not considered to have been involved in the sexual abuse of the child, even if they have previously come to agencies’ attention for other reasons.
- Find out about the child’s non-abusing parent(s) and the family, and how they are feeling – they might need support for themselves or support to understand the child's needs and how they can help them.
- Find out what they know about the person or environment of concern.
- Discuss with them how the child can best be protected. Establish whether the parent(s) are acting to keep the child safe, or can be supported to keep them safe, and whether anyone in the family is subject to violence, coercion or control more generally.
- Talk to other non-abusing family members who know the child well. Ask them whether they have noticed any recent changes in the child’s behaviour, or have any concerns. Explore the possibility that any other children in the family may also have been sexually abused but felt unable to tell anyone.
- Continue talking to the non-abusing parent(s) throughout the child protection enquiry and beyond
Remember to consult the police before talking to any family members included in ongoing police investigations. If concerns of child sexual abuse have been raised about any adult(s) in the family, it is important for you to consider their motivations, beliefs, behaviours and individual circumstances. Our Signs and Indicators template can help you think about the sorts of things to consider.
Talk to them about their role in the family, their relationship with the child, and their behaviour, building on any information provided by the non-abusing parent(s).
If there are concerns that the child is being sexually harmed by a sibling or another child in the family environment, talk to that child about their relationship with and behaviour towards the harmed child. Explore too the reasons for that behaviour. Our guide to assessing and responding to sibling sexual behaviour contains useful information.
- Consider whether the child should be removed to a place of safety under police powers of protection, a court order, or a voluntary agreement.
- Consider taking steps to limit the child’s contact with the person of concern.
- Where there are concerns about grooming or coercive control, contextual safeguarding risks, or technology-assisted harms, consider what can be done to address this.
- Begin to develop a safety plan with the child and family; this can be built on later if the family receives ongoing support from children’s social care.
- Consider whether a paediatric medical assessment/examination is necessary.
- Consider what immediate support the child and family might need – from help with talking to one another about the abuse to receiving emotional therapy. Remember that the Crown Prosecution Service says children can receive emotional support and therapy during a police investigation. And make sure the child is referred for support from an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA) or a child and young person’s sexual violence advocate (CYPSVA).
- Where the child has engaged in harmful sexual behaviour outside the family environment, consult your local guidance on what to do.
The child protection enquiry should be completed within 15 working days with one of the following outcomes:
- If the child is considered at continuing risk of serious harm, an initial child protection conference will be held and a multi-agency assessment undertaken.
- If they are thought to have been sexually abused but are not considered to be at continuing risk of serious harm, a multi-agency assessment of the child and their family will take place, building on your enquiry; this may result in a Child in Need plan or a Family Help plan (in England), or a Care and Support plan (in Wales).
- If they are thought not to need continuing support from children’s social care, support may be provided through a Family Help plan (in England) or an Early Help plan (in Wales).
Once the outcome of the child protection enquiry has been decided, consider how best to inform the child and their non-abusing parent(s). Explain:
- the decision
- what the decision means
- what will happen next.
- Ensure that they understand why the decision was made, especially if it does not reflect what they hoped would happen.
Also communicate the outcome to other practitoners, including the person who made the referral.
Working together is essential for a robust child protection enquiry:
- Share good-quality information to help the social worker – who may never have met the child – to understand the child and their circumstances.
- Do what you can to support the child's emotional health, education, physical health, and relationships with family and friends.
External links
- Good practice guidance on working with parents with a learning disability [Working Together with Parents Network]
- Social Work Culturagrams website
- Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding website
- Harmful sexual behaviour framework [NSPCC]
- Prosecution guidance: Pre-trial therapy [Crown Prosecution Service]
- Independent sexual violence adviser: Statutory guidance [Ministry of Justice]
- Find an ISVA [The Survivors Trust]