This practice guide is aimed primarily at professionals who are part of the ‘core group’ which will develop, implement and review a child protection plan in cases where there are concerns of child sexual abuse (possibly alongside concerns of other forms of abuse or neglect). It explains how the core group can maintain a focus on the child’s needs and on addressing the sexual abuse concerns.
It is also relevant to other professionals working with the child, helping them understand what the core group does and how a child protection plan is drawn up.
What does it mean to be supported through a child protection plan?
A child protection conference decides whether the child should be subject to a child protection plan under specific categories of harm. Even if the child has not been made the subject of a plan under the category of child sexual abuse, any sexual abuse concerns should still be addressed, with clear actions/interventions specifically addressing this concern and allocated to a named person.
An outline child protection plan will have been discussed at the initial child protection case conference, based on the findings of the child protection enquiry and multi-agency assessment. The child protection plan will be further developed and implemented by the core group – a multi-agency forum involving professionals responsible for delivering specific aspects of the plan – at its first meeting, within 10 days of the conference. The core group then meets every six weeks to review the plan.
The social worker allocated to the child will lead the core group, whose membership may change over time. If the child has support from an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA) or a child and young person’s sexual violence advocate (CYPSVA/CHISVA), they will be part of the core group.
How may the child be feeling?
A child is likely to feel a complex range of emotions when they are on a child protection plan. Once a child understands the child protection plan, they may feel safer and hopeful for a new or better life. However, the child might feel distressed by changes to their living or contact arrangements and by frequent interactions with social workers, which can disrupt daily life and cause frustration. The child may worry about being bullied, stigmatised, or ostracised by peers. They may also feel guilty, believing they have done something wrong and caused distress or disruption in their family. The child protection plan should clarify who the child can talk to about these worries and address situations where parents blame the child.
“It’s a plan of your life, like what happens in it and how they are going to help you, like a meeting, appointments and stuff.”
“It gives you a bit of priority and gives you, it compensates the fact that, whatever happens at home, it compensates the outside stuff like you can live a normal life.”
“[When you’re on a child protection plan, social workers] help you but in some other ways they don’t because like if you’re on the plan you like, you gotta ask, you gotta tell them like if you want to go stay at your friends, you’ve gotta tell them the name and they’ve got to be checked out by the police… They’re a lot more lenient [if you're on a] child in need [plan].”
“I just think it’s absolutely stupid that… [the social workers are] always coming round and it’s like we have to revolve all that we do around them and I just don’t like it. It’s horrible.”
There are many ways the core group can help the child.
- Involve the child and their non-abusing parent(s) in developing the plan. The social worker should guide the core group in considering ways to provide comprehensive support to the child and family, not only within the plan but also by including them throughout the creation and review stages of the plan.
- Consider diversity and how personal characteristics might increase vulnerability and shape the response to child sexual abuse.
- Where the use of a safety pan is safe and appropriate this should be co-developed with the family. Ensuring and promoting safety within the family will be a priority, especially when sexual abuse has happened within the family, and a key way to achieve this is through a safety plan which covers issues such as sexual boundaries, rules regarding bedrooms and bathrooms, and safe internet access.
- Consider what support each family member might need, including the parents and siblings, and what they might need together, especially where sexual abuse happened within the family environment.
The plan should:
- focus on the child’s safety and needs and be influenced by what they say they want and need for themselves and their family.
- ensure the concerns about sexual abuse are made clear and central to the plan.
The plan should set out actions to:
- address any known impact of the sexual abuse on the child.
- address the impact of the sexual abuse on family relationships.
- provide ongoing opportunities for the child to talk with a safe and trusted adult.
- support the child to be formally interviewed by the police and a social worker if this is in the plan.
- support the child whilst a police investigation or proceedings are in progress.
- address other concerns of harm, such as neglect and emotional abuse.
- implement a safety plan .
- address the needs of the child’s non-abusing parent(s), including supporting them to understand the child's needs and the process of sexual abuse.
The plan should respond to the context of the sexual abuse, for example:
- Where there are concerns about intra-familial child sexual abuse by an adult.
- Where there are concerns about harmful sexual behaviour by a sibling.
- Where there are concerns that the child has been sexually abused (or is at risk of sexual abuse) outside the home environment or online.
- The child has engaged in sexually harmful behaviour.
These contexts require specific responses and may intersect.
There are many ways to help the child when the plan is reviewed by the core group or at the child protection conference:
- Check in with the child to see if they feel safe and supported – discuss any adjustments that need to be made.
- Share good quality information about any concerns or progress.
- Check that the support is being provided and the child and family find it valuable.
- Consider concerns about child sexual abuse and any other harms individually and together (how do they intersect?).
- Consider whether any new concerns have emerged and whether a social care or police response is needed.