This document is aimed principally at professionals attending an initial child protection conference in a case involving concerns about child sexual abuse. It explains how all these professionals can best help the child before and during the conference. The guides contain information specifically for the social worker assigned to the case and the chair of the conference.
It is also relevant to other professionals working with the child, helping them understand what will happen at an initial child protection conference.
What is an initial child protection conference?
When a child protection enquiry has found that a child is suffering or is at risk of significant harm, an initial child protection conference (referred to as ‘the conference’ from here on) will be convened within 15 working days of the strategy discussion. The purpose of the conference is:
- to share and evaluate information between agencies about the concerns, the child’s health, development and wellbeing, and their family history.
- to assess whether the child has been significantly harmed or is at continued risk of being harmed, and the needs of the child and their family.
- to assess the capacity of the child’s non-abusing parent(s) to ensure the child’s safety and promote their wellbeing.
- to decide whether a child protection plan should be put in place.
How may the child be feeling?
The child may experience a range of emotions when they know a child protection conference is being held.
- They may feel anxious, pressured, or embarrassed to discuss what happened.
- If images are found, they may worry about who saw them.
- They might feel blamed by family or responsible for distress, especially if a sibling is involved.
- They may not realise they’re at risk or being abused.
- Attending the conference alone can be overwhelming and intimidating so support from a trusted person is helpful; having someone they feel comfortable with to explain things, to voice their needs and to take notes, is likely to be helpful.
- Children often feel unheard, unable to express themselves, or feel they lack influence in meetings.
- Not giving children the opportunity to attend the conference can lead to feelings of regret or resentment.
“[My social worker] was really helpful because she wrote stuff down that I actually did say and read it back to me and said it at the meetings.”
“Every time I went to speak [in the meeting], someone interrupted me and that really annoyed me so I was like right I’m going, I’ve got to get to school.”
“I didn’t lie but there was a sense of awkwardness when you know you should say something but you don’t want to say it in front of certain people.”
“I think it can be a bit, the questions that they ask, well if I answer them then I am going to like upset you know my mum.”
The conference will rely on good-quality information from all the professionals involved.
- The social workers report should clearly state the concerns, considerations related to the child, the family circumstances, and concerns about people around the child.
- If the child has had a paediatric medical examination, or any other health tests/check-ups in connection with the sexual abuse, the medical professional(s) involved should provide a report to the conference.
- The police officer in the case should provide information about any adults of concern in the child’s life, and any previous concerns of sexual abuse or abusive behaviours relating to those adults and/or the child.
- Other professionals invited to provide the conference with a report should focus on what you or your agency knows about the child and family.
Before the initial child protection case conference, speak with the child (if they are capable of understanding) and their non-abusing parent(s) to:
- ensure they know the conference is happening and what it will involve, including helping them to understand how they can participate.
- clarify what support might be needed to enable the child and their non-abusing parents to participate in the conference.
- explain the purpose of the conference, what decisions and actions could be made and why.
- reassure and remind the child that they did the right thing by asking professionals for help.
- ensure that the child has an opportunity to share their views, wishes and feelings if they are not attending.
If the child, their non-abusing parent(s) and/or their advocate/supporter will be attending the conference, the conference chair has a responsibility to meet with them before the conference starts. Consider:
- whether necessary arrangements have been made to enable the child and parents to participate fully.
- review the concerns and all information from the child, family and professionals.
- consider diversity and how personal characteristics might increase vulnerability and shape the response to child sexual abuse and the plan.
Where there are concerns that a parent/parent figure or other adult family member may have abused the child, it is not appropriate for them to attend the conference.
In cases involving concerns about child sexual abuse, the initial child protection conference provides an opportunity to consider all the available information – and, based on this, to analyse the likelihood of (further) sexual abuse, being clear about who might pose a sexual risk to the child and why. All professionals should:
- listen to the child to hear what the child wants to happen, either directly from them (in person or having had their views recorded in writing or on video) or via their social worker or advocate/supporter.
- mainatin a focus on child sexual abuse when there is uncertainty about whether the abuse has happened or the police have decided not to take further action at this time. The police apply a different legal standard than children's social care.
The initial child protection conference will conclude with an inter-agency agreement on whether the child should be made the subject of a child protection plan under a specific category or categories of harm. The child may:
- be placed on a child protection plan.
- be supported through a child in need plan or Family Help or Care and, in Wales, a Care and Support Plan.
- need no further support from children’s social care
There can be a reluctance to place children on plans under the category of sexual abuse because it is felt that there is not enough ‘evidence’ of sexual abuse to do so. Remember that the legal threshold for safeguarding is ‘the balance of probabilities’, not ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ and so if there is evidence that a child has, on the balance of probabilities, been sexually abused they should be registered as such.