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Managing allegations against adults who work or volunteer with children. Rebecca Boswell Allegations Manager. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010.
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Managing allegations against adults who work or volunteer with children Rebecca Boswell Allegations Manager
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010 “Children can be subjected to abuse by those who work with them in any setting. All allegations of abuse or maltreatment of children by a professional, staff member, foster carer, or volunteer must therefore be taken seriously and treated in accordance with consistent procedures.” 6.32
Duty of Care The duty which rests upon an individual or organisation to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the safety of a child or young person involved in any activity or interaction for which that individual or organisation is responsible. Any person in charge of, or working with children and young people in any capacity is considered, both legally and morally, to owe them a duty of care. Handling Allegations of Abuse made against Adults who Work with Children and Young people PRACTICE GUIDANCE (2009)
The role of the LADOKey features: • Applies to everyone who works or volunteers with children • Local Authority Designated Officer has management and oversight of process from beginning to end: provide advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations, liaise with police and other agencies, monitor progress of cases to endure they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent with a fair and thorough process.
An Allegation? When a person who works or volunteers with children has: • Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child; • Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or • Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013
Where do allegations come from? • Directly from a child or parent • From a colleague or member of staff • Information from the police or local authority social care • Information from a third party or the general public • Information disclosed anonymously or online • Concerns generated through an employment relationship.
Process • Initial consideration by the manager/employer – address directly through complaints/disciplinary procedures or need to contact LADO? • Discussion between Senior Manager & LADO – does the concern/allegation meet threshold for action from Working Together? Response needs to be proportionate • Discussion with Police – criminal offence committed? Context, intent, seriousness, outcome • Agreement that threshold for complex strategy meeting is met • Complex strategy meeting to plan enquiry
Up to three strands in consideration of an allegation: • A police investigation of a possible criminal offence • Enquiries and assessment by children’s social care about whether a child is in need of protection or in need of services • Consideration by the employer of disciplinary action in respect of the individual.
Complex Strategy Meeting • Shares all relevant information about the allegation and any previous allegations • Shares relevant details of the employee and the child and their family • Any other relevant concerns or employment issues regarding the employee • Reviews the need for involvement of children’s social care or the police • Considers whether the person’s suitability to continue working with children in his/her current position has been called into question
Complex Strategy Meetings (cont) • Plans any enquiries needed, allocates tasks and sets timescales • Decides what can be shared with whom and when • Considers what advice and support should be made available to the member of staff and child/family • Considers confidentiality, media interest
Possible Outcomes Abuse • Substantiated • Unsubstantiated • Unfounded • Malicious
Local Picture 2012 - 2013 256 Referrals or contacts • Education 90 • Early Years 38 • Residential Care 33 • Sport 12 • Foster Carers 11 • Health 22 • Children’s Social Care 7 • Transport 10 • Other 28
Outcomes • Substantiated: 36% • Unsubstantiated: 35% • Unfounded: 24% • Malicious: 1%
Referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) If after investigation, the employer has ceased to use a person’s services for reason of misconduct or because they consider that person to be unsuitable to work with children, there is a statutory duty on the employer to make a referral to the DBS.
Scenario 1 You are the line manager of David, a positive activities worker. Peter, aged 12, is in care and sees David weekly as part of a project you manage to reduce social isolation of children in care. At his LAC Review, Peter, who has a slight learning disability, talks about a recent outing to the swimming pool as part of a small group of children. Peter mentions that David had taught them to swim under the water and tested them by seeing how many times they could swim between his legs before they needed to come up for air. David had been really pleased with Peter who had managed to do this three times, beating all the other boys and girls. David had given him a prize of some money and had taken Peter on his own to the shop to spend it after dropping the other children off in his car.
Scenario 2 • A referral is made to Social Care by the police regarding a Domestic Violence incident in a home where there are two young children Mollie aged 3 and Damien aged 5. It appears that a neighbour, who had heard shouting and banging noises from the house and the children crying, called the police to the incident. The neighbour had seen Sarah (mum) run to the car with the children and it appeared that she was bleeding from an injury to her face. Social care undertakes an initial assessment and discovers that Sarah is a teacher at a secondary school in Cambridge and her husband Adrian is a Deputy Head in a Primary School
Scenario 3 • Emily, aged 15, has for the last 2 years, been attending a Theatre Group running in the Summer Holiday. As a Play Leader, you observe this summer that Emily has been spending a lot of time chatting with Robert, a leader in his mid-twenties, and you notice that when she was upset last week, he put his arm around her to comfort her. You overhear other girls in the group talking about Emily and Robert, and hear that Emily split up with her boyfriend last week and that Robert is her new boyfriend you hear them saying there are photos of Robert on Emily’s Facebook site Last year at the summer camp a girl called Katie had complained that Robert had tried to ‘friend’ her on Facebook. Robert had been given strong management advice about this, his explanation was that he did not know he should not be friends with children on social media. As a result of this the Theatre Group developed clear ‘Acceptable Use’ guidance around the use of social media by staff.
