Walsall Safeguarding Children Board Newsletter
Autumn 2013
Our Improvement Journey As many readers will know, Walsall’s safeguarding practice was recently inspected again by Ofsted and the progress made over the last year was recognised: we are now adjudged to be “adequate”. Clearly, we will all want to do all we can to further improve the quality of safeguarding in Walsall, but all involved have made a good start. As part of the drive to continue our improvement journey, the WSCB has recently approved its business plan for 2013/14. Our strategic objectives for this year can be summarised as: 1. Continuing to work to further improve the effectiveness of the WSCB and, thereby, to play our part in continuing to improve the effectiveness of safeguarding in Walsall 2. Learning and Improvement 3. Ensuring that the views of children and young people are heard 4. Ensuring that our multi agency work to combat Child Sexual Exploitation is as good as it can be. I’m sure that all involved in safeguarding Walsall’s children, in whatever capacity that may be, will want to play their part in helping the WSCB and each individual member agency achieve these objectives. We owe it to the children and young people of Walsall to do so. If any readers of this Newsletter wish to raise any issues with the WSCB, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the WSCB Team at The Hollies. Robert Lake Independent Chair WSCB
Bridging the Gap: A Conference about Parental Mental Health and Safeguarding Children In March 2013, Ofsted published a report entitled ‘What about the children? Joint working between adult and children’s services when parents or carers have mental ill health and/or drug and alcohol problems’. During summer 2012, Dudley was one of ten local authorities to be inspected by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission. The inspection identified the need for improvements in a number of areas. Following this, joint work took place between Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Walsall Safeguarding Children Board, Dudley Safeguarding Children Board and Virtual College Safeguarding Children EAcademy, to organise a conference to take place in both boroughs. On 21st May 2013, 130 professionals from a wide range of organisations attended a conference about parental mental health and safeguarding children at the Forest Arts Centre. Presentations were given by a variety of speakers on perinatal mental health, ‘The Toxic Trio’ (parental mental health, parental substance use and domestic abuse), the impacts of parental mental health problems on children, and a whole family approach to supporting parents with mental health issues was showcased. A young carer bravely spoke about their experiences in caring for their mother with mental health problems, and their younger siblings as a result. The Saltmine Theatre Company delivered ‘The Story of One Child’. An actress performed a monologue of the story of a young baby, her mother and a social worker, entitled ‘Becky’s World’. It was a powerful insight through the lens of a mother with mental health problems and her social worker. It highlighted some of the tensions practitioners face and attempts by parents to mask the realities of their illnesses. A series of questions from delegates were then posed to the key partners panel. There was also an array of stalls showcasing the work of various agencies. Feedback revealed that delegates found it very useful to have the opportunity to look at the stalls and available resources. We would like to thank everyone involved in making the conference a success, including those who organised the conference, the speakers, those who showcased their work, members of the key partners panel, and the venue staff. A more detailed report about the conference can be found at www.wlscb.org.uk.
Walsall News The SIT village keeps growing… The Safeguarding and Inspections Team (SIT) has had a great amount of work recently at its door which has lead to the development of a journey mapping project. Firstly the SIT have been challenging the WSCB by exploring possible changes to the group including: A. The purpose of the WSCB B. How the SIT is involved in supporting and challenging the WSCB C. The structure of the WSCB D. The number and purpose of WSCB sub groups This led to the completion of an audit tool and a report produced by SIT who has fedback to the WSCB and changes have since been made to the timings of meetings, the sub groups and structure of the WSCB. At the end of June 2013 Walsall welcomed Ofsted for the re-inspection where 4 members of SIT spoke to an inspector in a focus group informing him about how the group works with IYPSS and WSCB including partners, how it challenges the WSCB and young people shared examples, what they achieve as a group and as individuals and how they quality assure services. The improvement journey for the SIT has focused on gaining new members through promotion of the SIT leaflet which carries useful information about the team for both young people and professionals. There has been a number of road shows with young people from commissioned partners showing interest and attending the group in July. The journey mapping project is where the SIT is recording what it has done in the past, what its currently doing and what its future plans are for 2013/14. This project will develop an evidence tool that will be used at the August Improvement Board, which will look at aligning the SIT’s Work Plan with the Improvement Plan and the Safeguarding Board’s Plan using the SIT test which is shown below: A. The Functioning Watch – do all parts work together? I.e. Is there co-operation between agencies? B. Grown ups talk a lot – Is everything we do clear to children and young people and what impact does it have? C. Equality – Do we give information out for agencies or children? D. Best Practice – It takes a village/ community to nurture children, we must ensure productive partnerships E. Aim High – Nuggets of gold not shoots of green For further information please contact Shain Akhtar Telephone- 01922 714966/ email- akhtars@walsall.gov.uk or Dan Hodgkiss Telephone- 01922 650439/ email- hodgkissd@walsall.gov.uk. Why not check out the SIT’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SafeguardingAndInspectionsTeamsit Or the SIT’s Twitter page at @SITWalsall
Source: Dan Hodgkiss
Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence A Safeguarding Children training event took place 27th March 2013 that engaged a large audience of local GPs and some of their practice staff with the aim of strengthening understanding on Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence. There were 103 attendees with GPs representing 80% of the audience. Colleagues from the partner agency of Walsall Public Protection Unit and a representative from Karma Nirvana supported the delivery of the event. Feedback was extremely positive and included comments such as ’Very enlightening presentation, something I have not been aware previously’; Excellent/frightening/enlightening powerful presentation; Exceptional, eyeopener, reflective & very informative topic’. Safeguarding Children training for GPs and their Practice staff is organised throughout the year via the steer of Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group and aims to support practitioners to fulfil their responsibilities in the interests of the safety and welfare of children and young people when providing local health care. Source: Mandy Viggers
Walsall News Celebration of Award Last month Jamie, a young man participating in workshops run by Street Teams, won a national photography competition. These workshops were run in connection with Photovoice, and were part of the Having Our Say Too project, where several projects across the UK engaged in the opportunity to share their stories and experiences in relation to child sexual exploitation, through the medium of photography. A selection of the Having Our Say Too project images were into the National Council for Voluntary Organisation (NCVO) photography competition 2013, entitled “Change Makers”. Out of a pool of nearly 300 entrants, Jamie’s image ‘Split Personality’ was ranked first by the judging panel. Another young man working with Street Teams, Mitchell, had his image “Touching Hands” was one of three highly commended images. The competition invited NCVO members, staff & service users to enter images that show the positive impact that voluntary organisations are having on the world.The top judging panel included:Martyn Lewis CBE – The chairman of the NCVO Trustee Board, with an expansive knowledge and involvement with the voluntary sector and an impressive television career with the BBC and ITV. Ian Berry – A photojournalist highly regarded for his documentary work in South Africa and his work for the Daily Mail and Drum Magazine. Jenny Matthews – A wildly published documentary photographer, who has worked for human rights and development organisations worldwide. Jamie was accompanied by a member of staff from Street Teams for the event, held at the Brewery, a corporate events venue in London, as part of the Evolve Conference, on the 17th June. There was a reception after the conference where both Mitchell and Jamie’s photographs were exhibited, along with the eleven other finalists. Jamie was presented with the prize, a 3-D camera by Martyn Lewis CBE, chairman of NCVO.
Source: Sue Bretherick
Introduction from Mandy Viggers, Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group Mandy Viggers has recently taken up the post of Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children within Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group. The role serves to support the local health economy to fulfil its responsibilities to safeguard children and young people as concerns relating to both the commissioning and provision of local health care. As core business Mandy will be working in close collaboration with WSCB partner agencies to support robust ‘Working Together’ practices.
Introduction from Jenny Skyrme, West Midlands Police Hello, I am Jenny Skyrme and I have recently taken over from Detective Chief Inspector Jane Parry as the Western Child Public Protection Manager; I am truly honoured to have been given such an important role. Being entrusted with partners to ensure the safeguarding of the children living within the Black Country is a daunting task however one I am very much looking forward to immerse myself in. I am a Black Country girl, having been born and raised in Halesowen and I feel at home on the Western side. My background is in investigation, having been a Detective Constable, Sergeant, Inspector and now Acting Chief Inspector within serious crime. I have worked on the Public Protection Unit since October 2012 within Adult Investigation and now look forward to learning a whole new vocabulary which is Child Protection, with the child at the heart of everything I do.
Area Family Support Teams Area Family Support Teams have been established in Walsall to help us to deliver our vision to provide ‘the right help at the right time’ to families with complex needs. We aim to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable families by providing effective early support. Area Family Support Teams now provide an additional opportunity, within the Early Help Offer to deliver targeted intensive support to families to reduce risk factors and improve quality of life. We have currently established 6 Area Family Support Teams (AFSTs) to work with families that require a period of intensive support to reduce risk factors. All families will continue to be supported through the Early Help Offer and Area Coordinators will provide additional support to schools and agencies to ensure that pre early help meetings and Early Help Assessment and plans are making sufficient progress. As part of the Early Help offer lead professionals (in conjunction with the Area Coordinator), will identify families that require more intensive support and these cases will be supported by the local AFST. The AFSTs will also be working with families identified by the national Troubled Families initiative, known locally as the Strengthening Families programme. AFSTs are multi disciplinary teams that work with the family as a whole. The core teams consists of Team Manager, Children’s Social Worker, Adults Social Worker, Targeted Youth Support Worker, Family Support Workers and Area Coordinator. The team have been trained in Walsall Council’s working smarter approach where the team identifies what families want help with and they deliver those services to the family, pulling on and using as many different services as needed to achieve better outcomes for children young people and their families. Our strategic goal is clear and is defined by children and families: it is to help them reach the aspiration of: ‘I want a better life for me and my family’ and ‘Keep me safe’ Contact details for Area Family Support Teams Bentley and Darlaston King Charles Primary School Wilkes Avenue, Bentley, Walsall, WS2 0JN Team Contact number: 07507 786273
Bloxwich/Blakenall and Edgar Stammers Blakenall Village Centre Thames Road, Blakenall, Walsall, WS3 1LZ Team Contact Number: 01922 712858
Birchills Birchills Children Centre Birchills Street, Birchills, Walsall, WS2 8NF Team Contact number: 01922 646575
Willenhall New Invention Library The Square, Lichfield Road, Willenhall, WV12 5EA Team Contact number: 07980 931651
Walsall East Pelsall Sure Start, Pelsall Village Centre, High Street, Pelsall, WS3 4LX Team Contact Number: 07961 295025 Palfrey, Alumwell and Pleck 39a Jerome Road Alumwell, Walsall, WS2 9SU Team Contact Number: 07930 876981 Source: Scott Degville
Early help, early on for Walsall’s children and families There’s a new way of helping children and families in Walsall. It means they get the help they need earlier and where possible in their community. The aim is to give parents and their children the right support earlier in life and early on at the start of a problem or crisis, or ideally before a crisis starts. It is hoped that by providing help at this earlier stage it will reduce or eliminate the need for support from a social worker. Nationally and locally it is referred to as ‘early help’. It is an approach that has been recommended for children’s services nationally as well as forming a key part of Walsall Children’s Services improvement journey. To make this happen in Walsall, children’s services have created a team of early help co-ordinators to work with families and children before they come to need support from a social worker or other services. The early help co-ordinators are based within the area family support teams in children’s services and they work closely with the new Multi-Agency Screening Team (MAST). All queries and requests for help come through to the MAST. Once the MAST gets permission from the family, any cases that are not related to safeguarding will be passed onto an early help co-ordinator. The co-ordinator then makes contact with the family and any other professionals who have been involved to discuss and plan the family’s needs and the best way to support them. This is primarily support in the community and does not involve a social worker or a social work assessment. Work has also taken place to improve the forms used to assess what help families need to make the process smoother for staff and easier for parents to understand. This new way of working began in March 2013 after consultation with professionals, parents, children and young people. This focus on prevention and giving families support before more intensive, long term intervention is needed is a key part of the children’s services improvement journey as it puts more resources into getting involved with families early on and using resources from the local community to support them before problems start or escalate. This could involve a range of plans such as parenting classes, developing a plan to support a teenage parent to stay in school or helping children or parents to engage in activities such as boxing or swimming. This work is very closely linked with the MAST, the team that receives and appropriately screens all queries to children’s services as this team works to spot families who may not yet be in crisis but just may need that bit of extra advice or support to prevent a more serious problem which would require the involvement of a social worker. The aim is that these two teams, along with a range of community organisations, professionals and children’s services colleagues will all work to be better together for the children of Walsall. Source: Scott Degville
ChildLine Schools Service: Summer Term 2013 Update The ChildLine Schools Service: The ChildLine Schools Service is a ground-breaking service provided by the NSPCC, free of charge, which aims to ensure all children have an understanding of abuse in all its forms, including bullying and that children know how to protect themselves and where to go for help if they need it. By 2016, we hope to be visiting every primary school in the UK at least once every two years. In doing so, we passionately believe that we can start a societal change that will bring about a long term reduction in child cruelty. The delivery model is in two stages. Firstly, we deliver a 30 minute assembly to Y5 and Y6 pupils to inform children of the different types of abuse and where they can go to seek help. The second stage, which happens approximately 1-2 weeks later, is an interactive classroom-based workshop lasting up to 1 hour, to reinforce and explore the assembly messages more fully and encourage discussion and questions. The ChildLine Schools Service UK-wide The figures below show the progress we are making towards reaching every primary school in the UK by 2016, locally, regionally and nationally:
Summer term 2013
Total number of schools delivered in 2012/13
Total number
Walsall
16
27
West Midlands
115
343
28,242
UK
732
3,685
251,912
Schools which have received the ChildLine Schools Service in Walsall: Abbey Primary School Castlefort Primary School Cooper & Jordan CE Primary School Elmore Green Primary School Leamore Primary School Little Bloxwich Primary School Moorcroft Wood Primary School St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Walsall Wood School Bentley West Primary School King Charles Primary School St James Primary School Emmanuel School Green Rock Primary School Mayfield Preparatory School Westfield Primary School Pinfold Primary School Blackwood Primary School Busill Jones Primary School Watling St Primary School Woodlands Academy Reedswood Academy Meadow View JMI Lodge Farm JMI St Bernadettes Catholic Primary School Rushall Primary School Bloxwich Primary School Development work: The ChildLine Schools Service is currently adapting the School Service programme for delivery within non mainstream settings including Pupil Referral Units and Special Schools. Contact: If you would like more information please contact Natasha Turberville – Area Coordinator for Walsall & Wolverhampton: email Natasha.turberville@nspcc.org.uk or telephone 07500785029.
Source: Natasha Turberville, NSPCC
WSCB News WSCB Vision: The Walsall Safeguarding Children Board believes that children and young people have a right to be safe, happy, healthy and with a bright future. Achieving this ambition for children demands genuine partnership working so that every child in Walsall feels that they matter, believes they are valued, and is supported to have high hopes for the future. We are very pleased that we will soon be joined by our new Business Manager who will hopefully be in post in time for the publication of the next newsletter. I know that she is looking forward to starting work in Walsall and will be meeting with teams in due course.
WSCB Training
Contact Us
If you have any news or stories you would like to be included in the next newsletter, please contact Ellie Luckin on There are still spaces available on the following Walsall Safeguarding Children Board training: 01922 726985 or luckine@walsall.gov.uk The new training programme for September 2013 to March 2014 was published in July. Please access the training programme at www.wlscb.org.uk. This six month programme will be followed by an annual training programme beginning in April.
Anti-bullying—18th September 2013, 9:30-12:30 Attending your first child protection conference—24th September 2013, 9:30-12:30 Managing Allegations Against Staff—14th October 2013, 9:30-11:30 All of the above courses will take place at the Education Development Centre.
Walsall Safeguarding Children Board The Hollies 10 Lichfield Road Walsall West Midlands WS4 2DH
Phone: 01922 659520 The full details including the aims and objectives of the courses can be found in the WSCB train- Fax: 01922 648258 ing programme at www.wlscb.org.uk. If you would like to book a place on any of the courses, Email: wscb@walsall.gov.uk please complete the booking form, which can also be found on the website, and send it to WSCBtraining@walsall.gov.uk.
You can find the Walsall
Take a look at the Child Protection Timeline on the website—www.wlscb.org.uk. The time- child protection proceline has been created by the Safeguarding e-Academy, Virtual College, and it contains lots dures and referral form of useful information about the history of Child Protection. (WSCB1 form) on our
website: www.wlscb.org.uk
W S C B N E W SL E T T E R
Page 7
National News Serious Case Review An article in Children & Young People Now reveals that Coventry Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) will use new techniques in their investigation in to the death of Daniel Pelka. The LSCB will incorporate elements of the ‘systems approach’ method in the serious case review, which involves establishing how the management and culture of an organisation influenced the judgements and actions of professionals involved in the case. For more information, visit: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1 078044/daniel-pelka-investigationdeploys-updatedmethods?utm_content=&utm_campaign=09 0813_Daily&utm_source=Children%20 %26%20Young%20People%20Now&ut m_medium=adestra_email&utm_term= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cypnow.co.uk% 2Fcyp%25 Source: NSPCC
Gang Membership The Catch 22 Dawes Unit and London Metropolitan University have published a report examining the role of the family in facilitating gang membership. Findings include: gang members’ families come in all shapes and sizes, with 1 in 3 growing up in households with both biological parents; families involved in the study experienced a range of issues including family violence and alcohol and substance misuse. Recommendations include: explicitly detailing gang involvement as a criterion for inclusion in the Troubled Families programme; services for families of gang-involved young people should be part of a local authority’s Early Intervention strategy. Further information can be found at: http://www.catch22.org.uk/Files/DawesUnitFamiliesSum mary-web.pdf?id=35bd5151-67d0-436cb87a-a1ee00bd75ae Source: NSPCC
Child Sexual Exploitation Following a summit of organisations who tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE) and abuse hosted by the Home Office on 24 July, the Home Office has published a progress report and action plan on addressing sexual violence against children. Actions include: reforming social work education and practice to ensure practitioners are able to identify and respond to cases of child sexual abuse or exploitation; developing guidance for sexual health services on detecting CSE; facilitating work with affected communities which tackles cultural issues related to CSE. For further information, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/uplo ads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/225011/Sexual_Violence_against_ Children_and_Vulnerable_People.pdf
Publications Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA) has published a series of publications on safeguarding African children in the UK. This includes publications on female genital mutilation and witchcraft abuse. The publications can viewed using the following link: http://www.afruca.org/publications/sa feguarding-african-children-series/ Source: NSPCC
Source: NSPCC
Relate for Parents The relationship support organisation, Relate, has launched an online service, funded by the Department for Education, for parents who are concerned about their teenagers getting into trouble. The service enables them to chat online to a qualified counsellor, access information and guidance on issues faced by teenagers, and share experiences with other parents who have similar concerns. Further information can be found at the following link: http://www.relateforparents.org.uk/ Source: NSPCC
Internet Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has introduced a pop-up warning telling internet users they are searching for illegal child abuse images. The warning will provide a link to Stopitnow.org, an organisation which will be able to provide them with counselling. For further information, please use the following link: http://www.theguardian.com/society/ 2013/jul/27/social-workers-child-sexgrooming Source: NSPCC
Keep Up To Date with the NSPCC Current Awareness Service for Policy, Practice and Research (CASPAR) To receive a bitesize summary of all the new developments in child protection, delivered to your inbox, sign up to the NSPCC CASPAR email. This service keeps you up-to-date with the latest developments in the world of child care and child protection, including research and forthcoming events. To sign up, please follow this link http://www.nspcc.org.uk/ExternalNewsServices/Default.aspx?NewsServiceID=2