Contacts and Referrals

Anyone who has concerns about a child's welfare should consider whether a contact needs to be made to Children's Social Care and should do so immediately if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so. A contact should also be made to Children's Social Care when a child is admitted to a mental health facility. 

Contacts can come from the child themselves, family members or members of the public. Contacts can also come from practitioners such as: teachers; early years providers; the police; probation service, GPs and health visitors.

All practitioners working with children and families, including those in universal services and those providing services to adults with children, need to ensure that they:

• Know when to share information with other practitioners and what action to take to support early identification and assessment;
• Are able to identify and recognise all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation;
• Have an understanding of domestic and sexual abuse, including controlling and coercive behaviour as well as parental conflict that is frequent, intense, and unresolved;
• Are aware of new and emerging threats, including online harm, grooming, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, radicalisation, and the role of technology and social media in presenting harm;
• Are aware that a child and their family may be experiencing multiple needs at the same time.

Children's Social Care has the responsibility to clarify with the referrer the nature of the concerns and how and why they have arisen.

The Local Threshold Guidance provides guidance about the criteria for making and receiving referrals. However, Working Together to Safeguard Children highlights that practitioners should be aware to the potential need for Early Help for a child who:

• Has special educational needs (whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan);
• Is a young carer;
• Is bereaved;
• Is showing signs of being drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour, including being affected by gangs and county lines and organised crime groups and/or serious violence, including knife crime;
• Is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home;
• Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation;
• Is at risk of being radicalised;
• Is viewing problematic and/or inappropriate online content (for example, linked to violence), or developing inappropriate relationships online;
• Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse;
• Is misusing drugs or alcohol themselves;
• Is suffering from mental ill health;
• Has returned home to their family from care;
• Is a privately fostered child;
• Has a parent or carer in custody;
• Is missing education, or persistently absent from school, or not in receipt of full-time education;
• Has experienced multiple suspensions and is at risk of, or has been permanently excluded.

All practitioners have a responsibility to refer a child to Children's Social Care under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 if they believe or suspect that the child:

• Has suffered significant harm;
• Is likely to suffer significant harm;
• Has a disability, developmental and welfare needs which are likely only to be met through the provision of family support services (with the agreement of the child's parent) under the Children Act 1989;
• Is a Child in Need whose development would be likely to be impaired without the provision of services.

When practitioners refer a child/ren to Staffordshire children's services, they should include any information they have about the child's developmental needs, the capacity of their parents, carers or family network to meet those needs and any external factors that may be undermining their capacity to parent. This information may be included in any assessment, including an Early Help assessment, which may have been carried out prior to a referral into the local authority Children's Social Care. An Early Help assessment is not a prerequisite for a referral but where one has been undertaken, it should be used to support the referral.

New contacts on closed families should be made to Staffordshire children services. Referrals on children currently receiving support should be made to the child's allocated social worker (or in their absence their manager or the duty social worker).

The referrer will be asked for information about some of the following:

• Full names (including aliases and spelling variations), date of birth and gender of all child/ren in the household;
• Family address and (where relevant) school/nursery attended;
• Identity of those with parental responsibility and any other significant adults who may be involved in caring for the child such as grandparents;
• Names and date of birth of all household members, if available;
• Where available, the child's NHS number and education UPN number;
• Ethnicity, first language and religion of children and parents;
• Any special needs of children or parents;
• The capacity of the child's parents, carers, or family network to meet the needs of the child and any external factors that may be undermining their capacity to parent;
• Any significant/important recent or historical events/incidents in the child or family's life;
• Cause for concern including details of any allegations, their sources, timing and location;
• Child's current location and emotional and physical condition;
• Whether the child needs immediate protection;
• Details of the alleged perpetrator, if relevant;
• Referrer's relationship and knowledge of child and parents;
• Known involvement of other agencies/practitioners (e.g. GP);
• Information regarding parental knowledge of, and agreement to, the referral;
• The child's views and wishes, if known.

Other information may be relevant, and some information may not be available at the time of making the contact. However, referral should not be delayed in order to collect further information, if the delay may place the child at risk of significant harm.

When sharing information about a child or family with Children's Social Care, it is good practice for practitioners to be transparent about their concerns and to seek to work cooperatively with parents or carers. Practitioners should therefore usually inform parents or carers (and the child depending on their age and level of understanding) that they are going to make a contact to children services.
However, contacts should be made without first informing parents or carers where to do so would place a child at risk.

Where a practitioner makes a contact without informing the parents or carers this should be recorded in the child's file with reasons and confirmed in the referral to Children's Social Care.

The screening process applies both to children who are already known to the authority and to children who were not previously known.

The contact process must include screening against the Threshold Document and/or Early Help Criteria and must include internal electronic databases and agency checks to determine whether the family is already known, and whether there is a Child Protection Plan in place for the child and/or whether the child is a Child in Care.

The screening process should establish:

• The nature of the concern;
• How and why it has arisen;
• What the child's needs appear to be;
• Whether the concern involves the child suffering/being likely to suffer significant harm;
• Whether there is any need for urgent action to protect the child or any children in the household.

This process will involve:

• Reviewing any existing documentation, including whether a Child Protection Plan is in place for the child; this will include any previous assessments or support that may have been offered;
• Parents or carers should normally be informed that a referral is being made unless this would place a child or vulnerable adult at increased risk of harm;
• The information shared should always be necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and safe;
• Involving other agencies as appropriate and in line with Information Sharing: Advice for Safeguarding Practitioners (DfE) and Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE).

Once screening has taken place the outcomes of contacts can fall into four categories:

• No further action - this may include information to signpost to other agencies;
• Early Help - referrals for intervention and prevention services;
• Child in Need Services - assessment to be undertaken under Children's Social Care (Section 17 Children Act 1989). This will be led by the Lead Practitioner;
• Child Protection Services - assessment and Child Protection Enquiries to be undertaken by Children's Social Care (Section 47 CA 1989) with active involvement of other agencies such as the police.

A consultant Social Worker or Team Manager may authorise may authorise whatever actions are necessary to protect the child or others in the household from significant harm, which may result in the immediate provision of services. There should be consideration of a Strategy Discussion and of a multi-agency response.

If there is suspicion that a criminal offence may have been committed including sexual or physical assault or neglect of the child, the police must be notified immediately.

Personal information about non-professional referrers should not be shared with parents or other agencies without their consent.

Decisions made around next steps for the child/ren will be made within guidelines set out by working together 2023.

Once a contact has been accepted by Staffordshire Children's Social Care, a referral is generated to the locality district teams for both Child in Need services and or Early Help services.

The locality manager (Team Manager or Family Practitioner Lead) will have further consideration to the next steps required. 

The Team Manager or Family Practitioner Lead should decide, with partners, where appropriate, who the most appropriate Lead Practitioner will be. 

The Lead Practitioner role can be held by a range of people, including social workers or family practitioners. When allocating the Lead Practitioner, consideration should be taken to ensure that they have the time required to meet the needs of the child and their family. The Lead Practitioner should have the skills, knowledge, competence, and experience to work effectively with the child and their family.

The Lead Practitioner should always be a social worker for child protection enquiries.

In response to the referral, the Lead Practitioner should:

• Clarify with the referrer, when known, the nature of the concerns and how and why they have arisen;
• Make clear to children and families how the assessment will be carried out and when they can expect a decision on next steps;
• Inform the child and family of the action to be taken, unless a decision is taken on the basis that this may jeopardise a police investigation or place the child at risk of significant harm.

Children's Social Care should be clear about the proposed action and who will be the Lead Practitioner.

Decisions on the nature and level of the child's needs, and the level of actual or likely significant harm, if any, should be reviewed by a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager.

Professional referrers should be informed of the outcome of the referral. Feedback should be given by Staffordshire Children's Social Care to the referrer on the decisions taken. Where appropriate, this feedback should include the reasons why a case may not meet the statutory threshold and offer suggestions for other sources of more suitable support. Practitioners should always follow up on their concerns if they are not satisfied with Staffordshire Children's Social Care response and should escalate their concerns in line with our complaints procedure if they remain dissatisfied.