Margaret Dennison

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Thresholds for access to services and neglect
practice guidance

• Margaret Dennison

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Introducing Thresholds

• What are thresholds
• Why do we need them
• Who are they for
• How they will be applied
• Communication and learning
• When to start using them

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Thresholds are not.

• A substitute for a common assessment
• A substitute for a social work or specialist
  assessment
• A means to secure a service
• Any form of guarantee
• .BUT ARE
• A guide
• More explicit about when to refer to the local
  authority Children and Young Peoples Services
  Assessment and Intervention Team

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Why?

• As an aid
• To clarify roles and responsibilities
• To increase awareness and understanding of layers
  of service
• To support the implementation of ECM policy
• To implement the legal framework
• To mandate the Childrens Trust Partnership in
  its commissioning agenda prevention
• To increase consistency of decision making

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Childrens Services Strategy
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Section 17

• s.17. Provision of services for children in need,
  their families and others.
• (10) For the purposes of this Part a child shall
  be taken to be in need if
• (a) he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to
  have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining,
  a reasonable standard of health or development
  without the provision for him of services by a
  local authority under this Part
• (b) his health or development is likely to be
  significantly impaired, or further impaired,
  without the provision for him of such services

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Section 47

• s.47. Local authority's duty to investigate
• Where a local authority
• (b) have reasonable cause to suspect that a child
  who lives, or is found, in their area is
  suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant
  harm .2

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BENEFITS

• Open statements
• Useful in training
• Clearer about ACCOUNTABILITIES throughout the
  Childrens Trust
• Allows LSCB to monitor more effectively
• Capable of further development
• Bottom line on child protection referrals where
  Section 47 enquiries are necessary

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Communication

• Start using them now
• Hard copies of the thresholds are on tables
• The full guidance is available on Childrens
  Trust and LSCB websites

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Further learning

• A practice guidance booklet is being drafted and
  should be available within next few weeks
• Models of grading tools for neglect from
  other areas are receiving active consideration

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