Scottish Government

PART 3 - IDENTIFYING AND RESPONDING TO CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDREN

IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING RISK

291. This chapter provides a framework for identifying and managing risk while the next outlines the common stages of responding to concerns about a child's safety. The two chapters should be read in conjunction with one another as the framework for identifying and managing risk should be woven throughout the processes that surround this complex area of practice.

292. Identifying concerns that require child protection actions in a timely fashion is central to effective action to support children. For this reason, the importance of good, accurate risk assessment within child protection cannot be overstated. Decisions on intervention, supports offered or compulsory measures required to immediately protect the child are dependent on professional analysis and decision-making of accurate and relevant information. Inadequate identification of risk and the subsequent intervention strategies carry the risk of resulting in serious, and occasionally fatal, outcomes for children. Before considering the processes for identifying and managing concerns as part of a child protection enquiry, this chapter discusses the critical role of risk identification and management.

The Nature of Risk

293. As defined in the chapter setting out definitions of key concepts, risk is a part of everyday life and can be positive as well as negative. In the context of this guidance, risk is the likelihood or probability of a particular outcome given the presence of adverse factors in a child's life. The presence of adverse factors in a child's life can elevate the likelihood of poor outcomes for the child, and risk assessment is the assessment of the chances that these adversities will significantly compromise the child's development. Steps can be taken to negate these factors or the 'risk' may be felt to be manageable within the child's overall life. Equally, the risks may be felt to be such that they are causing, or are likely to cause significant harm to the child, and as such, may require a response under child protection measures. The challenge for practitioners is identifying which children require these protective measures.

294. When considering the immediate needs of a child or young person when a concern about their possible safety is raised, practitioners must consider in the first instance:

• Is this child or young person at immediate risk?
• What is placing this child at immediate risk?
• What needs to happen to remove this risk now?

295. GIRFEC stresses the importance of understanding risks and needs within a framework of the child's whole world and well-being. Every child needs to be healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, included, responsible, and safe. With safety as part of the continuum of need, all staff, when assessing a child, should be alert to the potentialrisk factors in that's child's life. The GIRFEC 'practice model' presents a series of tools that are integral to the use of risk assessment: the Well-being Indicators; the My World Triangle; and the Resilience Matrix. For a number of children who require a risk assessment to be undertaken, a child's plan may already be in place and this should be used and added to, paying particular attention to any new areas that may result in adverse outcomes for a child or young person.

296. The Well-being Indicators provide a broad framework to identify a child's needs where potential concerns are identified. They are also used to identify what needs to change under the eight headings in the child's plan and are then used as a means of measuring what outcomes have been achieved at review. The GIRFEC My World Triangle serves as a starting point for considering what risks might be present in a child's life, as expressed in the following diagram.

297. This allows practitioners an opportunity to identify possible risk indicators using the areas provided by the My World Triangle. Practitioners using this framework will need to consider who is best placed to provide information in relation to the specific areas of a child's life - this will include other practitioners and services, but also the child and family. The five key questions practitioners should consider are:

• What is getting in the way of this child or young person's well-being?
• Do I have all the information I need to help this child or young person?
• What can I do now to help this child or young person?
• What can my agency do to help this child or young person?
• What additional help, if any, may be needed from others? ¹¹

298. Clearly, not all the issues considered under the triangle will contain risk factors but they provide a comprehensive outline of areas that can be considered as part of the early consideration of the child's circumstances.

Identifying Vulnerabilities and the Need for Risk Assessment

299. Identification of risk factors using the My World Triangle is the first step in an assessment of risk which can then be considered in the context of information-gathering about the needs and history of a child and family. It is then possible to begin assessing how these indictors are having or likely to have an impact on this particular child. It is at this point that specialist assessments relating to, for example, signs of abuse and neglect, should be added in.

300. The Resilience Matrix, developed by Daniel and Wassell, and now adapted as an essential part of the GIRFEC practice model provides practitioners with a framework to begin to weigh up the particular risks against protective factors. The Matrix enables practitioners to weigh up the strengths and risks already identified from the My World Triangle and any other specialist assessments. The Matrix is used to assist practitioners in making sense of the relationship between the child's vulnerability or resilience and the world around them, which in turn may highlight areas of risk requiring more comprehensive or specialist assessment and analysis (as the diagram below illustrates). The Matrix can be used to examine and weigh factors in relation to:

• vulnerability and unmet needs;
• adversity;
• strengths or protective factors; and
• resilience ^.

301. It is the start of a process that 'unpacks' the individual child's circumstances and considers the impact of those circumstances on a particular child. This analysis will assist the practitioner to see clusters of vulnerabilities and strengths, sitting within the four quadrants and identify if there are clusters of risks in the areas of individual vulnerability and adversity.

302. The child's circumstances can be plotted on each of the two continuums, which will allow the practitioner to see where the impact of these circumstances place them within the Matrix:

• resilience within a protective environment (low risk);
• resilience within a context of adverse circumstances (medium risk);
• vulnerable within a protective environment (medium risk); and
• vulnerable within a context of adverse circumstances (high risk).

303. Where the Matrix highlights that a child who is very vulnerable is living in a situation with a high level of adversity, then those circumstances should be subjected to a detailed risk assessment. In some circumstances, the severity of an incident or impact on a child will be so adverse that risk assessment will have been clearly required from the outset.

304. The risk assessment should then map the risks from the Matrix against the eight Well-being Indicators to identify where action needs to be taken. This can be used as a risk assessment tool to help construct the child's plan. Only then will effective plans be identified to manage the risk.

Identification and Management of Risk

305. Risk assessment cannot be seen as a static event, nor can it be separated from risk management. Risk factors can reduce over time, or conversely, increase. Equally, changes in a child or family's circumstances can strengthen or limit protective factors. Assessment of risk needs to be dynamic, taking account of current circumstances, but also previous experiences and needs to consider immediate impact as well as longer-term outcomes for children.

306. Identification and management of risk can be separated into three distinct phases:

Stage 1 Gathering of information (My World Triangle) plus any specialist assessments about the child, the family and the child's wider world.

Stage 2 Analysis of information, the impact on the child (including potential impact), keeping the focus clearly on the child, and identifying what is required to reduce risks (first phase - making sense of information using the Resilience Matrix; second phase - using Well-being Indicators to identify what needs to be done and where to reduce the risks).

Stage 3 Make child protection plan identifying management of risk and interventions. Also identify how progress will be measured and the case will be reviewed.

307. Thus, an assessment of risk factors would need to include an analysis of how those risk factors impact on the child and the causal relationship between those factors. It also involves mapping risk factors against the eight Well-being Indicators to identify actions to be taken. The dynamic nature of risk and changing circumstances in a child's life means that these three phases may need to be reviewed as part of a continuous process. This should not be taken to mean an endless series of assessments and re-assessments but rather a consideration of how new information or changes in circumstances impact upon the dynamic assessment.

308. Risk assessment needs to be sensitive to the urgency with action needs to be taken. The tools identified above will be critical in providing the identification of risks in the child's longer-term development, but can be used in a more accelerated manner where the situation demands immediate action: for example, the My World Triangle can quickly be employed to identify the source of any immediate risks of significant harm to a child. The tools are intended to be used flexibly, adapted in line with practitioners' professional judgement, to the spectrum of needs that children may need.

Applicability of Identification and Management of Risk Toolkit

309. Concerns about a child's safety may be the result of a specific incident, a series of incidents or an accumulation of concerns over a period of time. Some incidents of concern will require a more immediate response under formal child protection procedures whilst other concerns will require a more comprehensive assessment carried out over time to consider the accumulative nature of concerns within the child's circumstances. The level of concern about the existence of significant harm will, to a large extent, determine which approach is the most appropriate. It should be stressed, however, that whilst specific severe incidents of alleged abuse will invariably require a formal child protection investigation, other forms of parenting styles may be less likely to trigger a child protection investigation but could be of equal detriment to the child.

Accumulation of Concerns

310. In cases where a series of incidents have occurred or an accumulation of concerns have built up, a co-ordinated multi-agency assessment and child's plan under GIRFEC has already been instigated and where concerns about risk to a child are identified, the risk assessment tool should be applied as part of the comprehensive assessment. In other circumstances where an integrated assessment is not already underway, this may be an agreed response used as an alternative to a child protection investigation where:

• the child's development and/or welfare is likely to be seriously impaired as a result of the parenting style of the carers; and/or
• the presence or potential for significant harm cannot be determined unless a full inter-agency assessment is carried out (including risk assessment); and/or
• a formal child protection investigation does not appear to be the most appropriate response given the nature of the concern.

Handling Risks

311. Having identified risks to a child and the actual or potential impact, the risk assessment needs to consider strategies and interventions on how to reduce these risks. This will ultimately become part of the child protection plan for the child. Again, consideration will need to be given to immediate and short-term risks as well as longer-term risks to the child. In addition, child protection plans need to reflect the broader assessment of the child's needs to ensure that the child's wider emotional, social and developmental needs are not lost within a child protection focus. As such, a child protection plan would essentially feature all the components of the child's plan but because of the nature of the concerns, the protective factors have prominent consideration until the concerns about significant harm have been reduced.

312. Child protection plans need to be detailed about what the perceived risks and needs are, what is required to reduce these risks and meet those needs, and who is expected to take any tasks forward including parents and carers (as well as the child themselves). Children and their families need to clearly understand what is being done to support them and why.

313. Any interventions should be proportionate and clearly linked to a desired outcome for the child. 'Progress' can only be meaningfully measured if the action or activity has had a positive impact on the child. The Well-being Indicators would be employed for helping to measure this progress but under each applicable indicator, the specific needs, risks, interventions and desired outcomes would need to be detailed in the child protection plan to provide both practitioners and the child and family with a clear understanding.

314. In addition, child protection plans need to clearly identify:

• key people involved and their responsibilities;
• timescales;
• supports and resources required, in particular, access to specialist resources;
• the process of monitoring and review; and
• any contingency plans.

Risk Assessment Skills Set

315. Developing a suitable risk assessment procedure is only one part of risk assessment. Undertaking risk assessments is a complex and demanding process and practitioners need to be equipped with the necessary skills and support to do this. This includes not only the use of a risk assessment tool itself, but also the knowledge base and skills that are required to inform professional analysis and evidence-based decision-making.

316. Staff need to understand their own roles and responsibilities towards children and the role of other services also. Knowledge of child development and the impact of abuse on children is an essential component of risk assessment, as is understanding the need for good communication and information-sharing skills. Consequently, it is important that practitioners remain aware of important new developments in understanding how different risk indicators affect different children, how they can interact together, different tools for identifying these risks and the appropriate actions to take, and the efficacy of existing and any new approaches to supporting children with these risks.