Urgent advice please

[D11]

My partner and I found a mark on our baby's stomach. Took her to the GP and they started safeguarding procedures because we couldn't explain it. CP medical found an anomaly on one rib, rescan found anomaly to be a mark but a fracture on a seperate rib. We have kept the child with safe adult supervision but the police are involved now. Social services say we'll probably go to child protection conference. Anyone been in our situation that can help? Police and social services keep saying they'll keep us informed and getting our hopes up but we are in the dark.

We have been told that social services have no concerns around us, health visitor has told them they have no concerns but because it is unexplained it is spiralling out of control.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear D11

Thank you for your post and welcome to the discussion board. My name is Suzie I am an online adviser and will be replying to you today.

Your baby had a mark on their stomach, you took them to the GP for advice and the doctor made a safeguarding referral to Children’s Services (formally referred to as social services) because you were unable to explain how your baby got the mark. Children’s services are completing a child protection assessment, and you say the police are also involved.

Your baby underwent two skeletal scans as part of the child protection process and was found to have a fracture on one rib and an anomaly on another rib. Children’s services have said there will probably be a child protection conference.

Your child remains in your care with supervision from an adult who has been assessed by children’s services to carry out this role. You say children’s services and the health visitor have said they have no concerns regarding your parenting. However, you feel matters are spiralling out of your control due to lack of information from children’s services.

Children’s services have a legal duty to make enquiries if they receive information that a child may be at risk of significant harm .

These child protection enquiries are sometimes called child protection investigations. They are also referred to as ‘Section 47 enquiries or investigations .’ This is because the legal duty to investigate is set out in Section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

Children’s services most often receive this information from another professional, such as a teacher or a health worker, who is worried a child may not be safe or well cared for. Members of the child’s wider family or the public also sometimes tell children’s services they are worried about a child.

Social workers firstly need to gather information about the child and their family. This will help them to decide what action (if any) they need to take to keep the child safe and promote their welfare.

All children’s services departments have to follow the government guidance set out in Working Together 2018 when conducting a child protection enquiry. They will also have their own local procedures. Please see HERE for further information and guidance.

A child protection conference is organised by children’s services. It’s purpose is for everyone present to look at all relevant information about the child’s situation. Information should include information from existing social work records. And information from enquiries that have been made before the conference.

The conference must decide if they think the child is likely to suffer significant harm in the future. If they do they must:

 Come up with plans to make sure the child is safe and well cared for
 Decide whether there needs to be a child protection plan
 Set a date for any future review conference.

This decision will depend on whether the conference thinks a child has suffered significant harm. Or if the conference thinks the child is likely to suffer significant harm in the future. The conference should have read and discussed all the relevant information to help decide this. Please see HERE for further advice and information regarding this.

I have further added HERE information about a Family Group Conference. A family group conference is a family-led decision-making meeting. A child’s wider family and support network come together to develop a plan to support a child and keep them safe. This network may include grandparents, aunts and uncles and sometimes close family friends. The meeting is supported and facilitated by a trained and skilled independent coordinator. They help the family prepare for the meeting and attend to support.

You may also find this HERE helpful. It is to our ‘top tips’ when working with social workers. It offers advice and suggestions about how to work well with social workers and what you may wish to consider if things are not going well.

I hope you find this information helpful. There are many ways to contact Family Rights Group, please do look at our website for further information about this or post again here if you have further questions.

Best wishes, Suzie