The person responsible for managing the child protection conference is called the Chair. This is an experienced, senior social work manager. But the Chair will not be someone directly involved in managing the social worker who has carried out the child protection investigation.
The precise format of the meeting may vary slightly depending on local procedures. But all children’s services departments should follow the same general principles set out here, which come from government guidance in Working Together 2018.
Some local authorities use the Strengthening Families model for child protection conferences for example. This aims to make sure that that the knowledge of families as well as practitioners is fully drawn during the child protection conference. Whatever way child protection conferences are carried out by a children’s services department, this should be fully explained before the conference by the conference chair and the child’s social worker.
Social work and other reports
The social worker who carried out the assessment should have written a report for the conference. This should include:
The social worker should share the report with the parent or carer before the conference. Where appropriate, it should also be shared with the child.
If other practitioners want to provide information to the conference this should be in a written report. Their reports should be ready before the conference. And they will need to agree with the Chair (and where necessary the police), whether the report can be shared with the parents and with anyone else.