Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook - Health Service ...

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Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook
Informal consultation
If any person has misgivings about the safety or welfare of a child, they may
consult the Children and Family Services’ Duty Social Worker to seek an
informal consultation. This provides an opportunity to discuss the query in
general about the child and to decide whether a formal referral to Children
and Family Services is warranted.
Preliminary enquiry
Following a referral to Children and Family Services, and following ‘screening’
(see below), preliminary enquiries involve clarifying the details provided by
the reporter and checking the Children and Family Services’ records, and
where appropriate other internal HSE records.
Referral
Where Children and Family Services are made aware, by whatever means,
about a concern regarding a child and where the eligibility criteria are met, a
new referral is launched by the Social Work Service through the completion of
the standard Intake Record.
Screening
The first step taken when a Duty Social Worker receives a new referral is to
ensure that the following eligibility criteria are met:
• the subject of the referral is a child or an adult who has experienced
abuse as a child;
the concern is about the child’s welfare.
•
Serious Incident Review
A Serious Incident Review is a review of the response, manner and quality
of services provided to children and families. The purpose of the review is to
learn lessons from the handling of specific cases so that deficits in the system
can be addressed.
Significant harm (see Harm)
Standard Report Form
The Standard Report Form for referring child welfare and protection concerns to
the HSE should be used by professionals, staff and volunteers in organisations
working with or in contact with children, or providing services to children, when
reporting child protection and welfare concerns to the HSE Children and Family
Services (see Children First (2011), Appendix 3).