Child Protection Procedures - East Ayrshire Council

SECTION 6
Informing and Consulting the Family
6.1 The Principles of Openness and Honesty
6.1.1 The principles of communicating openly and honestly with parents
and children must apply throughout the processes involved in child
protection work and cannot be confined to Child Protection Case
Conferences.
6.1.2 Child Protection investigations and further work with children and
their families are most likely to be effective if parents and older
children have been given information, and consulted appropriately
from the outset. Parents have a right to know what concerns there
are about their children and what action is to be taken. They must
also have the opportunity to influence the process by which decisions
involving them and their children are reached. Children who are old
enough to understand, must also hear what the concerns about them
are, be told what action is to be taken on their behalf and be given an
appropriate opportunity to express their views.
6.2 Who Needs to be Consulted?
6.2.1 At the beginning of a Child Protection Investigation, the Social
Worker in consultation with the Team Leader, must decide who in a
particular family needs to be given information and to be consulted.
6.2.2 Obviously this will vary according to the circumstances of each case,
but consideration will need to be given to the following people:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
N.B.
Parents – if parents are separated, the non-custodial
parent would normally be informed that an investigation is
being carried out.
The child – if old enough to understand.
Anyone who has parental responsibility.
Other carers – e.g. if a child is cared for on a full-time basis
by another relative, or Foster Carers.
In the remainder of this document, the term ‘parents’ is
used to mean anyone who has parental responsibility for
the child, or who has day-to-day care of the child.
6.3 Information to be given
(Information about the investigation)
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