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Contents

1. Initial Contacts 
2. Referrals 
3. Timescales 
4. Screening Process
5. Initial Disposal of Referrals 
6. Recording of Referrals 

1. Initial Contacts

An Initial Contact is made where Children's Social Care is contacted about a child, who may be a Child in Need, and where there is a request for general advice, information or a service. At any time, an Initial Contact may become a Referral if it appears that services may be required for a Child in Need.

All contacts regarding children who have not got an open case file must go through the Customer Service Centre. FAST teams are permitted to take contacts but this is discouraged and in the event of a contact being taken by the FAST team, the person taking the contact must take responsibility for recording it as outlined in this chapter.

Customer Service Advisors must check that the child is known on ICS.

Wherever contact is made to the Customer Service Centre regarding children who have an allocated worker, the caller will be connected with the social worker. However, if this is not possible, the Customer Service Advisor will note the contact on the child's Case Note.

In all other cases, at the point when an Initial Contact is made, the Customer Service Advisor should establish whether the enquiry can be dealt with by the provision of information and advice or re-direction to other agencies or services. Whenever this is the case, the Customer Service Advisor will record the information onto ICS.

The Customer Service Advisor will always check the Children's Services' Records to see if the child or family is known and, if known, retrieve information on them. Any such information should be passed to the duty social worker in the locality where the child resides or where the case is open.

If it appears to the Customer Service Adviser that the contact may proceed to a referral, the Customer Centre Screening Manager is sent the information as a 'Contact Action' and a decision will be made about the outcome of the contact which can be:

• Provide information or redirect to another service;
• Progress to a Referral see Section 2, Referrals;
• The caller to complete a Single Assessment Form (SAF) if they are a Professional Referrer. In the event that a professional referrer is making a contact in the form of a SAF, they will be advised that they need to obtain the family's consent unless there is reason to believe that the child is likely to suffer Significant Harm and that their welfare will be prejudiced if consent is sought.

The outcome decision must be made within 24 hours of making the referral.

In circumstances where there are concerns that a child is likely to suffer Significant Harm the process can proceed to a referral immediately and the Customer Service Advisor will contact the FAST Team by telephone.

Referrers should have an opportunity to discuss their concerns with a qualified social worker (WT 2010 section 5.32)

When a contact is to proceed to a referral the Customer Service Centre Advisor/Screening Manager will create a child's record on ICS. All contacts must be recorded as soon as possible but always within 24 hours. They must have the outcome: ‘referral screened and awaiting assessment’ and a workflow notification sent to the Team Manager of the local team of the address of the child/young person.

All referrals, decisions and outcomes will be assessed and monitored on the basis of meeting ethnicity, language, religious, cultural and diversity needs.

Professionals who phone the Local authority with concerns about a child's welfare or request for services as a child in need should confirm their assessment and request in writing within 48 hours. The Single Assessment Form is one method of doing this.

2. Referrals

An Initial Contact will be progressed to a Referral where the Screening Manager considers an assessment and/or services may be required for a Child in Need.

When there is a request from another lead professional on behalf of the family for an Initial Assessment when the TAC is active:

• The lead professional will gain the consent from the child/young person and parent(s)/carer(s) for a request to be made to social care for an Initial Assessment. The consent will be recorded in the designated place on the current Common Assessment/plan;
• The lead professional will gain the consent from the child/young person, parent(s)/carer(s) and all involved professionals for the information to be shared with social care and for social care to use the information contained within the common assessment/plan to inform the Initial Assessment. The lead professional will record the consent within the TAC;
• The lead professional will ensure that the information recorded on the SAF is accurate and up to date and of a standard that enables social care to use it as the basis of the Initial Assessment. Once the lead professional has been notified that the Initial Assessment has commenced the lead professional will send the Lead Social Worker the completed SAF within one working day of the notification.

The SAF is not a referral form although it may be used to support a referral or a specialist assessment' (WT 2010 section 2.17).

Contacts meeting the threshold for an Initial Assessment and to be sent directly to the FAST team

Where the content of the Contact meets the threshold for an Initial Assessment and are within the criteria for direct transfer to the FAST Team a referral will be created by the CSC with the outcome ‘referral screened and awaiting assessment’ and a workflow notification sent to the Team Manager of the local team of the address of the child/young person. 

Where the contact information reaches the threshold for a consultation with the Police Protection Unit the CSC Advisor will record the content of the consultation within the contact or referral depending up on which stage the CSC Advisor undertakes the discussion. The consultation is to determine whether a criminal offence may have been committed against the child and is not a strategy discussion.

At this stage the "who is responsible for this referral" field will have the CSC worker in, so that a notification can be sent back to them to identify that the FAST Team Manager has received the contact action.

Once the referral is authorised an automatic notification is sent to the CSC Advisor. The CSC Advisor will amend ‘who is responsible for this referral’ and ‘which team is responsible for this referral’ fields. It will be amended to the FAST Team Manager’s details.

FAST Team Action

The duty social worker will arrange to visit or contact the referrer and obtain and record as much of the following information as possible:

• Full names, dates of birth and gender of children;
• Family address, telephone numbers, email address and, where relevant, school/nursery attended, contact details and name of Headteacher/teacher;
• Identity of those with Parental Responsibility;
• Names and dates of birth of all members of the household and any other information required to complete the child's record;
• Ethnicity, first language and religion of children and parents;
• Any special needs of the children;
• Any significant recent or past events;
• Cause for concern including details of allegations, their sources, timing and location;
• The child's current location and emotional and physical condition;
• Whether the child needs immediate protection;
• Details of any alleged perpetrator;
• Referrer's relationship with and knowledge of the child and his or her family;
• Known involvement of other agencies;
• Information regarding parents' knowledge and agreement to referral;
• Referrers should be asked specifically if they hold any information about difficulties being experienced by the family/household due to domestic abuse, mental illness, substance misuse, and/or learning difficulties' (WT 2010, section 5.32).

3. Timescales

Any member of staff who receives information relating to a child, who may be a Child in Need, must redirect the information to the Customer Service Centre, or (if it is known that it is an open referral) FAST Team or allocated social worker. The information must be redirected immediately and within one hour at the very longest.

Once received by the appropriate team, all Referrals must be completed and a decision made about the outcome within one working day.

The process of creating a contact through to the authorisation of the Referral is one working day from the date/time of the recorded on the contact.

Children's services should acknowledge a written referral within one working day of receiving it.

4. Screening Process

These procedures for the screening of Referrals apply to new cases of children previously unknown to the authority, and to closed cases.

The process of Referrals must include screening against the Prioritisation with internal and agency checks undertaken as necessary. The child's name must be checked against the ICS Database to establish whether the family is previously known, and whether there is a Child Protection Plan in relation to the child or that they are a Looked After Child. (See also Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board Procedures, Section 47 Enquiries and Core Assessments).

The process for the screening of referrals involves the initial stage where the Customer Services Advisor takes the referral call and gathers the information. The Screening Manager will review and analyse the information gathered by the Customer Services Adviser and make a decision as to the appropriate outcome.

The screening process should establish:

• The nature of the concern;
• How and why it has arisen;
• What the child's needs appear to be;
• Whether the concern involves Significant Harm;
• Whether there is any need for urgent action to protect the child or any children in the household.

This process will involve:

• Discussion with the referrer if further detail or clarification is required;
• Consideration of any existing records, including whether the child is/or has been the subject of a Child Protection Plan/CiN plan;
• The Area Team will Involve other agencies as necessary.

If there are indications that a child may be at risk of Significant Harm, the Screening Manager may authorise whatever actions are necessary to protect the child or others in the household from Significant Harm, which may result in the immediate provision of services.

Confidentiality

If there is suspicion that a crime may have been committed including sexual or physical assault or Neglect, the Police must be notified immediately.

Personal information about non-professional referrers should not be disclosed to the parents or other agencies without the referrer's consent.

The parent's Consent should usually be sought before discussing a referral with other agencies unless this may place the child at risk of Significant Harm, in which case the Screening Manager should authorise the discussion of the referral with other agencies without parental knowledge or consent.  The authorisation should be recorded with reasons.

5. Initial Disposal of Referrals

The initial disposal of a Referral, which must be authorised by the Screening Manager, may be:

1. That the child does not appear to be a Child In Need which will result in one of the following: the provision of information, advice, sign-posting to another agency and/or no further action;
2. That the child appears to have a low level of needs or risks. In these circumstances the manager must request an Initial Assessment;
3. That the child appears to have moderate to high which must initiate an Initial Assessment;
4. That it is suspected that the child is suffering or is likely to suffer from Significant Harm. In these circumstances, the Screening Manager must progress to an Initial Assessment, with a view to conducting a Strategy Discussion, prior to Child Protection Enquiry and Core Assessment commencing.

Professional referrers should be advised of the disposal of the referral.

Feedback on the outcome of the Referral should also be provided to non-professional referrers in a manner consistent with respecting the confidentiality of the child.

6. Recording of Referrals

All Initial Contacts and Referrals should be recorded on the ICS Database.

Copying a Referral to siblings

The decision to create a referral to a sibling and authorisation of the referral must be completed in one working day of the date and time of the original referral. The date of the siblings referral must be the date which it was created and not the date of the original referral.

Sibling contact not progressing to referral

The sibling authorising the referral of the sibling will select the outcome of the contact on the siblings. This must be completed when authorising the referral. All contacts must have an outcome selected within one working day of it being created.

Creating a contact and referral on a siblings record at a later date

If a contact on a sibling's record did not progress to a referral within one working day, a further contact must be created if further information is received. This contact must be followed by a referral if an Initial Assessment is required. The timescales for creating contacts and referrals outlined earlier in this document apply.

End