Page 5 - Getting it Right for Vulnerable Children and Young People in North Ayrshire

Who is this guidance for? This guidance is designed primarily to support those practitioners across the multi -agency workforce who are involved in the Getting it right for every child approach in North Ayrshire and who come into contact with children and/or their parents and carers in the course of their day to day work. This will include colleagues in social services, health, education, housing, police and the voluntary sector. Purpose of Guidance The purpose of this document is to assist those that come into contact with children or parents and carers in the course of their everyday work to identify vulnerability at the earliest possible stage and to respond in the appropriate way when a child or young person’s needs and rights require be protected and supported. How to use this guidance This document is a practice guide and will assist you in knowing what steps to take when you become concerned that a child may be vulnerable and that this vulnerability may be impacting on the child’s well-being, (as defined by the eight wellbeing indicators). It will help you make an initial assessment of your concern and guide your response. For some concerns it will provide additional guidance, drawn from research and practice experience to help inform your intervention. This Guide will help you to recognise when to share your concerns with others and jointly plan next steps. It is important that as soon as a concern or need is identified that it is responded to in the right way, using the right procedures, involving the right people and providing a proportionate response working in partnership with families. This document gives direct guidance for some vulnerabilities. For others it briefly describes the vulnerability and signposts to existing multi-agency guidance. We have categorised these vulnerabilities into themes based on the presenting issues, risk or behaviour of the child/young person. For any intervention in a child or young person’s life the child/young person’s named person and the child/young person’s lead professional (if there is one) should always be involved. All multi-agency guidance developed in North Ayrshire is designed to complement the policies and procedures in place in every organisation. Thus, this guidance is designed to be used alongside your own organisations policies, providing additional support to staff in responding to highly complex issues. At times, a concern you have about a vulnerable child or young person may indicate they might be at risk of significant harm. These types of concerns are responded to using child protection procedures. Getting It Right For Vulnerable Children and Young People in North Ayrshire Live V1.2 April 2014 Page No:5