Case Conference

Those attending conferences should be there because they have a significant contribution to make arising from professional expertise, a knowledge of the child or family or both. Attendance should be limited to those who need to be there.

The appropriate social work manager, in conjunction with the duty / allocated social worker, will decide who to invite. All those who have been invited should give priority to attending and included in their invite will be a list of those also invited to the conference.

Consideration should be given to inviting the following:

the child, carers and family members, including all those with parental responsibility
Children and Maternity Services staff who have been involved in any assessment/support to the child and/or family
the Police
a representative of the child's school (where the child is of school age)
any other Education Department staff involved with the child e.g. the education welfare officer, educational psychologist or youth worker
the relevant Medical Specialist Group paediatrician and any examining doctors
the child's GP
the health visitor, school nurse, midwife, senior nurse for child protection and other relevant health professionals as appropriate
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Probation and Youth Justice workers.
legal services
parent/s' GP
Adult Mental Health Services
substance misuse services
family support services
pre-school / day care services
any voluntary organisation involved
a representative of the Armed Services, in cases where there is a service connection
Safeguarder Social Worker* when they have current / relevant information.

* The Safeguarder Social Worker will be asked to contribute to the discussion of the Child Protection Conference, when they have current and relevant information. They will not be asked to make a recommendation as to whether the child needs a Child Protection Plan.

Initial child protection case conference
These meetings are held within fifteen working days of a strategy discussion, at which a social work manager decides that the appropriate threshold has been met for convening a case conference.
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Conference agenda
There are certain areas that must be covered at a child protection case conference and these are set out on this page.
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Quorum
It is important that all invited agencies, who have a significant role with any relevant family member, do attend the conference, as this will often reflect their involvement in the process of protecting the child.
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Involvement of parents and carers - at conference
Parents should be encouraged to attend the conference, they have an important contribution to make. The importance of working in partnership with parents and family members underpins all child protection work and there is a need to establish openness and honesty between professionals and families from the outset of the enquiries.
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Involvement of children at conference
Children and young people should be involved throughout the child protection process. This does not necessarily mean that they must attend the actual conference, though this is often helpful.
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Conference chair
The Chair has the responsibility for making sure that all can participate, information is shared appropriately, decisions are made as required and that the process is accurately recorded.
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Written reports
Each agency invited to attend the conference should produce a written report and discuss this with parents, and children where appropriate, in advance of the conference. It is the responsibility of all agencies, who have relevant information, to make this available to the conference in the form of a written, legible and signed report.
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Registration
A key decision of the conference is whether the child should be registered, as being considered to be at risk, and therefore in need of a child protection plan.
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Children moving into Guernsey or Alderney
Children who move into Guernsey or Alderney and are already subject to a child protection plan will need further assessment and a 'transfer in' conference to determine whether the plan needs to continue while the child is resident in one of the islands.
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Case conference minutes
It is the responsibility of the chair of the conference to ensure a clear record is made of every case conference.
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Case Conference

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