Children’s Social Care Services must hold a Strategy Discussion whenever, on the basis of the available information, there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer Significant Harm and a Core Assessment incorporating a Section 47 Enquiry is likely to be necessary.
This may be following a referral and Initial Assessment or at any time during an assessment or where a child is receiving support services, if concerns about Significant Harm to the child emerge.
The purpose of the Strategy Discussion is to decide if a Core Assessment and Section 47 Enquiry are required and, if so, to develop a plan of action – see Section 6, Agenda for Strategy Discussion/Meeting.
The Strategy Discussion may take place over the telephone and may determine that a Strategy Meeting is necessary to deal with all the issues on the agenda (see Section 3, When a Strategy Meeting is Required).
More than one Strategy Discussion/Meeting may be necessary.
Where there are more than one Strategy Discussion/Meetings, care must be taken to monitor the time frames involved so that no child is left for too long without a decision as to what services should be provided or what actions should be taken. Where an Initial Child Protection Conference is to be convened this must take place within 15 working days of the last Strategy Discussion/Meeting.
A Strategy Discussion may decide that a Strategy Meeting should be held to deal with the issues on the agenda – see Section 6, Agenda for Strategy Discussion/Meeting.
In the following circumstances, a Strategy Meeting, chaired by a senior manager from Children’s Social Care Services, must be held:
Otherwise, Strategy Meetings can be chaired by a Children’s Social Care Services team manager.
Usually, the Strategy Meeting should be held at the local Children’s Social Care Services office, but can be convened elsewhere if appropriate, for example, if the child is an in-patient in hospital.
The Strategy Discussion/Meeting should involve at a minimum the Children’s Social Care Services, the Police, the referring agency and other agencies involved with the family as appropriate. Timing will determine who attends. The meeting should not be delayed by the unavailability of the referrer or the agencies involved.
If the child is a hospital patient (in-patient or out-patient) or receiving services from a child development team, the medical consultant responsible for the child’s health should be involved, as should the senior ward nurse where the child is an in-patient. Where a medical examination may be necessary, or has taken place, a Consultant Paediatrician should be involved and, at a minimum, information sought from him or her.
In the case of a pre-birth Strategy Meeting this should involve the midwifery services, hospital based and community based, as appropriate.
If the child lives outside the area, all agencies who have information about the child and family must be invited to attend or contribute to the Strategy Discussion/Meeting.
Where required, a legal adviser should be invited to a Strategy Meeting or legal advice sought to inform the Strategy Discussion.
Consideration should also be given to the need to seek advice from or invite a professional with expertise in the particular type of suspected Significant Harm.
Those participating should be sufficiently senior to be able to contribute to the discussions of the available information and to make decisions on behalf of their own agency.
The Strategy Discussion must take place within 24 hours of the referral.
Where a Strategy Meeting is required, this must take place within a maximum of 7 working days of the receipt of a Referral, except in the cases listed below.
The urgency of the situation, however, may dictate that the Strategy Discussion and/or Meeting takes place soon after the referral is received.
The Strategy Discussion/Meeting should be used to:
Any decision made at a Strategy Discussion or Meeting, i.e. that concerns are not substantiated, or that concerns are substantiated but the child is not judged to be at continuing risk of Significant Harm, or that concerns are substantiated and the child is judged to be at risk of Significant Harm, must be authorised by a Children’s Social Care Services manager.
Where a decision is made to apply for an Emergency Protection Order, legal advice must be obtained and the approval of a Children’s Social Care Services manager must also be obtained.
Any decision made after a Strategy Discussion/Meeting that further child protection action by Children’s Social Care Services and/or the Police is not necessary as there is insufficient evidence of risk of Significant Harm to the child may only be made providing it is agreed by a Children’s Social Care Services manager and the Officer in Charge of the Police Child Abuse Investigation Unit and the reasons recorded.
Where the decision of the Strategy Discussion/Meeting is to initiate a Section 47 Enquiry, the plan for the Section 47 Enquiry should reflect the requirement to convene an Initial Child Protection Conference within 15 working days of the last Strategy Discussion.
At the conclusion of the Strategy Discussion/Meeting, a list of action points, timescales, agreed roles and responsibilities and an agreed mechanism for reviewing completion of the action points must be recorded and circulated to all parties within one working day. The Children’s Social Care Services will record this on a Record of Strategy Discussion.
For telephone discussions, a copy of this record authorised by the manager should be faxed to all participants.
Records of Strategy Discussions/Meetings will be held in the relevant record systems for the child. Where appropriate, taking into account the confidentiality of the child/ren and any adult, agreed sections of the records should be placed on the relevant records for the adult.
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