Child Protection Enquiries - Section 47 Children Act 1989

A section 47 enquiry is initiated to decide whether, and what type of, action is required to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child who is suspected to be suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.

Responsibility for undertaking Section 47 enquiries (under section 47 Children Act 1989) lies with the local authority Children's Social Care in whose area the child lives or is found. 'Found' means the physical location where the child suffers the incident of harm or neglect (or is identified as likely to suffer harm or neglect), e.g. nursery or school, boarding school, hospital, one-off event, such as a festival, holiday home or outing or where a privately fostered or looked after child is living with their carers.

The local authority in whose area a child is found in circumstances that require emergency action (the first authority) is responsible for taking emergency action. If the child is looked after by, or the subject of a child protection plan in another authority, the first authority must consult the authority responsible for the child. Only when the second local authority explicitly accepts responsibility (to be followed up in writing) is the first authority relieved of its responsibility to take emergency action.

Local authority social workers have a statutory duty to lead enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. The police, health practitioners, teachers and other school staff and other relevant practitioners should support them in undertaking the enquiries.

Each agency has a duty to assist and provide information in support of child protection enquiries. When requested to do so by Children's Social Care, practitioners from other parts of the local authority such as housing, schools and those in health organisations have a duty to cooperate under Section 27 of the Children Act 1989 by assisting the local authority in carrying out its Children's Social Care functions.

See: Information Sharing Procedure.

The Lead Practitioner should always be a social worker for child protection enquiries.

A multi-agency assessment (see Children and Families Practice Guidance: Assessments Procedure) is the means by which Section 47 Enquiries are carried out. The assessment will have commenced at the point of receipt of referral and it must continue whenever the criteria for Section 47 Enquiries are satisfied. The conclusions and recommendations of the Section 47 Enquiry should inform the assessment which must be completed within 45 working days of the date when the referral was received.

The enquiries and assessment should always involve separate interviews with the child and, in the majority of cases, the parents, and the observation of interaction between the parent and child. This will include interviews and observations of parents, any other carers and the partners of the parents. Practitioners should explain to parents or carers the purpose, process and potential outcome of the enquiries and be prepared to answer questions openly, unless to do so would affect the safety and welfare of the child.

Where there is a risk to the life of a child or the likelihood of serious immediate harm, whether from inside or outside the home, an agency with statutory child protection powers the police including the British Transport Police, Children's Social Care and the NSPCC) should act immediately to secure the immediate safety of the child.

If it is necessary to remove a child from their home, a local authority must, wherever possible and unless a child's safety is otherwise at immediate risk, apply for an Emergency Protection Order (EPO). Police Powers of Protection should only be used in exceptional circumstances where there is insufficient time to seek an EPO or for reasons relating to the immediate safety of the child.

When considering whether emergency action is required, an agency should always consider whether action is also required to safeguard and promote the welfare of other children in the same household (e.g. siblings), the household of an alleged perpetrator, or elsewhere.

See Working Together to Safeguard Children, Flowchart 3: Immediate Protection.

Planned emergency action will normally take place following an immediate strategy discussion/meeting between police, children's social care, health practitioners and other agencies as appropriate.

Social workers, the police or NSPCC should:

• Initiate a strategy discussion to discuss planned emergency action. Where a single agency has to act immediately, a strategy discussion should take place as soon as possible after action has been taken;
• See the child (this should be done by a practitioner from the agency taking the emergency action) to decide how best to protect them and whether to seek an EPO;
• Wherever possible, obtain legal advice before initiating legal action, in particular when an EPO is being sought.

Whenever there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, there should be a strategy discussion involving local authority children’s social care (including the residential or fostering service, if the child is looked after), the police, health, and other bodies such as the referring agency, education, early help, or other practitioners involved in supporting the child. This might take the form of a multi-agency meeting and more than one discussion may be necessary. A strategy discussion can take place following a referral or at any other time, including during the assessment process and when new information is received on an already open case. Strategy discussions/meetings should be convened as soon as possible bearing in mind the needs of the child.

Purpose

The purpose of a strategy discussion is to determine the child’s welfare and plan rapid future action if there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.

Attendees

A local authority social worker, health practitioners and a police representative should, as a minimum, be involved in the strategy discussion. Other relevant practitioners will depend on the nature of the individual case but may include those who have concerns about the child and/or those involved in the child’s life, for example:

• The practitioner or agency which made the referral;
• The child’s school/nursery/educational establishment;
• Any health or care services the child or family members are receiving;
• Youth justice practitioner and/or youth worker
• Adult mental health, substance misuse and/or domestic abuse specialist;
• British Transport Police representative.

In the case of a pre-birth strategy discussion/meeting this should involve the midwifery services.

All attendees should be sufficiently senior to make decisions on behalf of their organisation and agencies. They should be sufficiently skilled and experienced to prepare for and engage with the strategy discussion and be able to critically assess and challenge their own and others’ input.

In some circumstances, strategy discussions by telephone may be adequate to plan an enquiry and must include the agencies directly involved with the child. For telephone strategy discussions, all agencies should make a record of the outcome of the telephone discussion and actions agreed at the time. The record of the notes and decisions authorised by the Children's Social Care manager should be circulated as soon as practicable to all parties to the discussion.

Some examples of circumstances where a strategy discussion/meeting should be considered:

• Any new referrals in respect of a child where there are concerns that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm;
• When new information on an existing case in Children's Social Care indicates that a child is likely to suffer significant harm;
• Any new information that a child may be likely to suffer, or has suffered significant harm including sexual, physical or emotional abuse, neglect or domestic abuse (including controlling or coercive behaviour), exploitation by criminal gangs or organised crime groups, trafficking, online abuse, sexual exploitation, and the influences of extremism which could lead to radicalisation; When an adult or young person assessed as presenting a risk to children has moved into, or is about to move into, the child's household or such a person is regularly visiting or about to have sustained contact with the child;
• When the likelihood of significant harm to an unborn child may be such as to indicate the need to develop a Child Protection Plan before birth;
• When the death of a child in family, in which abuse or neglect is suspected, is confirmed and there are other children in the household;
• When a child lives in, or is born to, a household in which resides another child who is currently the subject of a Child Protection Plan;
• When a child who is currently the subject of a Child Protection Plan in another area moves into the area  unless the other authority is to retain responsibility for the case;
• When a child has sexually assaulted another child or there is a risk of such an assault occurring to another child in the same household or in regular contact with the household (in which circumstances a Child Protection Conference should be held in respect of both children).

(This is not an exhaustive list).

Tasks

A strategy discussion/meeting should be used to:

• Share, seek and analyse available information;
• Agree the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation;
• Decide whether an assessment under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 (Section 47 Enquiries) should be undertaken.

It is for the local authority to decide whether to make enquiries and the strategy discussion should inform this decision.

Where there are grounds to initiate an enquiry under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, decisions should be made as to:

• What further information is needed if an assessment is already underway and how it will be obtained and recorded;
• What immediate and short-term action is required to support the child, and who will do what by when;
• Whether legal action is required.

Lead practitioners should convene the strategy discussion and make sure they:

• Consider the child’s welfare and safety, including through speaking to the child, and identifying whether the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm;
• Decide what information should be shared with the child and family (on the basis that information is not shared if this may jeopardise a police investigation or place the child at risk of harm);
• Agree what further action is required, and who will do what by when, where an EPO is in place, or the child is the subject of police powers of protection;
• Record agreed decisions in accordance with recording procedures;
• Follow up actions to make sure what was agreed gets done.

Health practitioners should:

• Advise about the appropriateness or otherwise of medical assessments, and explain the benefits that arise from assessing previously unmanaged health matters that may be further evidence of neglect or maltreatment;
• Provide and co-ordinate any specific information from relevant practitioners regarding family health, maternity health, school health mental health, domestic abuse and violence, and substance misuse to assist strategy and decision making;
• Secure additional expert advice and support from named and/or designated professionals for more complex cases following preliminary strategy discussions;
• Undertake appropriate examinations or observations, and further investigations or tests, to determine how the child’s health or development may be impaired.

The Police should:

• Discuss the basis for any criminal investigation, including both reactive (where there is evidence to suggest a crime has been committed) and proactive (where further activity is required to establish if a crime has occurred), and any relevant processes that other organisations and agencies might need to know about, including the timing and methods of evidence-gathering;
• Lead the criminal investigation where joint enquiries take place with the local authority children’s social care leading for the section 47 enquires and assessment of the child’s welfare.

If the child is in hospital, decisions should also be made about how to secure the safe discharge of the child.

Outcomes:

The plan made at the strategy discussion/meeting should reflect the requirement to convene an Initial Child Protection Conference within 15 working days of the strategy discussion at which it was decided to initiate the Section 47 Enquiry. When Children's Social Care have concluded that an Initial Child Protection Conference is not required but practitioners in other agencies remain seriously concerned about the safety of a child, these practitioners should seek further discussion with the Lead Practitioner, their manager and/or the designated safeguarding professional lead. The concerns, discussions and any agreements made should be recorded in each agency's files. This should be actioned within a timescale commensurate with the need to safeguard the child and in accordance with the Complaints in Relation to Child Protection Conferences Procedure.

If the conclusion of the strategy discussion/meeting is that there is no cause to pursue the Section 47 Enquiry then consideration should be given to continuing a multi-agency assessment to meet the needs of the child for any Early Help support services or to provide family support services to them as a child in need.

See Working Together to Safeguard Children, Flowchart 5: Action Following a Strategy Meeting.

For information on electronic and digital recording of meetings see related guidance in the Child Protection Conferences Procedure, Membership of Child Protection Conference.

Local authority social workers should lead assessments under section 47 of the Children Act 1989. The police, health practitioners, teachers and school staff and other relevant practitioners should help the local authority in undertaking its enquiries.

The Lead Practitioner for section 47 enquiries should be a social worker.

Practitioners should work collaboratively and proactively with multi-agency practitioners to build an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the daily life of a child and their family to establish the likelihood of significant harm and any ongoing risks.

Lead practitioners should:

• Lead the assessment in accordance with the guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• Carry out enquiries in a way that minimises distress for the child and family;
• See the child who is the subject of concern to ascertain their wishes and feelings, assess their understanding of their situation, assess their relationships and circumstances more broadly, and understand the child’s experiences and interactions with others, especially where there are concerns of extra-familial harm;
• Explain to parents or carers the purpose, process and potential outcome of the enquiries and be prepared to answer questions openly, unless to do so would affect the safety and welfare of the child;
• Interview parents or carers and determine the wider social and environmental factors that might impact on them and their child, including extra-familial contexts;
• Systematically gather information about the child’s and family’s history;
• Analyse the findings of the assessment and evidence about what interventions are likely to be most effective with other relevant practitioners;
• Determine the child’s needs and the level of risk of harm faced by the child to inform what help should be provided and act to provide that help;
• Follow the guidance set out in Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on Interviewing Victims and Witnesses and Guidance on Using Special Measures where a decision has been made to undertake a joint interview of the child as part of any criminal investigation.

Health practitioners should:

• Provide appropriate specialist assessments, for example, paediatric or forensic medical assessments, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and/or child psychologists may be involved in specific assessments relating to the child’s developmental progress. The lead health practitioner (probably a consultant paediatrician, or possibly the child’s GP) may need to request and co-ordinate these assessments;
• Ensure appropriate treatment and follow-up health concerns, such as administering missing vaccines.

The Police should:

• Help other organisations and agencies understand the reasons for concerns about the child’s safety and welfare by sharing information and analysis;
• Decide whether or not police investigations reveal grounds for instigating criminal proceedings;
• Make available to other practitioners any other relevant information gathered or known to inform discussions about the child’s welfare;
• Follow the guidance set out in Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on Interviewing Victims and Witnesses and Guidance on Using Special Measures where a decision has been made to undertake a joint interview of the child as part of the criminal investigation.

All involved practitioners should:

• Contribute to the assessment as required, providing information and analysis about the child and family;
• Consider whether a joint enquiry or investigation team may need to speak to a child victim without the knowledge of the parent or carers;
• Approach the work with parents and carers in line with the principles in chapter 1 of Working Together to Safeguard Children;
• Seek advice and guidance as required and in line with local practice.

The National Multi-agency Practice Standards for Child Protection provide that:

Practitioners should:

• Satisfy themselves that conclusions about the likelihood of significant harm give sufficient weight to the views, experiences, and concerns of those who know the child and/or parents well, including relatives who are protective of the child, and other relevant practitioners;
• Share their thinking and proposed recommendations with other practitioners who hold relevant information and insight into the child and adults involved with the child;
• Comment, challenge, and jointly deliberate, before making a final decision about the likelihood of significant harm;
• Together with other agencies, clarify what family help from multiagency partners is necessary to reduce the likelihood of significant harm and maintain reasonable care for the children. They should seek assurance that this resource is available and of sufficient skill and intensity;
• Remain alert to changes in circumstances for the child and family and respond as new information comes to light that needs to be reflected in the child protection plan;
• Reflect on the proposed protection plan and consider adjustments to strengthen the protection plan. The protection plan should be specific, achievable, and relevant to the likelihood of significant harm and the context in which it is occurring.

The assessment of risk will:

• Identify the cause for concern, its seriousness, any recurring events and the vulnerability and resilience of the child;
• Evaluate the strengths, including the protective factors, and weaknesses of the family;
• Evaluate the risks to the child/ren and the context in which they are living;
• Consider the child's needs for protection; from whom and how;
• Consider the capacity of the parents and wider family and social networks to safeguard and promote the child's welfare - this should include both parents, any other carers, such as grandparents, and the partners of the parents;
• Consider risk factors that may suggest a higher level of vulnerability in the family and risk of significant harm such as parental mental health difficulties, parental substance misuse, and domestic abuse or combinations of these;
• Determine the level of intervention required to improve the outcome for the child to be safeguarded in the immediate, interim and longer term.

See Working Together to Safeguard Children, Flowchart 4: Action Taken for an Assessment of a Child under the Children Act 1989.

You should approach the work with parents and carers in line with the principles of a child-centred approach within a whole family focus set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children.

Strategy discussions/meetings must consider, in consultation with the named Doctor/Paediatrician (if not part of the strategy discussion/meeting), the need for and the timing of a medical assessment. Medical assessments should always be considered necessary where there has been a disclosure or there is a suspicion of any form of abuse to a child.

A medical assessment should demonstrate a holistic approach to the child and assess the child's well-being, including mental health, development and cognitive ability.

A medical assessment is necessary to:

• Secure forensic evidence;
• Obtain medical documentation;
• Provide reassurance for the child and parent;
• Inform treatment follow-up and review for the child (any injury, infection, new symptoms including psychological).

Only doctors may physically examine the whole child. All other staff should only note any visible marks or injuries on a body map and record, date and sign details in the child's file.

Visually recorded interviews must be planned and conducted jointly by trained police officers and social workers in accordance with the Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on interviewing victims and witnesses, and guidance on using special measures (Ministry of Justice). All events up to the time of the video interview must be fully recorded. Consideration of the use of video-recorded evidence should take into account situations where the child has been subject to abuse using recording equipment. Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) promotes a strong victim-centred and trauma-informed approach throughout the guidance. It covers the interview process for child and adult victims and witnesses during a criminal investigation, the pre-trial preparation process and the support available to witnesses in court.

Visually recorded interviews serve two primary purposes:

• Evidence gathering for criminal proceedings;
• Examination in chief of a child witness.

Relevant information from this process can also be used to inform Section 47 Enquiries, subsequent civil childcare proceedings or disciplinary proceedings against adults, where allegations have been made.

The Lead Practitioner (social worker) is responsible for deciding what action to take and how to proceed following section 47 enquiries. They should make these decisions based on multi-agency discussions informed by the voice of the child.

It is important that they ensure that both immediate risk assessment and long-term risk assessment are considered. Where the child's circumstances are about to change, the risk assessment must include an assessment of the safety of the new environment (e.g. where a child is to be discharged from hospital to home the assessment must have established the safety of the home environment and implemented any support plan required to meet the child's needs).

The outcome of the Section 47 Enquiries may reflect that the original concerns are:

• Not substantiated; although consideration should be given to whether the child may need services as a child in need;
• Substantiated and the child is judged to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm and an initial child protection conference should be called.

The speed with which an assessment is carried out after a child’s case has been referred into the local authority Children’s Social Care should be determined by the needs of the individual child and the nature and level of any risk of harm they face. This will require judgements to be made by a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager on each individual case. Adult assessments, for example, parent carer or non-parent carer assessments, should also be carried out in a timely manner.

The timescale for the assessment to reach a decision on the next steps should be based upon the needs of the individual child, consistent with the local protocol and no longer than 45 working days from the point of referral into the local authority Children’s Social Care. If, in discussion with a child and their family and other practitioners, an assessment exceeds 45 working days, the Lead Practitioner should record the reasons for exceeding the time limit. In some cases, the needs of the child will mean that a quick assessment will be required. In all cases, as practitioners identify needs during the assessment, they do not need to wait until the assessment concludes before providing support or commissioning services to support the child and their family.

The maximum period of an enquiry from the strategy discussion/ meeting to the date of the initial child protection conference is 15 working days. In exceptional circumstances, where more than one strategy discussion/meeting takes place, the timescale remains as 15 working days from the strategy discussion/meeting which initiated the Section 47 Enquiries.

A full written record must be completed by each agency involved in a Section 47 Enquiry, using the required agency proforma, authorised and dated by the staff.

The responsible manager must countersign/authorise Children's Social Care Section 47 recording and forms.

Practitioners should, wherever possible, retain rough notes in line with local retention of record procedures until the completion of anticipated legal proceedings.

At the completion of the enquiry, the Lead Practitioner or the social work manager should ensure that the concerns and outcome have been entered in the recording system including on the child's chronology and that other agencies have been informed.

Children's Social Care recording of enquiries should include:

• Agency checks;
• Content of contact cross-referenced with any specific forms used;
• Strategy discussion/meeting notes;
• Details of the enquiry;
• Body maps (where applicable);
• Assessment including identification of risks and how they may be managed;
• Decision-making processes;
• Outcome/further action planned.

All agencies involved should ensure that records have been concluded and countersigned in line with agency policies and recording procedures.

All records should be checked for the correct spelling of names and any alias as well as correct dates of birth.

Section 3 in Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out national multi-agency practice standards for child protection for all practitioners working in services and settings who come into contact with children who may be suffering or have suffered significant harm within or outside the home.

Local safeguarding partners need to ensure all practitioners are supported to be able to achieve the national multi-agency practice standards for child protection, including through:

• An unrelenting focus on protection and the best outcomes for children;
• Creating learning cultures in which practitioners stay up to date as new evidence of best practice emerges;
• Creating an environment in which it is safe to challenge, including assumptions that relate to ethnicity, sex, disability, and sexuality.