The Conwy and Denbighshire Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding children in its annual report, which is now available to read at www.conwy.gov.uk/lscb
The annual report charts progress made over the previous year and identifies new priorities for the year ahead.
The LSCB is made up of organisations who play a crucial role in ensuring children’s welfare is safeguarded and, where necessary, that they are protected from significant harm.
The key priorities for 2010-11 were:
- The level of referral and management of referrals across agencies (including domestic violence),
- The development of an over-arching safeguarding policy,
- Training on engaging with complex and challenging families, neglect and sexual abuse,
- The continued development of a multi-agency approach to managing neglect.
Over the year, partner agencies have worked together to improve the management of referrals in both Conwy and Denbighshire, 317 practitioners were given training in areas such as neglect, dealing with difficult and dangerous families, sexual abuse and legal context of child protection.
The over-arching safeguarding policy has been produced and implemented and a ‘Framework for Analysis’ tool has been developed and now provides a framework that frontline workers in each agency can refer to when considering safeguarding concerns about a child.
The Conwy and Denbighshire board was set up in 2008 and has representatives from both Conwy and Denbighshire local authorities, health, police, probation, youth justice service, CAFCASS, NSPCC and the voluntary sector.
Leighton Rees, chair of the LSCB, said: “We are pleased with progress the board has made this and we are now looking to further improve over the year ahead.
“The LSCB believes that everyone is responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we work to achieve this by leading collaboration across all agencies in the community, developing and setting policies and procedures, ensuring appropriate training is available, promoting awareness and action in the wider community and conducting Serious Case Reviews when a child dies or is seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is suspected.”
For the year ahead, the Board has identified four new priority areas, which include:
- The early intervention to prevent families with drug & alcohol, mental health or domestic violence problems escalating from safeguarding to child protection issues.
- To ensure information on vulnerable families are shared with all relevant agencies and that services are planned and shaped from a safeguarding perspective.
- Through early intervention, prevent children exhibiting inappropriate sexualised behaviours becoming perpetrators of sexual offences
- To ensure the direction, work and review of the LSCB is informed by consultation with children and young people, their parents and carers.
The full copy of the report can be found at www.conwy.gov.uk/lscb
