Does anyone know about the Child Protection Register please?

If so, do you know what reasons would a child be placed on there? Does it differ from area to area? Can a child ever come off the register or are they on there for life.

Thanks Sam  

I don't think it exists any more? They used to go on if they were considered at risk in some way and came off when they were no longer at risk. I get confused as it all seems to change at the time. I think they're now just called at child in need/at risk etc.

 Thanks Zoay. Think I will google and see what comes up.

I work in admin for Health Visitors, School Nurses and a Paediatrician, and i type the Child Protection reports for them. There is such a thing as the child protection register but the status for being on there can vary greatly - at risk of neglect, physical/emotional abuse etc . A child isnt on there for life and the case is reviewed (in our area) approx every 3-4 months depending on each case. Health Professionals will suggest ways to help the family and as long as the family adhere to those suggestions and change whatever the problem was, the case will be reviewed less and less frequently and when all agencies are happy the child will be reomved from the register. They may still have input from Social Services though. Thats my understanding of the basics anyway, however im only admin.

Hope that helps you

x

 Thanks fruitpolo that is helpful.

Sam x

social services can access details of the children at risk (they will give info to authorised peopel ie health professionals if needed).  it is more a reigster of children known to social services and gives details of why there is a concearn.  it also gives details of siblings, names of social worker etc.  although the chil may not remain 'at risk' for life, social services are able to tell if the child has ever been known to them.

i think delicious devil woman will probably know much more of the ins and outs about this.

I had to write an essay on this a while back - this is how I summarised it.  (note that I'm waiting for my final grade, so it may fail )

As already discussed s47 of the Children Act 1989 establishes a legal duty for the Local Authority to investigate, where there is reasonable suspicion of significant harm to a child.

What happens next is laid out by statute in that act, supported by guideline documents.

§         A referral is made, and the Local Authority comes under a duty to investigate, which is managed by the Child Protection Team, a section of Social Services

§         A decision must be made with 24 hours – this may be to take no action, if the child is not believed to be at risk

§         Where a child is considered to be at risk, an Initial Assessment must be carried out with 7 days

§         If the support is required from Social Services, the child is officially designated a ‘Child in Need’ under s17 of Children Act 1989

§         This triggers a Strategy Discussion, at which it is decided whether to make a ‘s47 Enquiry’.

§         s47 of the Children Act 1989 requires the Child Protection Officer to undertake a Core Assessment with relevant people (teachers, doctors, parents etc)

§         If a child is believed to be at continued risk following the Core Assessment, then a Child Protection Conference must be called - within 15 days of the Strategy Discussion

§         At this conference the decision is taken whether to put the child on the Child Protection Register, and if so they must become subject to a Child Protection Plan, which is reviewed after 3 months, and then every 6 months.

I remember it was a bit confusing at the time, because I found references to the CPR being done away with - but the Child Protection Plans stay.  So don't be surprised if you also find conflicting information!  That change was for 2008, so in progress now.  Most council websites will have a section answering just the sort of questions you're asking - this one for example:http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/community/health-care/childrenandfamilies/protectionregister.shtml

 Sorry only now checking extra replies.

Thanks very much, all of the information provided has been very useful.

Sam x x

 Hi, yeah i am a child protection social worker, as people have said there are different categories whicg differ by area!  If a child is on the register for 2 years or longer serious questions have to be asked as to what the child is still doing at home, a child should not be kept at risk that long.  Anything specific you want to ask feel free!

 Thanks Irishsorone, I might PM you later if you dont mind?

 The CPR no longer exists, it has been phased out since April 2008 and the children that were on the CPR are now classed as being subject to a child protection plan.  It is essentially the same thing and the reasons why a child may be subject to the plan are the same as before - emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect.  A child must to seem to be at risk of suffering signifcant harm as a result of the above to be subject to a plan.

An intitial child protection conference is held with multipe agencies voting to determine whether such a plan is necessary.  Then a core group of key agencies meet on a regular basis to determine the details of the plan and to review its progress.  There is a second conference 3 months after the intial conference where another vote is taken and thereafter it is every 6 months

I know extensively about this subject (not blowing my own trumpet - honest).  So please get back to me and I can give you my email address if you need to know more.

HTH x

Miss Popsyflops, you give me confidence that I might actually have passed my essay

Hi Irishsorone,

Since you are apparently a child protection social worker surely you should know that the "register" no longer exists. I am rather concerned by your post, since what you say seems to be in direct contrast to anything remotely resembling common sense. If a child has been on the "register" for over two years, presumably there have been no child protection incidents or concerns of sufficient seriousness to invoke a child protection inquiry. If there had been, and it had been found that the child had been harmed, then the child would be removed from the home. If the child has not been removed, surely it must follow that it is in the child's best interest to remain at home.

For you to state, therefore, that "serious questions have to be asked as to what the child is still doing at home" quite frankly smacks of the sadly typical knee-jerk response of CP social workers to assume the worst. This reaction helps absolutely nobody, other than serving to give the social services a way to justify their jobs.

Obviously, with the numerous terrible mistakes and oversights of which local authorities have been guilty in the past, there is a natural inclination among self-serving CP officers looking to protect their jobs to jump to conclusions rather than even attempt to think outside the box. Life for all concerned (including CP workers) could be made so much less unpleasant if even a modicum of common sense was used. 

If you are going to give advice on here to people who ask for honest, helpful answers, at least have the decency to do so in your own voice, not that of your local authority.

 Don't think I can add anything to what popsyflops said.

The CP Register has now been phased out and children who would previously have been placed on the Register are now classed as children "in need of a Child Protection Plan".

Some children are classed as "Children in Need" but this doesn't, always, mean that there have been child protection concerns. Sometimes it can be that a child has been identified as being in need of additional support. A child in need plan can be in place without a case conference.

Hope everything is ok and you are, clearly, getting some helpful answers on here.

Just thought, I haven't clarified my knowledge on this front in the way that others have. I'm a School Nurse so often attend conferences of this type.

miss popsyflops:

I am rather concerned by your post, since what you say seems to be in direct contrast to anything remotely resembling common sense. If a child has been on the "register" for over two years, presumably there have been no child protection incidents or concerns of sufficient seriousness to invoke a child protection inquiry. If there had been, and it had been found that the child had been harmed, then the child would be removed from the home. If the child has not been removed, surely it must follow that it is in the child's best interest to remain at home.

what bubble are you living in? In all the cases i have been involved in it was never that clear cut. (i work in health BTW)

And, how rude are you?