7. The Child Protection Plan

The people who have direct and on-going involvement in supporting a child and their parents or carers when there is a Child Protection Plan in place are brought together to work as a group. They are called the Core Group. Their role is to develop the plan, put it into action, monitor what is being done and review it. All this must be done in partnership with the child and their parents or carers, unless their parents or carers have chosen not to be involved. 

The Core Group should:

• meet in person on a regular basis, or virtually depending on the circumstances, the first time being within 15 days of the Child Protection Planning Meeting 
• communicate between all the services and agencies involved with supporting the child and their parents or carers, to share progress and any concerns 
• activate a different plan promptly if progress is not made or the situation for the child gets worse. 

Children, their parents or carers should continue to be supported to take part in discussions about the plan and contribute to the plan. 

Sometimes a Child Protection Plan can be put in place before a baby is born if there are concerns that the unborn baby may be at risk of harm. In those circumstances the name of the unborn baby will have been added to the child protection register so that the need for support is identified and known. A meeting may be held before the new-born baby leaves hospital, or if this is not possible a meeting may be held as soon as possible after the new new-born baby leaves hospital, to decide if an appropriate plan of support and safety post birth is in place, and to decide whether any changes are needed to the plan. As with all child protection planning, the active involvement of the parents in this process should be sought and supported. 

Children and their parents or carers have the right to disagree and challenge the decisions that are taken at the meeting.

They should be advised how they can raise a complaint using the local authority’s complaints procedure. They should be supported to use this to say they don’t agree with the decisions and why. The social worker can assist the child or their parents or carers with this. An advocate or independent advice agency such as the Citizens Advice Service can also provide support. 

When this happens, the information shared at the meeting and the decisions made will be looked at by a senior officer within the local authority who was not involved in the meeting. The complaints procedure should explain how long this will take. The senior officer will then write to the child or adult who has disagreed with the decisions to tell them what the outcome is and why. 

All children and their parents or carers can also raise concerns if they think they have not been treated fairly or wish to raise any other issues or make a complaint, through their local authority’s complaints procedure.

Within six months of the Child Protection Planning Meeting, a meeting to review the plan will be held to consider the actions that have been taken. 

In circumstances where there is a pre-birth Child Protection Planning Meeting, the review meeting will usually happen within 3 months of the previous pre-birth Child Protection Planning Meeting. 

Like the first planning meeting, the review meeting will share information about risk and concerns but it will also at the progress made to keep the child safe and support them and their family. 

If it is agreed that the child is no longer thought to be at risk of significant harm and the Child Protection Plan is no longer needed, their name should be removed from the child protection register. 

If it is thought that the child is no longer at risk of significant harm but the child and their parents or carers may still require and benefit from ongoing support, this should be managed through a plan that can be put in place to identify and provide the support needed. This plan can be called a Getting It Right for Every Child plan. 

When the review shows that the necessary progress has not been made and a child is still at risk, the Child Protection Plan is revised to include more or different actions. The support continues and a period of a time for a new review is agreed.

Children and their parents or carers can go to this meeting. Their views will be sought and considered. They will be supported to attend and again, if a child is unable or does not want to go to the meeting, someone can represent what the child thinks and wants. 

In exceptional circumstances, a parent or carer might not be allowed to attend the meeting. The chair would make this decision and must explain this to the parent or carer. This would happen, for example, where under the law a person is not allowed to contact another person or if there are concerns that the adult presents a significant risk to others attending the meeting, including to the child.

These meetings can be quite complicated. They can feel frightening for parents and carers who can feel anxious and worried. 

Parents and carers can bring someone along to speak on their behalf, for example, an advocate or a solicitor, and the meeting chair should make sure that parents and carers attending the meeting understand everything that is happening. The chair can also pause the meeting for a break if that would help the child or the parents or carers.