I'm sorry, you've made the wrong decision.
In your reflective activity, you should have covered these points:
- This situation requires immediate action and it is your responsibility to initiate it. The correct thing to do would be to speak to each staff member separately to get as much information as possible about Daniel’s comments. Then you should immediately speak to your manager in line with your child protection policy to consider if information needs to be shared with Social Work.
- You remain responsible for work you have delegated to others.
- You made a mistake initially when you chose to speak informally to Daniel’s mum rather than taking action in line with your organisation’s policies and procedures. Your actions appear to have caused an incident at home, during which Daniel was exposed to further harm and distress.
- In future, you need to take immediate action when you or others observe signs of harm, or when a child has told someone about harm.
- You need to be able to recognise the signs that may indicate that a child or has been, or is in danger of being, harmed or abused.
- You should monitor significant changes in a child’s emotional or physical health, personal appearance or behaviour.
- You need to have an understanding of legal requirements, local procedures and your own accountability where there are concerns that a child has been, or is in danger of being, harmed or abused.
- You need to know how to follow required procedures for reporting concerns about the welfare of a child and any actions, behaviours or situations that may lead to harm or abuse.
- You should recognise and respect the roles and expertise of workers from other professions and work in partnership with them. You must demonstrate understanding of the role of different agencies and the central place of multi-agency working in the safeguarding of children.
- You should recognise the importance of maintaining clear, accurate and up-to-date records in line with procedures relating to your work. You need to keep detailed, accurate, timed, dated and signed records about any changes, events or occurrences that cause concern.
- You should continually reflect on your own behaviour and values to ensure they do not contribute to situations, actions or behaviour that may be harmful or abusive.
- In future, you should always ask for assistance if you don’t feel well-prepared to deal with a matter at work, or are unsure of how to proceed.
- You have not yet shown that you have the knowledge required to make good decisions. Next time you need to act sooner and with more confidence. Getting to know the SSSC Codes of Practice and National Occupational Standards on promoting the safeguarding of children and young people will help you to do this. It is important that you continually develop your own practice through reflection and learning.
When Heather first came to you for advice regarding what Daniel had told her, the right thing to do would have been to ask her to record exactly what Daniel said, and to sensitively explore whether he has any other worries. You would then speak to Daniel’s mum to enquire about circumstances at home. You would also share this information with your manager and ensure it is recorded.
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