4

special report: child protection survey

EXCLUSIVE

Social workers scared that cuts put ch

Have cHild protection tHresHolds increased in your area over tHe past year?
judy.cooper@rbi.co.uk

Community Care survey reveals pressure placed on social workers not to re

Social workers are effectively being pressurised to ignore child abuse as a result of budget cuts, an exclusive Community Care survey has revealed. The poll of 170 frontline workers found that 58% believed pressure had been placed on them to reclassify child protection cases as less serious child-inneed cases. More than four-fifths of respondents felt child protection thresholds had increased in their area over the past year. Half had experienced increased thresholds in cases of neglect, 44% in emotional abuse cases, 24% in physical abuse cases and 15% in sexual abuse cases. Budget cuts, increases in child protection referrals and a lack of social workers were given as the main reasons for the rise in child protection thresholds. Children involved in domestic violence cases were said to be missing out on support. One social worker said a four-year-old child was at significant risk of physical and emotional abuse due to witnessing ongoing domestic violence. There was pressure not to recommend a child protection plan in my initial child protection conference report and to vote against a child protection plan at the conference, they said. Almost two-thirds of those who had experienced pressure to reclassify cases described themselves as scared about the risks they carried in taking the decision; 84% of them said reclassifications were typically against childrens best interests. In addition, more than 40% reported having additional pressure placed on them to return children in care back to their birth families, with most of them feeling this was done only to save money and reduce the number of children in care. Sixty per cent said children on care orders were being removed from child protection plans, even when they remained at risk. One respondent gave an example of a child with an unexplained injury who was removed from a protection plan following the granting of an interim care order, even though the child remained living with parents, who were thought to have been responsible for the injury. Another said the local safeguarding children board

14%
No if yes, wHy was tHis? Budget cuts

82%
Yes

5%
Dont know

72% 71% 59% 43% 18% 6% 4% 4%

An increase in child protection referrals A lack of child protection social workers High vacancy rates Changes in local child protection procedures Parents more likely to engage if case is not classified as child protection Better early intervention services being put in place Better child-in-need services put in place

Have child protection thresholds increased for certain types of abuse in your area over the past year?
0 10
10

20

30

40

50%
50

20

30

40

COM_140411_004 005.indd 4

Neglect: 50% Emotional: 44% Physical: 24% Sexual: 15% No: 17% Dont know: 18% Most under pressure to reclassify cases Has pressure been placed on you to reclassify child protection cases as children-in-need cases in the past year?

58%
Yes

36%
No

7%
Unsure

Government says social wor ke

judy.cooper@rbi.co.uk

Do you think such actions were in the childs best interest?

84%
No If no, whose interests do you think were being served?

6%

11%

Yes Unsure

65%
The local authority

7%

27%

Birth family No ones

Did you feel uncomfortable with the level of risk you carried in making in such decisions?

62%
Definitely, Im scared

32%
A bit

6%
No

Source: Community Care survey of 170 social care professionals

The Department for Education has urged social workers to blow the whistle on local authorities that prevent professionals from protecting children. Speaking in response to Community Cares investigation, a department spokesperson said councils had a duty to protect children from abuse, neglect and harm, and had to support social workers to do so. Social workers must speak out if they feel unable to provide the right help Ofsted has a whistleblower hotline so that those working with children and young people can report safeguarding concerns, the spokesperson said.

The DfE said the government was concerned that child protection was not working well but the Munro Review of child protection was examining how to remove burdens preventing social workers from making decisions in the interests of children. However, Matt Dunkley, president of the Association of Directors of Childrens Services, insisted the picture from Community Cares survey was not one we recognise as reflecting the national situation. He said: We certainly do not have any evidence that thresholds have been changed to save money. He added that managers were trying to implement better risk
www.communitycare.co.uk 14 April 2011

11/4/11 16:59:50