Press Release
Board considers Child Protection
Child Protection work in Shetland is generally done to a good standard, but work continues to make improvements wherever possible Director of Public Health Dr Sarah Taylor told Shetland NHS Board at their meeting on Tuesday 27 July 2010.
Dr Taylor was presenting the Shetland Child Protection Committee’s report on the work they did in 2009-10. This inter-agency committee is responsible for ensuring that services work well together to keep children safe.
Dr Taylor said the inspection by HMIe of child protection work done by all agencies in Shetland, previously reported to the Board, had been generally positive, but as with all inspections had identified some areas for improvement. Partner agencies were working through a plan to deal with these.
Statistics in the report show that children and young people are as much at risk of abuse and neglect in Shetland as elsewhere in the country. The consequences can be very serious, so all agencies are committed to continuous learning from best practice locally and elsewhere. During the year from April 2009 to March 2010, 26 children’s names were on the child protection register at some point, with 10 remaining on the register at year end.
Children whose names are placed on the register are likely to have experienced or are at risk of experiencing significant physical injury, physical neglect, emotional abuse and/or sexual abuse and there is serious doubt about the parents’ capacity to protect their children or care for them better.
A key development this year has been the greater involvement of health professionals in planning how to help children and families at an earlier stage, whether it is thought they may have suffered abuse or where they and their families just need some extra help.
An approach called ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ aims to work with families to put in the right support when it is needed, and this is used in situations where immediate protective action is not required.
Community engagement in keeping children safe is seen as very important. Anyone can seek help for a child by ringing social work or the police who will consult health staff and other agencies to decide how best to offer help. The numbers to ring are:
Duty Social Worker:
Monday to Fri (9am to 5pm) 01595 744421
Out of Hours Duty social work 01595 695611
Police: 01595 692110
An information leaflet with these numbers will be distributed to households next month. There is also a copy of the leaflet on the internet at:
http://www.shetland.gov.uk/communitysafety/documents/ShetlandCPCLeaflet-July2010.pdf.
The report is available for anyone to read in the Shetland Library and published on the internet
http://www.shetland.gov.uk/socialwork-health/documents/ShetlandCPCAnnualReport09-10Final.pdf
http://www.shb.scot.nhs.uk/board/meetings/boardmeetings.asp