Information Bulletin
Child Protection on Community Planning Agenda
Chief Inspector Malcolm Bell will present the Child Protection Committee’s annual report for sign-off by the Chief Executives of NHS Shetland, Shetland Islands Council and on behalf of the Northern Constabulary, at the Community Planning Board meeting on 23rd June. The report details work done in 2007-8 and that planned for the coming year.
Recent statistics confirm that recorded child abuse occurs with about the same frequency in Shetland as elsewhere in Scotland, but in a recent survey only 60% of respondents knew this, with 34% mistakenly thinking it is less common.
Many children at risk this year were babies, often as a result of problematic use of alcohol and other drugs by their parents. Child abuse and neglect, like domestic violence, is often a hidden problem. Tragedies can so easily occur – even though there are no such cases recorded in Shetland at the present time, in the UK as a whole one or two children die from child abuse every week. The Committee stresses how important it is for everyone to maintain the utmost vigilance and report any concerns to social work or the police in good time.
The report acknowledges the help given by the local media in getting this message across and helping make sure people know the numbers to ring. Anyone with a concern about a child can ring Duty social work on 01595 744421 during office hours (9-5 Mon-Thurs and 9-4 Fridays) or outside those hours ring 01595 695611. In an emergency anyone can contact the police on the local number or dial 999.
The Child Protection Committee is a partnership that includes all the main statutory agencies as well as the voluntary sector. It has adopted the strap line ‘Safeguarding Children and Young People in Shetland‘. This shows that it is concerned with young people of all ages – from babies and young children up to teenagers and older vulnerable young people. Safeguarding involves early provision of support to families when needed, as well as looking into reports about possible abuse or neglect, and providing help for those recovering from abusive or neglectful experiences, linking young people into appropriate adult services as they grow up.
For the older age group, it is important that young people themselves know how to get help, whether for themselves or someone else. Young people in Youth Voice have developed a wallet card giving basic information and the numbers to ring, which will be made available through youth clubs and schools. Children and young people can also get advice locally from the Children and Young People’s Rights, Information and Support Service on freephone 0808 1002353, or the national ChildLine number 0800 1111.
Agencies work with families to help them keep their children safe. The changes needed to ensure their children's safety are discussed with the family, and the work that everyone will do to achieve these is planned. Recent quality assurance work showed that the work done in the sample cases reviewed did improve the situation for the child or young person concerned. As inter-agency inspection of child protection services by HMIE scheduled for early next year will give an independent check on how well services are doing at meeting the safeguarding needs of Shetland's children and young people.
Commenting on this year's report, Chief Inspector Malcolm Bell, the Chair of the Child Protection Committee, said:
'Safeguarding children and young people requires constant vigilance from everyone to prevent unnecessary tragedies and long term harm. Neglect can be highly detrimental but is often not as obvious as bruises. Reducing neglect requires that people share the information they have to build up a complete picture of how things are for a child. Keeping children safe from harm is the is the responsibility of the whole community.'
There is a lot of detail in the report and a copy will be placed in the Library locally as well as going to the Scottish Government. It will be made available on the internet at http://www.shetland.gov.uk/socialwork-health/publications.asp. The Shetland inter-agency Child Protection Procedures can be accessed from http://www.shetland.gov.uk/socialwork-health/services/child-protection.asp.
Ends.