Policies, procedures and guidance

Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire

In North Lincolnshire, our One Family Approach aims to create a system that works for all children, young people and families where we work together to provide and commission integrated services for children and young people. Our ambition is for children to be in their family, in their school and in their community.  

This One Family Approach – Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire 2020/24 sets out how services support children, young people and families to participate, find help online and in their networks and communities, to be resilient, stay safe and independent.  This includes a key role for the three statutory partners – Humberside Police, North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group and North Lincolnshire Council – and other relevant partners on how we safeguard children.

• Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire 2020/24 document

One Family Approach Practice Model

Our OFA Practice Model provides the framework for how professionals in North Lincolnshire should work with children, young people and families.  It is based upon our North Lincolnshire culture, values and beliefs, aiming to help us to achieve our ambition to keep children in their families, in their schools and in their communities.  We do this by building on strengths, finding solutions in families and communities, building resilience and confidence and enabling independence. The practice model is also detailed in our Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire document in the above section.

• One Family Approach – Practice Model briefing

North Lincolnshire Risk Outside the Home Approach

In North Lincolnshire we take a One Family Approach to how we commission, plan, develop, deliver and review our services for children and families. Developed under the auspices of the Integrated Children’s Trust, our One Family Approach seeks to create a system that works for all children, young people and families where we work together to provide and commission integrated services for children and young people.

The North Lincolnshire approach to risk outside the home not only draws upon years of local learning and experience about ‘what works’, it has also been shaped heavily by the views of children, young people and families.

• Risk outside the home (ROTH) approach

Policies, procedures and guidance

On this page you will find the Children’s MARS Policies and Procedures.

Working Together 2018 provides statutory guidance on inter-agency working and outlines how agencies should respond individually and collectively to concerns related to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

It also includes guidance on, organisational responsibilities, multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, child safeguarding practice reviews and child death reviews. It provides links to relevant supplementary guidance that practitioners should consider. Our procedures reflect Working Together 2018 and are in two sections – statutory and supplementary.

Individual agency procedures must be compliant with the statutory Working Together guidance

In December 2020, the government issued an updated version of Working Together 2018. References to domestic abuse have been strengthened throughout the document with explicit reference to controlling and coercive behaviour. The new guidance also includes a new section on the homeless duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

The briefing below has been put together as a handy guide to the new additions and recent changes.

Working Together 2018 – 2020 updates briefing

Statutory documents

• Assessing Need and Providing Help – this guidance outlines information sharing, making a referral, statutory assessments and child protection conferences
• Organisational Responsibilities – this document outlines the safeguarding duties for agencies and individual organisations.
• Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements – this document outlines the roles and functions of the safeguarding partners, agencies and individual organisations in relation to the Children’ MARS Board and dispute resolution.
• Northern Lincolnshire Child Death Review Process and Child Death Overview Panel Guidance – this guidance outlines the processes to be followed when a child has died
• Improving Child Protection and Safeguarding Practice – this guidance outlines the Children’s MARS arrangements for child safeguarding practice reviews
  • Notification of Serious Child Safeguarding Incident to Safeguarding Partners Form
  • Request to Safeguarding Partners for a case to be considered for a local Child Safeguarding Practice Review
  • Humber Working Principals for Safeguarding Reviews
• Protocol for multi-agency assessment of child in need, child protection and children in care
• Statutory Framework– this document sets out the legislation relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Managing Allegations against People who work with Children – this document outlines what should be done following an allegation of abuse or maltreatment of a child against a professional, staff member, volunteer or others who works with or cares for children. All organisations providing services, staff or volunteers to work with or care for children should operate within these procedures
  • LADO referral form
• Keeping children safe in education – statutory guidance for schools and colleges which sets out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
• Early Help – this document outlines the statutory guidance and local process in respect of early help

Supplementary documents

• Children who Runaway or go Missing from Home & Care Protocol – the protocol outlines our multi-agency approach to children who runaway or go missing from home and care.
• Protocol on Perplexing Presentations and Fabricated Induced Illness  – this protocol outlines our multi-agency approach to perplexing presentation and fabricated induced illness
• Escalation and Resolution Policy and Procedure  – this sets out what North Lincolnshire will do to resolve differences of opinion in individual cases and cases that may be serious child safeguarding cases
• Information sharing guidance  – this document provides information on the effective and legitimate sharing of information between professionals and agencies
• Multi-agency protocol for the assessment of injuries to non-mobile babies and children  – this protocol outlines the responsibilities of practitioners operating in North Lincolnshire who may come into contact with babies and children who have sustained physical injuries, with particular reference to the assessment and management of injuries to Non-Mobile Babies, and Children who are not Independently Mobile.
• Guidance on the code of conduct for people working with children and young people – this guidance describes the standards of conduct and practice that should be followed by employers, staff and volunteers when working with children and young people.
• Standards of Safer Recruitment  – this document sets out the standards for safer recruitment and minimum standards of staff induction
• Policy and procedure for identifying and responding to concerns about FGM – this guidance and procedure explains the duties and actions to be taken regarding recognising and responding to children who are at  risk of/who may have suffered FGM, and is for professionals to help them identify and respond to concerns or disclosures about FGM
• Policy and procedure for identifying and responding to concerns about Honour based abuse and forced marriage   – this guidance provides practitioners in North Lincolnshire with information about HBA and FM, and what to do if they are concerned about a child or young person
• Guidance for recognising and responding to neglect  – this guidance supports professionals in working with families where neglect is a factor.
• Policy statement – children who live in households where there is domestic abuse  – sets out what North Lincolnshire will do to protect children from the effects of domestic abuse.
• Policy statement – protecting disabled children from harm – sets out what North Lincolnshire will do to protect disabled children from harm.
• Policy statement – reducing the harm from neglect – sets out what North Lincolnshire will do to reduce the harm from neglect
• Joint Safe Sleeping Guidance for Babies – the guidance supports all organisations and their workers in a consistent message and approach to safe sleeping to prevent baby / child deaths
• Child Sexual Exploitation: Definition and a guide for practitioners, local leaders and decision makers working to protect children from child sexual exploitation   – this guidance outlines the policy and procedures for how organisations and agencies should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people from sexual exploitation
  • Child Sexual Exploitation Vulnerabilities and Risk Indicators Guide
• Supplementary Guidance: Child Criminal Exploitation: Definition and a guide for practitioners, local leaders and decisions makers working to protection children from child criminal exploitation – this guidance outlines the policy and procedures on how organisations and agencies should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people from child criminal exploitation.
  •  Child Criminal Exploitation Vulnerabilities and Risk Indicators Guide
• Integrated Multi Agency Partnership (IMAP) Information Sharing Agreement  – This guide is written for practitioners and managers who are working within IMAP
• Guidance for recognising and responding to breast ironing  – this guidance explains the actions to be taken regarding recognising and responding to children who are at risk of/who have suffered breast ironing.
• Guidance on working with children, young people and adults who are vulnerable to radicalisation – explains the indicators and actions to be taken regarding children and young people who are vulnerable to radicalisation and explains the Prevent and Channel process
  • Prevent referral form
• Guidance on safeguarding children who may have been trafficked – this guidance is for agencies who may suspect that a child or young person has been trafficked and what to do to safeguard and promote their welfare
• Guidance on Section 85 and 86 –  this guidance provides information around the statutory duties, legal requirements and the local agreements relating to Sections 85 and 86 of the Children’s Act 1989
• Complex and Organised Child Abuse – this procedure sets out how a multi agency investigation into complex and organised child abuse would take place