What happens when an Notification of Concern is received
You should –
- Record the name and details of the person you made the referral to
- Ask them to give you feedback on your referral where this is possible (and it does not prejudice any legal action)
- You should receive a response regarding next steps within 10 days. For Education Services any written response should be sent directly to the Named Person Service.
What happens when social work/police receive your referral?
On receipt of a referral social work and or police will carry out an initial assessment of the information. where the information indicates a very low level of concern the matter may be diverted to a single agency for appropriate action, or to multi-agency partners to coordinate a plan for a Child in Need.
Where it is deemed to be a child protection matter, child protection procedures will be implemented. The receiving agency social work and or police will -
- Treat every referral seriously gather information available, assess and analyse this jointly and make decisions based on the information.
- Jointly assess the situation and determine how best to progress the matter, the welfare of the child will always be of paramount consideration.
- Identity who will be responsible for feeding back to the referrer
- Agree the need to arrange an Initial Referral Discussion (IRD) to plan the child protection investigation.
- Consider the need for any emergency legal measures required or statutory measures via a referral to the Children’s Reporter