Getting it right for every child & young person in Highland: interagency practice model & child protection procedures 2024
In addition to the National Guidance for Child Protection, a number of Practice Insights have been developed nationally and can be found here. These insights may help practice thinking, service planning, and learning and development opportunities. They are not procedural and should not be considered in this way.
These practice insights are not part of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 and have not been subject to public consultation. They will be adapted and improved in response to evolving practice.
The practice insights have been drafted by practitioners, service managers and academics. The experience of children and families is integrated directly in some and indirectly in all. The topics chosen reflect interest and demand voiced in both construction of and public consultation about the National Guidance.
The notes are termed ‘insights’ because they are intended to:
- illustrate and explain key practice considerations
- offer a resource, in the form of windows on positive practice
- prompt reflection, by providing perspectives from specific services
- signpost selected sources that support practice development
It is essential that readers do not expect these insights to offer:
- a multi-agency, national practice manual
- a shortcut to application of the National Guidance
- a protocol, which reduces the need for professional judgement in each situation
- a replacement for any aspect of local multi-agency procedures
- an academic review
The choice of topics is selective, reflecting requests arising during development of and consultation upon the revised National Guidance.
The topics include explanations of concepts, such as capacity to change; approaches, such as contextual safeguarding; indicators of good practice specific to phases of support and planning including pre-birth, or specific to areas of concern, such as domestic abuse. Some specific tools are introduced, such as chronologies and usage of timelines.
A connecting theme should be apparent in all topics. This is about strengthening engagement with children and families in child protection work. Some insights are explicitly focused on this theme, for example in considering participation of children and young people in planning meetings and making plans accessible to them. A shared lens should be apparent in all topics: this is about realising children’s rights.
Download this process in PDF here.