Pre-birth child protection planning meetings

Pre-birth CPPMs will consider whether serious professional concerns exist about the likelihood of significant harm to an unborn or newly born baby in advance of the child’s birth, participants need to prepare an inter-agency plan which will meet the needs of the baby and mother prior to and following birth, minimising risk of harm plans for discharge from hospital and handover to community-based supports must be clearly set out in the inter-agency plan

• early engagement and planned support are CPPM’s are recommended within 28 calendar days of the concern being raised and always within 28 weeks of gestation, taking in to account the mother’s needs and all the circumstances in each case. There may be exceptions to this where the pregnancy is in the very  early stages. However, concerns may still be sufficient to warrant an inter-agency assessment
• the CPPM may place the unborn baby’s name on the child protection register before If the child is registered the Child Protection Plan must stipulate who is responsible for notifying the birth of the child and what steps need to be taken at that point (e.g. referral to the Principal Reporter). Legal measures such as referral to the Reporter and application for a CPO can only be made at birth. The Pre-Birth CPPM should note who will notify the Principal Reporter at birth.

Reviews of pre-birth CPPMs. A review may be held within three months of the previous CPPM. There should be latitude for professional judgement about the most appropriate timing post-birth. This does not preclude an earlier review where changes to the child’s living situation are enough to remove or significantly reduce risks. Careful consideration is required about early decisions to remove a baby’s name from the register, for example by ensuring that necessary supports are in place.

Where a Child Protection Plan is in place prior to a child’s birth, the child must not be  discharged from hospital following birth until a pre-discharge meeting has been held. This meeting should include the Core Group members and the child’s relevant family  members, as well as hospital-based maternity ward staff.

The purpose of this meeting is to agree arrangements for the care of the child following discharge from hospital. This should include consideration of the role and level of involvement of community-based supports. Where the decision of this meeting is that the child would be at risk of significant harm by being discharged to the care of their parent/s, the Child Protection Plan should be amended to reflect this, and proportionate action should be taken to keep the child safe.

Further consideration of pre-birth support and safety planning may be found in Part 4 of  the National Child Protection Guidance.