I work with children, young people, parents and carers

Latest news updates from the Child Protection Committee

06.02.24 - Child Sexual Abuse What If You’re Right?

15.03.23 - Learning Review Summary

28.02.23 - CPCScotland #Speak Up Child Protection Campaign 

13.02.23 - Reflective Supervision Guidance 

13.02.23 - Important update on A&B Multi - Agency Child Protection Procedures 

28.06.22 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 97

21.06.22 -  Colleagues Surviving Suicidal Thoughts: a new resource to support people who are living with suicidal thoughts, their families, friends, and communities – launched today

NHS 24 has worked with our partners at the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, SAMH, Police Scotland and people with lived experience around suicide. The project supports people having suicidal thoughts by sharing video stories from people who have experienced the same and gone on to find ways of coping and living better.

This new surviving suicidal thoughts website was launched today as part of the digital response in the Suicide Prevention Action Plan.  It is hoped that  this resource will be helpful for our partner organisations who support people who are living with suicidal thoughts, their families, and friends.  Located on NHS Inform, this features stories from people who experienced very different situations and circumstances - but who found a way past suicidal thoughts. Their words and voices offer support and strategies for people who are experiencing thoughts of suicide, and to those around them, family, friends, work mates and others.

This is the first phase and further information and LE films, including featured highlighted groups – e.g Children and Young People, Veterans etc, will be progressed following an initial evaluation period. A copy of the FAQs document is attached

If you have any questions or comments by contacting us on:  nhs24.engagementteam@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

16.06.22 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 96

23.05.22 Links to access the recordings from Child Protection Committees Scotland ‘Learning about Neglect’ webinars series for child protection leaders and practitioners have been posted on the e-learning section of our training pages:

• Child Protection.Scot - Thinking critically about neglect webiar
• Family group decision making for unborn babies and young infants 
• Immigration Legal Advice- Scottish Women’s Rights Centre
•  Information on human trafficking for Ukrainian refugees - Public Protection Guidance  - Arriving From Ukraine 

CPC Scotland launches a new 10 day Neglect Campaign

CPCScotland has launched a 10-day long child neglect campaign titled Under Pressure: understanding child neglect.

The campaign recognises the significant pressures being faced by families during these difficult times and urges parents who are struggling not to wait for things to get worse but to ask for help and support if they’re finding it hard to care for their kids.

The campaign consolidates the publication of the CPCScotland Child Neglect in Scotland: Understanding Causes and Supporting Families report in late 2021.

The campaign hashtag #itsoktoask was backed by a new campaign webpage plus series of short animations and a suite of illustrations which were be posted across their @childprotectsco social channels. They hope everyone would support the campaign by sharing and liking the posts. 

15.10.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 74

06.10.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 73

29.09.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 72

24.09.21 - Online Safety Advice for parents and carers

This guidance is a must for all parents and carers in understanding the online risks for children and how you can help protect them whilst enjoying the benefits of on line learning and enjoyment of playing games and contact with friends. Please share this widely with parents and carers. 

08.09.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 69

07.09.21 - Equal Protection from Assault (S)Act 2019

It is almost a year since the implementation of the ‘Equal Protection from Assault (S)Act 2019’

This information can be shared as posters for children and young people. The guidance and flowchart is for staff working with children and young people.

• Multi-agency Equal Protection Guidance (ABCPC)
• Scottish Government - Equal Protection promotional materials (posters, etc)

06.09.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 68

24.08.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 67

19.07.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 65

19.07.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 64

23.06.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 62

16.06.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 61

09.06.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 60

04.06.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 59

25.05.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 58

19.05.21 - Argyll & Bute Equal Protection Multi Agency Guidance  

19.05.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 57

11.05.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 56

05.05.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 55

14.04.21 - Child Protection in The 21st Century  - Child protection in the 21st century: a role for contextual safeguarding | Iriss 

26.03.21 - Keeping Kids Safe Online 2021 Campaign 

24.03.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 49

17.03.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 48

10.03.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 47

03.03.21 -  Child Sexual Exploitation The Signs Campaign please see Poster 1 and Poster 2.

17.02.21 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 44

The IVY Project (Interventions for Vulnerable Youth) Information Here  - The IVY Project

To note publication today of this report ‘Sibling sexual abuse: A knowledge and practice overview.’ The report is now live.  

The @CSACentre today launches an invaluable resource to help professionals in dealing with one of the most hidden types of abuse, sibling sexual abuse. 

Sibling Sexual Abuse is thought to be three times more common than that of child sexual abuse by a parent. For professionals needing support the @CSACentre has created an invaluable, accessible and supportive overview: CSA Centre.org - Sibling Sexual Abuse

The report focusses on supporting practice, providing an accessible resource to help professionals understand the issues and challenges raised by sibling sexual abuse. Whilst sexual abuse involving child siblings is thought to be the most common form of intra-familial child sexual abuse, and is an issue that most protection practitioners will encounter at some stage, understanding and dealing with sibling sexual abuse can be present significant challenges to professionals and families. As we enter another period of ‘stay at home’ instruction we must recognise the increased risk for children experiencing abuse within the home environment and their increased isolation from other trusted adults and professionals.

All professionals working in health and social care need to be prepared to work with people affected by sibling sexual abuse, including both children and adult survivors. This involves understanding the nature and consequences of the abuse, in order to provide adequate responses to disclosure and identification. It also involves, where appropriate, being able to assess and manage effectively different kinds of situations involving sibling sexual abuse, and provide support for all family members in order to help them move forwards from harm and distress.

Combining an overview of the current research and practice knowledge, the report was prepared by Stuart Allardyce, Director at Lucy Faithful Foundation, with responsibilities for Stop It Now! Scotland, with Dr Peter Yates,  lecturer and Programme Lead in Social Work at Edinburgh Napier University. The findings of the report stress a child-first approach: both to the child that has been harmed, and the child that did the harming. Similarly, the need to assess and respond to cases holistically considering the whole family, both in identifying patterns of behaviour, and in strategies for healing is highlighted.

We hope that the report provides a resource for supporting practitioners encountering sibling sexual abuse and inspires greater implementation of a holistic approach. The CSA Centre will continue to support practice improvement in response to sibling sexual abuse with further resources and coverage within training provision.

Please find interesting document from NHS Scotland on Gender Based Violence. The section on Child Protection is of particular interest.

New e-learning course added to LEON & CPC website 

Using the National Risk Framework risk indicator tools e-learning module

This course provides a working knowledge of the risk indicator tools from the National Risk Framework. It is for all staff working across agencies who are required to lead or contribute to assessments of risk of harm within Argyll & Bute’s child planning processes.  Designed to help practitioners establish a common language and culture of practice around considerations of risk, and a consistent practice approach to risk assessment and analysis that can be integrated into existing assessment and recording processes.

16.12.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 38

09.12.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 37

02.12.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 36

24.11.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 35 

17.11.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 34

05.11.20 - Letters from Scottish Government - Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 - commencement & Framework 

• The National JII Project Newsletter
• Family support directory
• NATIONAL GUIDANCE Children (Equal Protection from Assault (Scotland) Act 2019

07.10.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 28

22.09.20 - Trauma Training Update 

Argyll and Bute continue to be one of three areas in Scotland leading the way in developing a trauma informed workforce. As part of this we have developed and collated a range of easy to use on line learning materials for everyone in the children’s services workforce to help support the different groups of staff who come into contact with children and families as part of their job. As we work through all the implications coronavirus many of us are also finding that these materials are is invaluable in helping support our colleagues, teams and communities through these difficult times. 

Many of us have already undertaken the online training and are beginning to make use of these in our day to day work. We are regularly adding to the available materials and have recently included new materials on staff wellbeing and coronavirus. If you haven't been on website for a while I would urge you to revisit and have a look. 

Trauma informed practice training

Looking towards the back end of 2020 we will be running on-line Trauma Skilled and Trauma Enhanced training courses so keep an eye on the webpage for update and more information on which course is most relevant to you and on how to book a place. 

The online materials and our work in Argyll to develop a trauma informed workforce is slowly gaining national interest and recognition. To date we have had more than 7000 visits to the website and over 5,000 individuals accessing the online materials, we are hearing positive reports from colleagues across Scotland   who have accessed the training and this month  Argyll and Bute has been invited to present our work and experiences to the National Trauma Training Steering group chaired by John Swinnie

18.09.20 - CPC Scotland Back to School Campaign

08.09.20 - CPC Scotland Weekly Bulletin Issue 24

08.09.20 - CPC Communication & Engagement Strategy 2020 - 2022

07.09.20 - COVID-19: Supplementary National Child Protection Guidance 

19.08.20 - Domestic Abuse Awareness Raising Tool

18.08.20 - Childhood Sexual Abuse During Covid

Children’s’  Hearings – restarting face to face hearings and tips for using Vscene –

At the moment SCRA are working to restart face to face hearings nationally, the first one for Argyll and Bute was in Dumbarton on 13th July 2020. As you will all appreciate there are particular challenges with some of our venues and these are all being reviewed and where necessary alternatives considered to enable covid guidance to be followed.

A mix of virtual and face to face hearings will remain in place across Argyll and Bute until suitable hearing rooms can be found or covid guidance changes.

For those of us with children and families continuing to access Hearings through Vscene here are some tips;

• To prevent or minimise difficulties with connection to Vscene, before attempting to enter a Vscene meeting make sure that you have closed any other application or computer programme on your device which has the potential to use the device’s camera or webcam. Vscene may not work on a device if, for example, Skype, Teams or Zoom is running in the background, even if the application or programme is inactive.
• You will find it easier to conduct a hearing on either a laptop or desktop computer rather than a mobile phone
• Ensure you have the most up to date browser installed, we have found that on laptops / desktop Vscene works best using Chrome as your browser or the newest Microsoft Edge browser, on Macs you should use Firefox
• If you are using a laptop or desktop, choose the ‘gallery view’ option in the top right of your browser. This will let you see more people on screen at once. On a mobile device such as an iPad, swipe to the side and you will see multiple participants at once. If there are more participants than it is possible to view at one time, those who have spoken most recently will be on screen

21.07.20 - Child Protection Improvement Programme Update

14.07.20 - Stop It Now Scotland  - Upstream Prevention Pack

29.06.20 - NSPCC Schools Services

While children aren’t in school we are very aware that there are some who are at significant risk of abuse and we also know that every child’s mental health will be impacted by what’s happened. At the heart of our “Speak Out Stay Safe” programme is the key message that children should speak out to tell someone they trust if they are worried or frightened about anything at all.

You may have seen our Virtual Assembly on Facebook for P4-7, featuring special appearances from Ant & Dec and David Walliams– it can be viewed on Facebook. This complements our face to face assembly and could be great starting point for some learning and support for children.

Watch the Contacting Childline video embedded in the film can be viewed separately.

Other NSPCC resources to support Primary School Age children

The Childline website is a brilliant source of information, advice and support for children and young people. In school we promote contact with Childline by phone 0800 1111 and via the website www.childline.org.uk/kids  The only change for Childline right now is that children and young people can only speak on the phone or use 1-2-1 Chat between 9am and midnight. They can still send  emails at any time and these will be answered in the usual 24 hour time frame. For any children with a hearing impairment, the Deaf Zone is an additional resource on the website.

NSPCC Resources for parents, carers and professionals

NSPCC has created a range of support resources for parents and for professionals

A webinar by NSPCC is aimed at education professionals to highlight the support and guidance available to schools, parents and children by the NSPCC.

The NSPCC Adult Helpline is also an important source of support for anyone concerned about the safety of a child – adults can call  0808 800 5000 or report concerns online.

25.06.20 - CPC Strategic Plan 2020/21

12.06.20 - With face to face training cancelled during covid-19 restrictions, information about free online courses are now being posted on to the CPC training calendar to support continued access to learning & development opportunities during this time:https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/childrens-services-training

11.06.20 - Message from Scottish Government  - Care Leavers

Please see message below for information on behalf of Scottish Government:

Yesterday, the Home Office announced an uplift to their contributions to local authorities’ costs in supporting UASC and former UASC care leavers. The key changes to funding will apply from 1 April 2020, for the duration of the financial year 2020/21.

 UASC Care Leavers

A package of improvements to the funding contribution applying to all former UASC Care Leavers which will:

• substantially increase the funding contribution to £240 per care leaver per week;
• remove reduced rates for legacy case claims; and
• remove the first 25 Care Leavers’ rule which prevented Local Authorities claiming for the first 25 equivalent Care Leavers in their care.

 UASC supported by Local Authorities

• There will be a targeted increase of 25% (to £143 pppn) to the funding contribution for all UASC in those local authorities supporting UASC at, or in excess of, 0.07% of their child population, as at 31 March 2020. Local authorities looking after UASC amounting to less than 0.07% of their child population will continue to receive £114 pppn for each UASC in their care.

 You can find this announcement at Gov.uk - further funding uplift announced for councils caring for children seeking asylum

11.06.20 - Scottish Court Service Update

10.06.20 - Argyll & Bute Trauma Training  

Argyll and Bute is leading national work on developing a trauma skilled workforce and while face to face training has had to be put on hold; we have developed some on line materials aimed at everyone who comes into contact with children and families as part of their job, these will help prepare us to support children and families moving out of the covid restrictions whatever their experiences  .

Education are ensuring their staff complete this as part of preparing for schools to reopen and I would encourage you to make the time to visited site and undertake the online learning.

09.06.20 - Childrens Hearings in Argyll & Bute Update from SCRA & CHS

SCRA and CHS are progressing work to move forward Hearings in Argyll and Bute; as you would expect there is lots that needs to be completed before we will be in a position to return to full face to face hearings.

SCRA have responsibility for hearing centres and they have started planning around how to re-open them. They are carefully considering what requirements or adaptations might be needed to ensure that any face to face hearings can take place safely, in ways that comply with Public Health Scotland requirements. In particular as transport and travel options for children, families and hearings attendees will remain limited for some considerable time.  This is obviously a significant consideration for the Argyll & Bute locality

This planning will take some time and some hearing centres may be easier than others to re-open in line with the Government’s route map requirements. This means that across Scotland there will probably be a hybrid approach to Hearings that is likely to include a mix of physical and virtual attendance for the foreseeable future.

Once we have more clarity on plans we will be able to update you further.  In the meantime our hearings in Argyll & Bute will remain virtual and we will look to ensure all can attend virtually and that the views of the children and young people are sought and heard virtually.

02.06.20 - Covid-19 Supplementary National Child Protection Guidance

21.05.20 - November Implementation for The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019

The Act will remove the common law defence of “reasonable chastisement” from the law of Scotland.  This will make all physical punishment of children in Scotland unlawful, and this will come into effect on 7 November 2020.

18.05.20 - Update to neglect toolkit

The neglect toolkit has been updated and re titled to Care Assessment Toolkit. Core content and assessment remains the same but improvements have been made to the title, layout, descriptions, images and prompts. A&B CPC has moved to this version and the Toolkit which is located under the procedures, practice & guidance section of this website has been replaced with this update.