Assessing to keep the child safe in case management

Case summary
Inspector’s comments
Important learning
Take-away learning

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This case example illustrates where assessment showed a good understanding of keeping the child safe. We expect the assessment to:

clearly identify and analyse any risks to the child’s safety and wellbeing
draw sufficiently on available sources of information, including other assessments, and involve other agencies where appropriate
analyse controls and interventions to promote the safety and wellbeing of the child.

Case summary

Sophie is a 15-year-old female. She received a six-month referral order after pleading guilty to possession of a knife and assault of a police constable.

This was Sophie’s second offence for possession of a knife within a two-month period. She had previous court disposals for public order and common assault offences. Sophie lived at home with her parents and was known to children’s social care as a child in need. Recently she had started going missing from school and had been picked up by the police in houses where known adult offenders were present. Her father worked away a lot and so it was mainly Sophie and her mum at home. Her mum struggled to set boundaries for her and had reported that she suspected Sophie was taking drugs.

The case records were comprehensive, and the assessment had used information from social care and the school. Sophie was assessed as high risk across all three domains of reoffending, safety and wellbeing, and risk of harm to others (this illustration addresses safety and wellbeing only).

The case manager introduced a Signs of Safety⁵ model assessment to assist her with this difficult case. This additional assessment helped her to address the indicators of danger/harm alongside the indicators of safety and strengths. This helped her make an overall judgment using a safety scale.

She was keen to protect Sophie’s safety by using the strengths and resources that the family had to offer. These strengths could, in time, become protective factors in support of Sophie. This assessment was dynamic and so continued to evolve while the case manager worked on the other elements of the order.

The case manager identified that twice weekly was an appropriate level of contact to monitor and address the concerns about Sophie’s safety and wellbeing. She formed a good relationship with Sophie and, as a result, Sophie disclosed that she was subject to long-term bullying. The case manager spoke with her parents, form teacher and the head of year about the extent of the bullying and the measures that had been taken at home and in school to address it. The case manager continued to assess Sophie’s resilience to the bullying and discussed with her parents and the school what additional action was required to keep her safe. Sophie also presented a risk of harm to others because of her escalating poor behaviour, so the case manager was simultaneously assessing how to keep others safe. The case manager was concerned that Sophie had been found in possession of a knife on two occasions and made every effort to understand her reasons for committing these offences.

Through the ongoing work that the case manager and support worker were doing, Sophie felt comfortable in telling them that she struggled to get along with her mother and therefore she was unhappy at home as well as at school. This led to Sophie revealing she suffered with low self-esteem and had previously taken an overdose. Overall, these issues were affecting Sophie’s health and wellbeing and were clear factors in her pattern of offending. The case manager reacted quickly and appropriately to this information and made an urgent referral for an additional assessment from CAMHS.

Although this was a short community order and so offered limited time, the case manager completed a good-quality assessment, put in place a supportive plan involving other agencies, and began the interventions to minimise Sophie’s risk of harm to both herself and to others.

The case records showed good evidence that the case manager worked effectively with the support worker and a range of agencies to address Sophie’s complex needs. Sophie made good progress throughout this court order and there was a reduction of risk recorded across all domains and specifically her perception of her own safety and wellbeing.

Inspector’s comments

This was a good assessment. It considered all the risks to Sophie’s safety and wellbeing and clearly stated what the risk was, why it was present, and its likelihood and imminence. It was very detailed and included good information on Sophie’s insight into her own behaviour and her volatile relationship with her mother.

The case manager used Sophie’s self-assessment very well. Use of the Signs of Safety assessment also helped the case manager work with Sophie and her family to create protective factors, starting at home. The case manager recorded Sophie’s comments, thoughts and feelings and used them appropriately in the assessment process. There was substantial evidence to support the assessment of a high level of risk to Sophie’s safety and wellbeing, as the case manager documented her recent overdose and threats to self-harm, her absconding, being a victim of bullying and her low mood.

Conversations with the case manager during the inspection also highlighted how treating Sophie with respect and listening to her enabled Sophie to discuss her feelings and disclose the extent of the bullying. Practical arrangements also helped, as the case manager and support worker had organised the appointments at the same time on the same days each week and sent a text message as a reminder.

The assessment considered the impact that Sophie’s behaviour had on her own safety and wellbeing. This included concerns about her mental health and her risk-taking behaviour. The case manager included information from other agencies, including children’s social care, mental health services and the police. She also included information about the immediate interventions that were put in place to support Sophie’s safety and wellbeing.

Important learning

Case managers in the youth justice system identify safety and wellbeing as the most significant factor affecting children (88 per cent of cases⁶).
The case manager identified correctly that there were increasing concerns for this child with the frequency and increasing gravity of her offending. She explored the child’s relationship with others and her emotional wellbeing as early as possible in the assessment.

Take-aways – applying the learning

Did you benefit from the case illustration and will you make any changes to your assessment practice?
How can you develop further your understanding of techniques to improve your assessment of safety and wellbeing practice?

[5] The Signs of Safety model is intended to help practitioners with safety planning in child protection cases. It aims to enable practitioners across different disciplines to work in partnership with families and children. The tools are designed to help conduct risk assessments and produce action plans to reduce risk and danger by identifying areas that need to change while focusing on strengths, resources and networks that the family has. The use of common language helps to avoid assumptions and misunderstandings and ensures that all agencies are clear about the risks posed and the work that needs to be carried out.

[6] The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. (June 2020). Assessing the needs of sentenced children in the Youth Justice System 2018/19. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/assessing-the-needs-of-sentenced-children-in-the-youth-justice-system

This case summary is intended for training/learning purposes and includes a fictional name.