April 2023

The March 2023 news page and previous news items are available by month of publication from the menu on the right.

Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership circulate monthly E-Bulletins; if you would like to be included on the distribution list, please email sscp@salford.gov.uk.

All enquiries concerning the welfare or safety of a child or requests for information MUST BE SENT DIRECTLY to the Bridge Partnership.   

The Bridge Partnership can be contacted on 0161 603 4500. All referrals and requests for support must be completed on the online referral form. The Bridge Partnership is available Monday to Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm.  If you need to speak to someone outside these times, please contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0161 794 8888. If a child is in immediate danger of being harmed or is home alone, call the police on 999.  

For any problems related to the portal contact worriedaboutachild@salford.gov.uk 

If you are worried about an adult - Report abuse or neglect by telephone on this NEW NUMBER: 0161 206 0604. For further information visit the safeguarding adults page on the Salford City Council website.

SSCP strategy 2023 -2026

The Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) have agreed the strategic priorities for the partnership for the next 3 years. These are:

• Partners will working together to prevent abuse.
• Where necessary partners will take action to protect children from harm.
• We will work together with other partnerships in the city to ensure that there is effective communication and engagement activity, identifying cross cutting themes and targeting communications activity, to share learning and key messages, to improve safeguarding children practice.
• We will listen and respond to the voice of children and young people, their families and communities.  This is a core thread throughout our partnership and all relevant sub groups and associated work streams.
• We will continue to evaluate practice and its impact to ensure that professionals and organisations within Salford are effective in keeping children safe.

More information about the SCCP and the SSCP Strategy 2023 – 2026 can be be found on the About us page of this website.

SSCP Adolescent strategy 2023 – 2023

The SSCP welcome this strategy which sets out how the partnership intends to achieve specific improvements in respect of the work of all agencies with young people in the city. Members of the board welcome the valued contribution to the strategy by the children and young people who provided feedback and the wide representation from partner agencies.

The SSCP is committed to embedding a culture of understanding about the complexity of safeguarding adolescents where we:

• Identify adolescents as children first
• Understand the development needs of adolescence and the impact of adverse childhood experiences
• Understand the needs and risks for adolescents with SEND
• Understand the influences in adolescent lives (for example, child criminal exploitation), including those outside the family context
• Maintain a focus on the risks adolescents are exposed to outside the family and respond with the right conversation and the right action, at the right time
• Consider the positive and negative impact of risks adolescents take in exploring their growing independence
• Recognise the constrained choices adolescents may feel powerless to avoid
• Value the diverse range of experiences of adolescents in Salford and respond to the needs of adolescents of all genders, ethnicities, sexual identities and beliefs, and those who are disabled

The Adolescent Strategy and a summary version can be found in the Policies and Procedures section of the SSCP Website.

Those working with adolescents and their families may also want to look at the following documents:

• The Salford Thrive Directory - for resources to support young people and their families.
• The Greater Manchester Adolescent Safeguarding Framework.
• The Greater Manchester Adolescent Safeguarding Framework Poster.

SSCP Annual Learning Event 2023

The SSCP is excited to host our annual practitioner learning event.

The event will include a range of guest speakers from across the partnership, including Police, Health, Children’s Services and our Independent Chair.

The event will be an opportunity for front line practitioners to consider the themes from Local and National case reviews, and to understand Salford’s partnership response to the identified learning.

Practitioners will have the opportunity to reflect on their practice approaches in response to Local and National case review learning.

Places are still available for the afternoon session on Thursday 20^th April 2023, 1pm- 4:30pm at Buile Hill.  Booking details can be found on the event flyer.

North West 'Making Your Mark' Survey

The results of the most recent North West survey with young people are in. This is a local survey to encourage young people to have their say about social and political issues.  The top three concerns raised by young people are:

• Cost of Living
• Mental well-being
• Safety

Salford Youth Council, the Voice of the Child subgroup,  and the Listening Hub will explore these and other emerging themes and priorities across the coming year.  

Escalation and Professional Challenge

Learning from local reviews has shown us that professionals do not always feel confident to challenge professionals from other agencies about decisions affecting safeguarding and child protection. The SSCP would like to encourage practitioners to keep the welfare of the child at the forefront and have the confidence and courage to challenge decisions you disagree with. If disagreements can’t be resolved quickly by respectful evidence informed discussions between agencies there is a formal escalation process which can be used. Read our new 7 Minute Briefing on Escalation to find out more. A plain text accessible version is also available. 

Water Safety

Over the last 12 months there have been several incidents in Salford relating to water safety where babies, children and young people have been injured or sadly lost their lives. This could be either at home in the bath or outside in rivers, lakes and ponds. Babies and young children or children with disabilities should not be left unsupervised in the bath, or “supervised” in the bath by other children. Outside of the home, older children particularly males are at risk from outdoor swimming in the summer, and in winter the risk is from playing on ice and frozen rivers and ponds. It is important for professionals to include water safety messages when discussing other safety advice. Learn more by reading our new Water Safety 7 Minute Briefing.  A plain text version is also available.

Mental Health support for men / SAR Mathew

A recent learning event based on a Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) in Salford highlighted the importance of mental health support services for men. The review focussed on a young father who after a relationship breakdown and becoming separated from his children experienced escalating mental health difficulties and sadly took his own life. Other factors identified by the review included the impact of Covid i.e. not having face to face contact with professionals, periods of homelessness, a history of mental health and drug addiction problems and historic domestic abuse. Find support for fathers at Dad Matters – Supporting Dads in Greater Manchester to have the best possible relationships with their families. Support services related to Domestic Abuse can be found at Safe in Salford – Salford Foundation . The Hub of Hope provides a comprehensive directory of mental health support services. For further details read SAR Mathew 2021 | Salford Safeguarding Adults Board.

Equality and Diversity Statement

Our vision is to make Salford a fair and inclusive city where everyone has an equal voice, access to services and opportunities, and are included and represented in decisions that affect them, irrespective of their age, disability status, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation or socio-economic background.  Salford has a strong commitment to tackling inequality which is reflected in The Salford Way, a city-wide approach to ensure partners work together to build a fairer and more inclusive Salford for all.  A key part of this approach is the  Salford Equality Strategy our catalyst for change to ensure we work together to build a fairer and more inclusive Salford for all.

All partners of the SSCP are required to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion are a thread through all our priorities/activity, as are the views and voices of young people.