August 2023

The July 2023 news page and previous news items are available by month of publication.

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: 0161 206 0604.  For further information visit the safeguarding adults page on the Salford City Council website.

SSCP Webinar: Learning from Case Reviews 2021-2023

The SSCP have recorded a narrated presentation on the themes of, and learning from, Safeguarding Children Case Reviews from 2021 to 2023.

The presentation is delivered by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the SSCP Practice Review Subgroup.

The presentation will be available to view on the SSCP you tube channel in the near future.

SSCP Cultural Consciousness Guidance

Salford is growing and continues to change whilst becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse, and so it is important that our services continue to understand our communities so that we can continue to be inclusive by responding to different needs and experiences.

The Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) is committed to the Salford Equalities and Inclusion Strategy vision of making ‘Salford a fair and inclusive city where everyone has equal access to services and opportunities, and is included and represented in decisions that affect them’.

The SSCP Cultural Consciousness Guidance has been created by the SSCP in response to learning from local and national case reviews. Findings identified that racial, ethnic, and cultural identities are often central factors in the daily lives of children and families, particularly from minoritised communities and should therefore be given proper weight when exploring the lives of children and families in practice and in reviews.  The guidance provides information and opportunity to reflect on practice and assessment when working with children and families. This document along with other local guidance can be found on the Policies and Procedures page of the SSCP website.

New Practice Review Referral Form

The Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership has adopted the Greater Manchester “Serious Child Safeguarding Case” Referral form. This will replace the previous Practice Review Referral form. The can be located in the Practice Review Toolkit on the Practice Review webpage.

This referral form is used to notify the SSCP that a practice review may be required. This could be statutory Rapid Review or Child Safeguarding Practice Review (if a child has been seriously harmed/ died and abuse or neglect are suspected) or a non- statutory local review, (such as a Serious Offence Review, Multi Agency Reflective Session or a single/ multi agency deep dive). The purpose of any review is to identify learning to improve safeguarding practice approaches across the partnership.    

The Practice Review Policy and Thresholds and Definitions Quick Guide provides more information about the criteria and processes for reviews.

Restorative Conferencing Survey

The Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit are evaluating the current model of Restorative Conferencing.  To do this they are asking all agencies to help by completing the quick  5 minute survey.  All views are anonymous and will be used solely to inform the evaluation.

Click on the survey link below to complete.

• Restorative conferencing survey link

Why language matters - NSPCC blog

In their recent blog the NSPCC discuss improving safeguarding and child protection practice with words.  They highlight how the term 'smacking' minimises the harm caused to children, in comparison to how similar actions towards an adult would be called a physical assault.  The blog lists the potential impact of physical punishment on children and the disparity in the law between protecting children and adults in this area.

Summer holiday activities

Family hubs across Salford offer support for people aged 0 to 25 years old, including early help services for babies, children, young people, and families at the earliest opportunity. The open days will have a whole host of FREE family-friendly activities over the summer.  Activities are advertised on the Salford Family Partnership - family hub Facebook pages.

Increase in children home alone in summer holidays

The NSPCC have published an article reporting an increase in contacts during July and August regarding children being left home alone.  The article highlights that whilst there is no legal age limit for leaving children alone, the NSPCC and Government guidance encourages parents to use their judgement, especially regarding children under 12 years old.  They also add that infants and young children aged 0-3 should never be left alone – even for a few minutes.  The article provides a link to tips for parents to make sure a young person feels safe if home alone.

During the summer holidays families and dogs are spending more time together, so Defra is encouraging key partners to continue sharing practical #DogSafety tips that families can use this summer.

Dog Safety Tips for Families

Defra highlight that during the summer holidays families and dogs may be spending more time together, so they are encouraging key partners to continue sharing practical safety tips that families can use this summer.

They have produced two useful posters on safety around dogs and your dog and your new baby.

Defra has translated the dog safety factsheets into Polish, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Arabic to support dog safety messaging being shared more widely. Newly translated materials can be downloaded at: Translated Fact Sheets | Child Safety Advice in Translation (capt.org.uk).

The Dogs Trust are providing a number of online free dog safety masterclasses for parents and caregivers.  Dates are currently available from August to November 2023.

New SSCP training courses

Recognising and Responding to Neglect:  Improving outcomes for children in Salford

Date: Monday 25^th September 2023 (9.30am – 12 noon OR 1pm – 3.30pm)

The experience of neglect during childhood can have significant, long-lasting and pervasive consequences, affecting all aspects of a child’s development and their lives into adulthood. The event is relevant to a wide range of multi-agency professionals from both the children’s and adults workforce and will include a range of guest speakers from across the partnership. For more information and booking details visit Recognising and Responding to Neglect.

Communicating with Children & Young People 

Date: Thursday 12th October 2023 (09:30 - 4pm)

This full day course is designed to help practitioners consider how to better engage with children and young people, to capture their views and voices and to feel heard.  The course is a response to national and local findings which emphasise the need to listen to children and young people.  It is open to anyone who works with children and families in Salford or for children and family focused services.   

The course content will be focused on:

• why and how we listen to children and young people in Salford;
• how we engage with children whose first language is not English;
• why it is important to gather children’s voices where there might be complex and significant needs. 

Completion of the course should help practitioners feel more confident in working more creatively to gain views using a range of tools and techniques.

Booking is available through the online booking form.

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.