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NSPCC article about Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)

Source: IICSA

Date: 24 June 2021

The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) has published a report looking at present-day experiences of children who have experienced sexual abuse in England and Wales. Findings from the report, based on the accounts of 56 young people aged 11-21 and 77 specialist child sexual abuse support workers, include: young people still face delays in accessing support, the introduction of mandatory reporting could discourage children from disclosing abuse, there needs to be a cultural shift to make talking about sexual abuse easier, relationships and sex education in schools does not reflect current challenges facing children, and creators of social media sites need to take greater responsibility for child safety.

Read the news story: Police accuse young sexual abuse survivors of lying, report finds
Download the report: Engagement with children and young people report - 24 June 2021

See also on NSPCC Learning 
> Protecting children from sexual abuse

SSCP Safeguarding Children Practitioner Survey Results Headlines

Results from the recent SSCP safeguarding children practitioner survey which was completed by more than 300 professionals from a wide range of agencies show:

  • 99% are confident to share information with other professionals if they have a safeguarding concern about a child.
  • 94% are encouraged to attend safeguarding training regularly.
  • 95% feel confident to raise safeguarding concerns and are supported in their safeguarding role.
  • 41% are not familiar with the Professional Challenge and Escalation Policy or confident to use it.
  • 22% are not confident in recognising signs of sexual abuse and taking appropriate action.

We asked practitioners to tell us about examples of safeguarding good practice, e.g.:

“My organisation is always open for discussions and concerns, no matter how big or small, and our Safeguarding Lead takes charge immediately when the situation merits”

For access to the full report and further information about survey results contact: sscp@salford.gov.uk

Knife crime / Youth violence

Sadly, this year in Salford here have been several incidents of serious violence involving knives and young people. The SSCP have produced a 7 Minute Briefing which outlines the learning from the multi-agency reviews that have taken place. One of the learning points identified that the cultural identity and the lived experience of the young people may not have been fully explored in assessments.

Download the Knife Crime and Contextual Safeguarding thematic 7 Minute Briefings from the 7-Minute Briefing page.

Listening Hub Competition

Our new listening hub is a bringing together the voice of children, families and communities to improve practices and make Salford a better place to live.

Now, we’re on the hunt for a creative logo and a clever strapline for our listening hub, with a new competition open to all children and young people in Salford. Please help us promote this competition far and wide. For full details of the competition and the prizes up for grabs, visit Listeninghub | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

Have your say on domestic abuse

How should Salford organisations tackle domestic abuse? That’s the question being asked by Salford City Council as it reviews its domestic strategy for the next five years – and it’s inviting the public to have their say.

The quick, five question anonymous survey is online until Wednesday July 14 and is open to anyone whether or not they have experienced domestic abuse.

The survey sets out plans for the next five years, which include education on abuse and healthy relationships in schools, make sure services work for teenagers as well as younger children, sharing information across organisations so people only have to tell their story once and bring perpetrators to justice or stop them harming others.

Deputy City Mayor and lead member for adult services, health and wellbeing Councillor John Merry said: “Domestic abuse can happen to anyone and can involve control and coercion just as much as physical violence.

“There’s no place for it in modern society and we want to make sure we and our partners are doing all we can to help those who experience, stop people causing harm and change attitudes.

“We would welcome people’s views and ideas in the survey to help us shape services and provide the best support we can over the next five years.”

To complete the survey please visit www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SalfordDAconsultation

If you prefer to join a discussion about the strategy please email madha.ayub@salford.gov.uk for details.

If you need help and support with domestic abuse please visit www.salford.gov.uk or call the national domestic abuse helpline 24/7 on 0808 2000 247 or the men’s helpline on 0808 8010327

Find your future offer to help young people

Eight Salford organisations are joining together to help young people find their future.

Youth employment has fallen by eight per cent nationally due to the pandemic and with hundreds more young people are due to leave school, college or university this summer Salford wants to make sure they know all their options.

A free Zoom session at 6pm on Wednesday July 7 will share lots of ideas, from apprenticeships which can go up to degree level, to Kickstart paid work and training placements and pre-work training for those who don’t feel ready to go straight into a job. Salford City Council currently has 80 Kickstart vacancies which offer six months paid work and training placements in schools, industry, offices and outdoor careers.

The 45 minute session is suitable for anyone over 16 but particularly parents of young people who are about to leave school, college or university or who left some time ago and don’t know where to turn.

Registration is free on EventBrite www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/find-your-future-jobs-and-careers-tickets-158891553915

Anyone with specific questions or who would like more information on a particular topic can email Salford City Council’s Skills and Work helpline on SAWhelpline@salford.gov.uk in advance.

The session has been organised by Salford City Council, Connexions (careers service for young people),Salford Employ (careers and job hunting for adults)  the National Careers Service, JobcentrePlus, Salford City College, the Growth Company, Salix Homes and Pendleton Together.

Learn new skills and get a free bike

Bike mad teenagers who have just left school and are not working or in training at the moment are being offered the chance to learn how to fix bikes and get their own to keep.

The last few places are now available on two free, six week courses which start on Tuesday July 6 in Swinton or Walkden. They run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and participants will learn how to repair and refurbish donated bikes and get one to keep at the end if they wish. Lunch is also included.

Bike repair knowledge is a great skill for life and could even lead to a job. Anyone interested must be 16-18 and can book a place by emailing gavin.armstrong@careerconnect.org.uk or calling 07814 143869.

Think Child Guidance

Think Child Guidance; assessing the impact of parental mental health on the child - Practice Guidance as been published on the Policy & procedures page: Policies and procedures | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership.

This is brief guidance to support professionals when they are working with a parent or carer that experiences poor mental health along the mental health continuum.

Back to school

Salford City Council has 50 paid placements available in primary, secondary and special needs schools across the city, ranging from teaching assistants and caretakers to outdoor learning assistants, gardeners, administrators and ICT technicians.

The vacancies, which last six months and include full training, are being offered under the government’s Kickstart scheme to help young people aged 16-24 who are claiming Universal Credit escape the risk of long-term unemployment.

The training will help young people build their skills and confidence and give them real work experience and references so they’re in a good position to snap up permanent vacancies that come up either in the field of education or in other areas.

Salford City Council is offering a series of information sessions to find out more about the placements and the training and support on offer in early July. 

Anyone interested who meets the eligibility criteria can find out more information and register for the sessions by Monday 5 July.

Salford Family Partnership Webpages

The Salford Family Partnership webpages have been updated to reflect our move to becoming known as Family Hubs to ensure families know we are providing support, advice and guidance for 0-25 year olds and their families as a partnership. Our partners in health have created the health visiting section which contains a wealth of information and links with our integrated approach for families. .

If you have any relevant information that you feel would be useful to include on the pages or any suggestions for new sections of the website that we could start to develop, please let us know.

Could we also ask that you continue to share the link to the website with colleagues and families you are working with to help us raise awareness.

Early help for families • Salford City Council

Contacts: Kate Berry kate.berry@salford.gov.uk or Clare Hopton clare.hopton@salford.gov.uk

Early Help Antenatal/Postnatal Pathway for new parents

A recent local case review has highlighted once more that babies are vulnerable and new parents may need extra support. Newly appointed Baby Leads in each locality of the city can support families with all aspects of caring for a newborn through online courses and sessions, plus advice on safe sleep, feeding, and coping with a crying baby. Find out more information on the Early Help web pages. Referrals from an early stage in the pregnancy are welcome.

Targeted referrals for the antenatal / postnatal pathway can be made via the Bridge referral form, selecting antenatal pathway as the reason.

Read the 7 Minute Briefing for the case review 2021-03.

Multi-agency lunch bowl learning sessions

We are pleased to inform you that going forward, the SSCP will be coordinating multi-agency lunch bowls learning sessions which will be available to all agencies, particularly where the multi-agency workforce will benefit from the topics/information being shared in a bite sized way.

Lunch bowl sessions will be delivered via MS Teams and calendar invites containing the link will be sent out to organisational representatives of the SSCP including Training Champions. Agency representatives are asked to ensure you share the calendar invites with your teams across your agency/organisation.

All sessions can be accessed on a drop in/drop out basis so no formal booking on with the SSCP is required.  Once you receive the calendar invite for the lunch bowl session, simply accept if you wish to attend and join. Any PowerPoints and relevant information from the session will be shared in the chat function and can be accessed afterwards.

All lunch bowls will be recorded and uploaded onto the SSCP YouTube page following the session, to access at any point to support workforce development. You can subscribe to follow our channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-cOwwXfiG_t_ejpY1wqZQ

Introducing Liquidlogic and new referrals form

A lot of hard work has been happening behind the scenes to replace a number of systems currently used within Early Help, children’s social care and adult’s social care with a new system called Liquidlogic, which will go live on 10 August 2021. This will enable strengthening support to families and children across the city and work in a more joined-up way to meet the needs of residents and the increasingly digital world.

This system also includes a new portal for you to make referrals into the Bridge. You will continue to access this via the Salford City Council website, but the additional functionality will help improve the referrals process and provide children and families with the right help at the right time.

There will be regular updates in future editions of the SSCP bulletin as we move closer to Go Live, including a walk-through of the new referrals form. Please do keep your eyes peeled for those and if you have any questions, you can contact the project team on projectimagine@salford.gov.uk

Learning from Practice Reviews

Recent case reviews highlighted the importance of understanding contextual safeguarding and knife crime.

Read the Knife Crime and Contextual Safeguarding thematic 7 Minute Briefings on the 7-Minute Briefing page. 

National Events

Child Safety Week

Child Safety Week is an annual community education campaign run by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), acting as a catalyst for thousands of safety conversations and activities UK-wide to help families build confidence and skills in managing the real risks to children's safety. We want all children to have the freedom to grow and learn, safe from serious harm.

This year, Child Safety Week runs from Monday 7th to Sunday 13th June with the theme Share because you care.Learning Disability Week

Learning Disability Week

This year’s Learning Disability Week took place from 14 - 20 June. The theme was art and creativity. Mencap have created some resources. Have a look also at The NHS Salford CCG - Celebrating Learning Disability Week 2021 - YouTube

Volunteer Week 2021

Volunteers’ Week is a time to say thanks for the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. Join us this year to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make. (volunteersweek.org)

Useful Links to Training, Information and Resources

The SSCP has developed a Virtual Training Programme offering webinars, spotlight briefings, lunchbowls, practitioner forums and videocasts. Our training programme is complemented by e-learning courses, 7 minute briefings Learning from Practice Reviews, Learning Events and by subscribing our SSCP YouTube channel. We will continue to review the possibility of offering face to face training in line with Government advice and local needs.

  • Visit also Salford Thrive for further Training, Resources and Events including Psychological First Aid, Mindfulness, Helping young people with anxiety, low mood and depression during Covid 19
  • The Emotional Health Service Directory will help you access useful resources and services available to support children and young people's emotional health and well-being and to provide guidance when making a referral into services. 
  • To support us to become more aware of trauma and how we can support resilience across the City, take a look at The Salford Way which includes self care resources for taking care of ourselves and our colleagues.

Safeguarding Resources, Training and Information

Other Updates and Information

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