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| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Female Genital Mutilation | A new section has been added on Other Harmful Practices. The Health and Care Act 2022 has made it illegal to carry out, offer or aid and abet virginity testing or hymenoplasty in any part of the UK. It is also illegal for UK nationals and residents to do these things outside the UK. Information has also been added on Breast Flattening which is an offence as set out in CPS So-Called Honour-Based Abuse Legal Guidance. |
| Drugs and Substance Misuse | Information has been added to reflect the reclassification of nitrous oxide as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (as amended). |
| Smoking | This chapter has been refreshed. |
| Section 2.2, Appointment of Manager has been updated in line with updated Ofsted Guidance – Social Care Common Inspection Framework: Children’s Homes. | |
| Staffing and Safe Recruitment | New sections have been added in to Section 2, Safe Recruitment and Employment Checks, on Prospective Staff Spending Time in the Home and Carrying Out Interviews, in line with updated Ofsted guidance. |
| Preparation for Leaving Care | A link has been added in the Further Information section to Ofsted Guidance Children’s Homes that Provide Care and Accommodation for Adults. |
| Next update: January 2025 |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Photographs | This chapter has been refreshed and additional links added in Further Information. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Case Recording | This chapter has been updated in relation to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. |
| Health Care Assessments and Plans | Information in relation to allergies has been added into Section 2, Health Care Plans. |
| Provision and Preparation of Meals | Information in relation to allergies has been added into Section 1 Responsibility and Risk Assessments. |
| First Aid, Home Remedies and Medication | Section 2, Allergies has been added. |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | This chapter has been updated to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Added into Section 4, Staff Training: ‘This training will be refreshed on an annual basis’. Information on holding a restorative conversation with the child following physical intervention or restraint was added into Section 12, Recording and Management Review. |
| Missing Children | This chapter has been updated to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Information in relation to Philomena Protocols has been added into Section 6, Action to be Taken if a Child is Missing. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This chapter has been amended in line with revised Keeping Children Safe in Education. A new Section 2, The Difference Between an Allegation of Harm and a Concern has been added. |
| Self Harm and Suicidal Behaviour | This chapter has been amended to include a link to Self-harm: Assessment, Management and Preventing Recurrence NICE Guidance into Further Information. |
| Visitors to the Home | This chapter has been updated. |
| Staffing and Safe Recruitment | This chapter has been amended in line with revised statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education. Information has been added to note that Keeping Children Safe in Education provides that copies of a curriculum vitae should only be accepted alongside an application form as a curriculum vitae on its own may not provide adequate information. Information has also added in relation to online searches. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Supporting Children and Young People with Disabilities | This chapter has been added. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Providing Personalised Care | This chapter has been updated. |
| Case Recording | This chapter has been updated. |
| Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Photographs | This chapter has been updated. |
| Advocacy, Independent Visitors and Independent Reviewing Officers | This chapter has been updated. |
| Education | Section 5, Arrangements in Education has been updated to reflect local guidance. The chapter has been given a general refresh. |
| Leisure and Activities | This chapter has been updated. |
| Health and Wellbeing, Health Notifications and Access to Services | This chapter has been updated. |
| Female Genital Mutilation | This chapter has been updated. |
| Positive Relationships and Behaviour Management | This chapter has been updated. |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | This chapter has been updated. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People and Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This chapter has been updated. |
| Surveillance and Monitoring | This chapter has been updated. |
| Staff Qualifications | This chapter has been updated. |
| Staff Supervision and Appraisal | This chapter has been updated. |
| Care and Placement Planning | This chapter has been updated. |
| Looked After Reviews and Disruption Meetings | Section 8, The Home's Arrangements for Looked After Reviews has been updated to add local guidance. The chapter has been given a general refresh. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Equality and Diversity | This chapter has been added. |
| Consultation and Participation | This chapter has been added. |
| Health and Safety | This chapter has been added. Section 3, The Home’s Health and Safety Policy has been updated in line with local procedure. |
| Risk Assessment and Planning | This chapter has been added. |
| Positive Relationships and Behaviour Management | This chapter has been added. |
| Whistleblowing or Raising Concerns at Work | This chapter has been added. |
| Leadership and Management | This chapter has been added. |
| Recording and Reporting of Accidents | This chapter has been added. |
| Staffing and Safe Recruitment | This chapter has been added. |
| Removed Chapters | |
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| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Staying in Touch - Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Taking Photographs | A link to the Childnet Parents and Carers Toolkit has been added. |
| Smoking | This chapter has been updated. |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | A link has been added to Ofsted Guidance Positive Environments Where Children Can Flourish. |
| Countering Bullying and Peer Abuse | This chapter has been amended to reflect Keeping Children Safe in Education Statutory Guidance, the outcome of Ofsted’s thematic report, Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | KCSIE highlights the importance of sharing and responding to any concerns, about the behaviour of an adult who works with children, no matter how small. This chapter has been revised to also consider low level concerns, with a new section added in relation to the differences between an ‘allegation’ and a concern. |
| Placements and Admissions | This chapter has been amended to note the importance of a child’s belonging’s being transferred in appropriate luggage and to add a link to the NYAS ‘My Things Matter’ Report – support and respect care-experienced children and their belongings when they move. |
| Moving to Another Placement | This chapter has been amended to add a link to the NYAS ‘My Things Matter’ Report – support and respect care-experienced children and their belongings when they move |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Alcohol | This chapter has been added. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Residential Child Care – Key Principles | This chapter has been given a general refresh. |
| Staying in Touch - Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Taking Photographs | A link has been added in Related Guidance to the NSPCC Report Remove Tool and the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) Digital Passport. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Information Sharing | This guidance has been updated to reflect the revised Information Sharing advice contained in Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Blood Borne Viruses (BBVs) | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout. |
| Recognising Abuse and Neglect | This guidance has been updated to reflect changes contained in the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This guidance has been updated to reflect changes contained in the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | A fourth bullet point as been added into Section 1, Introduction to reflect the revised statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. The new bullet point means this procedure now also covers situations where an individual has behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children. This is to capture concerns around transferable risk; for example where a person who works in the home is involved in a domestic abuse incident and this may have implications for their suitability to work with children. |
| Staff Qualifications and Employment Checks | A note has been added regarding the checks which employers must carry out to ensure that any person applying to work in the home has the right to work in the UK. See Safe Recruitment and Employment Checks. |
| Preparation for Leaving Care | A link to the publication Joint Housing Protocols for Care Leavers: good practice advice (DfE and MHCLG) as been added into the Relevant Information Section. Information has a also been added to reflect Working Together to Safeguard Children in respect of Homelessness and the vulnerability of children who are in this situation, or are threatened with this. (See Moving to Independent Living in Pathway Plan section). |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines | This new guidance provides information on Child Criminal Exploitation, including county lines. It describes the signs and indicators that children are being exploited, and offers guidance for staff in Children's Homes on how they can respond to keep children safe from harm linked to criminal exploitation. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Notification of Serious Events | This procedure has been updated to reflect the latest Ofsted guidance for social care providers on the types of incident which they consider to be serious, and which therefore will require notification to the regulatory authority. New sections on the quality of notifications and learning from notifications have been added. |
| Staff Qualifications and Employment Checks | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. Section 3, Safe Recruitment and Employment Checks is new. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Surveillance and Monitoring | This new chapter provides guidance on the use of surveillance and monitoring equipment in Children's Homes.It is based on information published by Ofsted. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers and Volunteers | This procedure has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Notification of Serious Events | This procedure has been reviewed throughout and extensively updated as required to reflect the latest advice from Ofsted in relation to the notification of serious events. |
| Moving to Another Placement | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. Section 2, Arrangements for the Transfer to Another Home, has been updated to include a note on the actions placing authorities are required to undertake if a young person is moving from the home into an unregulated placement. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Education | This chapter has been updated to reflect amendments introduced by the Children and Social Work Act 2017. These changes relate to the status of ‘Previously Looked After Children’. A Previously Looked After Child is one who is no longer looked after in England and Wales because they are the subject of an Adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. A new Section 4, Safeguarding in School has also been added. |
| Recognising Abuse and Neglect | Section 6, Sexual Abuse and Section 8, Bullying (including Online/Cyberbullying) have been reviewed and completely updated. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation | Links have been added to resources for practitioners working with children who have been, or are at risk of, Child Sexual Exploitation published by Barnardos and Research in Practice. |
| Care and Placement Plans Guidance | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. Information in relation to Pathway Plans has been updated to reflect that care leavers can request support from local authorities up to the age of 25 years. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Residential Child Care – Key Principles | Section 3, Achieving the Key Principles has been updated to reflect the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, and explains that children in residential care should be helped to understand the types of personal information which is kept in their case records, what it is used for, who it will be shared with and how long it will be kept for. The child’s right to access their case record should also be explained to them. |
| Children’s Guide | This section has been updated following publication of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 to recommend that Children’s Guides contain information for children and young people on the data / records which the home keeps on them, as well as explaining the right of children and young people to access their case file. |
| Information Sharing and Confidentiality | This guidance has been reviewed throughout to reflect the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). |
| Case Recording | This guidance has been reviewed and updated following publication of the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018. |
| Access to Records | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout to reflect the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Health Care Assessments and Plans | Section 1, Health Care Assessments has been updated to include additional information on situations when children and young people can provide their own consent to health care assessments and treatment. |
| Smoking and Alcohol | A new section containing guidance and information on the use of E-cigarettes / vapes has been added. |
| Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This procedure has been reviewed and updated throughout to reflect current Government guidance on safeguarding children, and emphasises that keeping children safe and promoting their welfare is a responsibility of all staff working in the home, not just managers and key workers. |
| Identifying and Supporting Children and Young People Vulnerable to Violent Extremism including Radicalisation | Section 1, Introduction / Definitions has been updated to include additional information for staff on what is meant by the term extremism; an explanation of the processes by which young people can be exposed to the messages of extremist groups has also been added. |
| Self Harm and Suicidal Behaviour | Section 2, Planning and Prevention has been updated to provide additional guidance for staff on how to respond to young people in our care who are feeling suicidal or who are self harming. A note has also been added on the importance of offering appropriate support to staff members and other young people living in the home when incidents of self harm have taken place. |
| Visitors to the Home | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and refreshed as required. |
| Child Looked After Reviews | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated to include additional detail on the circumstances in which Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) should look to bring forward a child’s Looked After Review. See Section 2, Frequency of Child Looked After Reviews for full details. |
| Preparation for Leaving Care | This guidance has been updated throughout to reflect the publication of the DfE Corporate Parenting Principles for Looked After Children and Care Leavers and the introduction of the Local Offer for Care Leavers. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Providing Personalised Care | This guidance has been updated to include information on the role of residential care workers in supporting young people who are experiencing gender identity issues (see Section 3.2, Gender). |
| Case Recording | A note has been added into Section 17, Records should usually be Retained After Closure, to remind all staff no children’s social care records should be destroyed while the National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is on-going. |
| Advocacy and Independent Visitors | This guidance has been updated to include a link to the Children’s Society publication ‘Advocacy Services for Children and Young People – A Guide for Commissioners’. This guide outlines the legislative requirements placed on local authorities in relation to the provision of advocacy support for Children in Need and Children Looked After. |
| Sexual Health and Relationships | Section 3, Pornography has been updated to include advice for staff on how to deal with issues relating to young people’s access to pornography online. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Protocol between Bradford Police, Youth Offending Team and Children's Social Care Regarding Incidents in Residential Homes for Children Looked After which may Result in Police Intervention and Action | This protocol, which is part of an overall strategy to reduce the level of recorded offences by children living in residential units, has been revised throughout. It has been signed by senior officers in the Police, Youth Offending Team and Children’s Social Care. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Social Visits (Including Overnight Stays) | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout. It should be read in full. |
| Drugs and Substance Misuse | This guidance has been updated to include information on new Psychoactive Substances (NPS) (previously known as legal highs) and the new Psychoactive Substances Act which came into force on 26 May 2016. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation | This guidance has been updated to reflect the revised definition of Child Sexual Exploitation published by the Department for Education in February 2017. See Section 1, Introduction for full details. |
| Removed Chapters | |
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