Resources to Support Safeguarding
The intention at each stage of the Graduated Pathway is for the needs of the child and family to be met through multi agency support leading to a de-escalation of need and risk. However, if during the course of the work with a child or young person it is assessed that progress is not being made or the level of need is increasing then the practitioner should seek advice from their designated safeguarding lead and/or Community Social Worker. If the decision is that a Level 4 (Specialist) response is required the practitioner should complete a multi-agency referral form (MARF) and submit this to the multi-agency support hub (MASH).
The MARF should state what support and advice has been sought and actioned at each stage of the Graduated Pathway to ensure all avenues of early help have been explored before the submission of the form.
The green drops down boxes below provide more information to support practitioners when submitting a MARF to the Multi Agency Support Hub.
*REVIEWED SEPTEMBER 2022*
Levels of Intervention Guidance
Gloucestershire’s revised ‘Levels of Intervention Guidance’ can be found by clicking HERE.
All staff working with children and young people need be aware of this guidance to help them make clear decisions, based on the child or young person’s level of need. This will help to ensure that children and young people are given access to the right level of support in order to improve their life chances and keep them safe.
About the revised guidance
It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children and promote their welfare, so we want to ensure that all children and young people with additional needs or at risk of harm are identified at the earliest possible opportunity to prevent them from reaching crisis point.
The ‘Levels of Intervention Guidance’ provides practitioners with a common understanding of the type and level of support that is needed for children and young people based on their need, in line with the Early Help Graduated Pathway and changes to the MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub).
What it means for you
This guide will continue to help support your decision making based on the child's level of need by:
- enabling you to take action with confidence.
- giving examples of some of the concerns that you might have and the appropriate action that should be taken.
- signposting you to other guidance and support, such as the Early Help Advice, Guidance and Support service, GSCE (Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Executive) website and the Family Information Service.
What do you need to do?
Always access the guidance from the GSCP website. It will be regularly updated to keep it consistent with changes to practice, process and legislation. You can access it here.
For full details on Safeguarding in Gloucestershire visit the external link to the right of this page.
Safeguarding Chronology Guidance
Children and young people are most effectively safeguarded when professionals work together and share information. Locally, we know that when a timeline of significant events (chronologies) from agencies are drawn together for the purpose of case reviews, information emerges that was not known or shared previously. The purpose of a chronology is to record significant events and changes for a child; rather than including the more detailed information that is recorded in case notes.
This guidance document has been produced to support practitioners to produce chronologies within their own agencies and to provide clarity of when a multi-agency chronology should be started.
The guidance is available to download from the GSCP website using the external link on this page or clicking here
Resources for Practitioners
NSPCC Whistleblowing advice line for Professionals
NSPCC CASPAR newsletter subscription - free weekly awareness newsletter for practice, policy and research
NSPCC Safeguarding in Education - monthly education practice, policy and research updates
Safeguarding in Schools - weekly safeguarding briefing for schools and colleges
Brook Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool - toolkit to help decide whether sexual behaviours are outside what would be expected according to age group, and help you decide if further intervention is needed