Bedfordshire LSCB

Welcome to the Bedfordshire Local Safeguarding Children Board website.

We want to make sure that children and young people feel safe and cared for in Bedfordshire and hope that this website is useful to those who want to know more about the work of the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).

LSCBs have been established by the government to ensure that organisations work together effectively to safeguard children and promote their welfare. In Bedfordshire this includes social care services, education, health, the police, probation, the voluntary sector, youth offending team, Connexions, early years services as well as District councils and Yarlswood – in fact, any organisation providing services for children.

I hope that children and young people, families and communities will use the website as well as professionals working with children.

Laura Eades
Chair of Bedfordshire LSCB

What does the LSCB do?

Bedfordshire Local Safeguarding Children Board is an inter-agency forum for:

Coordinating the work done by the various agencies to safeguard children and promote their welfare, and
Ensuring that this work is carried out effectively

The LSCB's objectives and purpose.

The Children Act 2004 places a duty on children’s services to establish local boards and sets out the agencies that will be ‘Board partners’ on the LSCB. The Act also places a duty for the authority and Board partners to cooperate with each other.

Further guidance for the LSCB is set out in "Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working." This defines the LSCB as, “the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations…will cooperate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children…and ensuring the effectiveness of what they do.”

The LSCB also has a role to contribute to the planning and delivery of children’s services through the Children And Young People’s Strategic Plan (CYPSP).

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means:

protecting children from maltreatment

preventing the impairment of children’s heath or development

ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and

undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully

The scope of this role falls into three broad areas of activity:

Activity that affects all children and aims to identify and prevent maltreatment or impairment of health or development, and ensure children are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care.
For example:

Mechanisms to identify abuse and neglect wherever they occur

Work to increase understanding of safeguarding children issues in the professional and wider community, promoting the message that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility

Monitoring the effectiveness of organisations’ implementation of their duties under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 (arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children)

Ensuring children know who they can contact when they have concerns about their own or other’s safety and welfare

Ensuring that adults know who they can contact if they have a concern about a child or young person

Proactive work that aims to target particular groups, for example:

Developing and evaluating thresholds and procedures for work with children and families where a child; has been identified as ‘in need’ under the Children Act 1989, but where the child is not suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm
Work to safeguard and promote the welfare of groups of children who are potentially more vulnerable than the general population, for example, children living away from home, children who have run away from home, children in custody, or disabled children
Responsive work to protect children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering harm, including:

Children abused and neglected within families, including those harmed in the context of domestic violence or as a consequence of substance misuse
Children abused outside families by adults known to them
Children abused and neglected by professional carers, within institutional settings, or anywhere else where children are cared for away from home
Children abused by strangers
Children abused by other young people
Young perpetrators of abuse; and

Accountability and governance

Although the LSCB’s role includes coordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of work done by member organisations to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, it is not accountable for the operational work. This remains with the individual organisations and services. The LSCB does not have the power to direct other organisations.

The Strategic and Operations Board of the LSCB is chaired by an Independent Chair, Laura Eades.

The work of the LSCB has been divided between sub-groups, overseen by the Operations Board. The chairs of the sub-groups sit on the Operations Board.

The subgroups are:

Policy and Procedures - responsible for developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and ensuring they are compliant with national requirements.
Audit - responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of work done to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
Training Commissioning - will sit above the Training, Development and Implementation Group (TDIG) to commission, monitor and scrutinise the training on behalf of the LSCB. Representatives of agencies sitting on this group will be at a senior level, able to release resources and speak on behalf of their agency
Training & Development Implementation - responsible for undertaking an annual training and development needs analysis and delivering a programme of multi-agency training to meet the identified needs
Communications - responsible for developing and implementing the Communications strategy for the LSCB, including improving interagency communication, raising public awareness and working with local media
Serious Case Review Panel - responsible for reviewing cases where a child has died or has been seriously harmed in circumstances where abuse or neglect is know or suspected, and advising on the lessons that can be learned;
Child Death Overview Panel - (this becomes statutorily operational in April 2008), responsible for reviewing all deaths of children aged 0-18 years resident in Bedfordshire at the time of their death, to identify patterns or trends and consider how such deaths might be prevented in the future

I hope that this gives you some idea as to how the LSCB functions if you have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to contact us, for contact details see the contacts page.

Sally Stocker
Business Manager LSCB

What to do if you are worried about a child

LSCB News

New Elearning courses Courses offered by Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire Safeguarding Children Boards now include a NEW Introduction to Safeguarding course; A Safeguarding Young People course that is particularly suitable for those working in schools and a NEW Think Safe Be Safe Course for Young People aged 11-18 who themselves have a peer mentoring or similar role. We are continuing to offer the Core and Foundation options for Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect. We know that there are certain aspects of family life that can make children more vulnerable and so we are offering a NEW Parental Mental Health course. Recent local and national events have highlighted the ways in which young people may be exploited and we therefore are offering a NEW Safeguarding Children from Abuse by Sexual Exploitation course that will help all those coming into contact to be aware of how Abuse by Sexual Exploitation can happen and how we can all work to prevent it. Our NEW Safeguarding Everyone course aims to raise awareness of this important aspect of work with children and families whatever the age or level of dependence of the client. Assessment of Risk is crucial to keeping vulnerable children and young people safe and a NEW course Risk Assessment in Safeguarding aims to assist workers to develop this concept and a balanced approach to safeguard child when carrying out assessments. We recognise that releasing workers and volunteers to attend training can be complicated and have an adverse impact when staff levels are low. E Learning can help to bridge the knowledge gap for these workers and volunteers without such an impact and we are pleased to be able to support our statutory partners as well as our independent and voluntary organisation colleagues by arranging access to these well developed and good quality distance learning materials. E-Learning package on Awareness of Child Abuse & Neglect E-Learning The Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire LSCBs have an E-learning course on Basic Awareness of Child Abuse & Neglect which is free of charge to all LSCB member agencies in Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. We are also able to offer this free of charge to voluntary organisations. All Independent agencies including GP practices, Dentists and school academies will be charged at Ł17.50 per applicant, per course. To access this exciting innovative way of training please complete the online booking form in the links page on this website. Virtual college will then email you with your individual username and password. The course is ideal for everyone who comes into contact with children, young people, their parents or carers through their work in either the statutory or voluntary or independent sector and is endorsed by Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire Safeguarding Children Boards and is in line with our Training Strategy. The e-learning module and on-line assessment provides a flexible delivery route for Basic Awareness of Child Protection and Safeguarding Children. Where CPD evidence is required, the learner can download a CPD self-assessment sheet at the end of the course and they then record what they have learnt, and the value (i.e. CPD hours or points) they want to place against the course. The form is then submitted as documentary evidence of CPD activity to their professional association or institute. For a free demonstration, learners can visit the e-Academy portal www.safeguardingchildrenea.co.uk and select the ‘Demos’ option on the top navigation bar. Recognition of Achievement The training modules incorporate a number of challenges and questions that will enable the user to determine their level of understanding. When ready they can proceed to the online quizzes, which will test their knowledge and record the results on their personal training record.When learners successfully achieve the pass mark for an individual module, they will be eligible for a certificate on completion. Welcome to the e-Academy The aim of the Safeguarding Children e-Academy is to improve the education and training process for those individuals and organisations who work with children. We hope that the e-Academy will play an important role in helping facilitate the adoption of e-learning with member organisations who share similar issues within the field of child protection, and by doing so, create a powerful focused team who can quickly develop effective learning solutions. What is the e-Academy? The e-Academy is an innovative solution, specifically structured to enhance the learning process for those individuals and organisations who work with children. There are vast numbers of people who need appropriate training in areas of child protection, who struggle to engage in the traditional classroom based delivery. The e-Academy will provide an alternative route to an excellent range of learning resources that can be accessed online. By utilising the internet to provide access to online resources there are no geographical restrictions. It will utilise a virtual learning environment, e-learning modules and online assessment to create a blended learning solution that enables a flexible, quality and consistent provision that engages learners. A key part of the e-Academy model is the bringing together of a number of members within the field of child protection who share similar training requirements, and by doing so, create a powerful focused team who can quickly develop effective learning solutions. In addition, the e-Academy will play an important role in helping facilitate the adoption of e-learning within member organisations. The Benefits of the e-Academy The e-Academy introduces a new dimension to the education and learning process by providing a vehicle for member organisations to share ideas and solutions. The introduction of e-learning can bring a number of benefits, including: •Providing a flexible delivery route with learning taking place at a pace, place and time to suit the learner. • Ensuring a high quality, consistent message is delivered. • Improving the engagement and retention of learners. • Helping close the loop through online assessment. • Creating a cost effective delivery model. What do the e-learning modules include? Each of the e-learning modules include a mixture of scenarios, challenges and progress checks to reinforce the learning process. What equipment is needed to undertake the e-academy programme? All that is needed is access to a computer that has an Internet connection. The system has been optimised to allow minimum access time, but a broadband connection is preferable. The modules have been developed using Flash technology and a Flash Player needs to be installed on the computer. This software is freely and easily downloadable from the Internet and the relevant link is included with the training material. Domestic Violence Website This website provides advice, facts and information regarding support services to assist anyone wanting to flee domestic violence. www.bedsdv.org.uk Safeguarding Children and Inter-Agency 2 day training course - Future dates The next 2 day training course will be held on the following dates: 20th & 21st March 2012 - Bedford Golf Club, Great Denham (Closing date 3rd February 2012) 17th & 18th April 2012 - Dunstable Fire Station (Closing date 29th February) See training calender for future dates. This training is for people who work regularly with children and young people, and with adults who are parents or carers, and who may be asked to contribute to assessments of ‘children in need’. You will have responsibility to identify and act on concerns about maltreatment and need training on how to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Group B includes GPs, hospital and community health staff including health visitors, practice nurses, paediatricians, A&E staff and midwives. Family & Children’s centre workers, Children’s residential workers, teachers, education welfare officers, social workers, adult mental health and learning disability staff, probation officers, and many others. To be eligible for this course you must have undertaken awareness training (or similar) Closing date full all courses is 6 weeks prior to the course commencing. Complete and return the training application form in the training section to apply for a place. You must have a confirmed place to attend this training. New interactive, web-based version of Working Together to Safeguard Children (issued March 2010), created by tri.x childcare. An exact copy of the original, published by the DCSF (now The Department of Education) – with many interactive features. Go to the links page to access this web-based version. Introduction to Safeguarding Children - 17th May 2012 This course is for all those staff and volunteers who are in regular contact with children and young people, and with adults who are carers. These people are in a position to identify concerns about maltreatment, including those that may arise from using the common assessment framework (CAF). Venue - Dunstable Fire Station. Closing date: 30th March 2012. CAF - new contact details for Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire councils Bedford Borough Council CAF co-ordinator details: The telephone numbers for Bedford Borough CAF / MAAG are a follows 01234 276750 (44750) and 01234 718612 (47612). The email addresses are cafadmin@bedford.gov.uk and maagnorth@bedford.gov.uk Central Bedfordshire Council CAF/MAAG co-ordinator details: CAF Admin on 0300 300 8148 CAFadmin@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk maagmid@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or maagsouth@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk NEW Parental Mental Illness and Safeguarding Children - 1 day course with prior Elearning course COURSE DATES 2011 - places very limited for all courses 2nd February 2012 (closing date 16/12/2011) 15th March 2012 (closing date 31/01/2012) Target Audience: Managers and practitioners from a range of professional settings who work with children, young people and families, as well as those who work with adults with parenting responsibilities, specifically members of the workforce (groups 3 and 4) who work predominantly with children, young people and/or their parents/carers and those who have particular responsibilities in relation to undertaking section 47 enquiries, and /or work with complex cases. Course Aims • Promote the confidence and skills of staff working in adult mental health and child welfare services. • Encourage more effective agency collaboration for the benefit of mentally ill parents and their children. Intended Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, delegates should be able to: • Demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of the inter-play between adult mental illness and the impact on child development. • Describe their role, in conjunction with that of professionals from partner agencies, in meeting the needs of families affected by mental illness. • Demonstrate increased skill and confidence in the process of assessment, planning and intervention for such children and families. Application process: To apply for a place on this course both you and your manager must complete, sign and submit the ‘LSCB Approved training application form’ , available through the LSCB training programme or on the Training page of this website before the course closing date. Domestic Abuse Training 1 day course - The Impact on Children & Young People training course - 8th February 2012 Approximately 6238 Bedfordshire children witness domestic abuse each year Do you work regularly with children and young people, or adults who are parents or carers? Is domestic abuse a feature of your work? Do you need to know more about the IMPACT OF DOMESTIC ABUSE ON A CHILD OR YOUNG PERSON and what you can do? If you can answer YES to the questions above then this NEW multi agency LSCB course could be for you… The course aims to: • Outline the national and local context of domestic abuse in relation to safeguarding children • Raise your awareness of the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people • Assist you in assessing how parenting capacity is affected by domestic abuse • Consider ways of supporting children and young people who are living with or have lived with domestic abuse. Course dates: 8th February 2012 (Closing date 21st December 2011) See flyer in the training section for booking details and costs. To book a place see complete the training application form found on the training pages. You must have a confirmed place to attend. NEW Safeguarding Refresher and Update - 1/2 day course - 29th February 2012 If you work regularly with children and young people and adults who are parents or carers but have not undertaken any Safeguarding Children training for 2-3 years then this half day course could be for you. You will have previously trained to a minimum level of 'Basic Awareness. Ideally you will have previously undertaken a 2 day Safeguarding Chikldren course within your own Agency or with the LSCB. This half day course will update and refresh your knowledge and explore changes in practice in relation to keeping children safe. COURSE AIM: To update and refresh knowledge and explore changes in practice relating to keeping children safe in Bedfordshire. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the training course participants will be able to : - Outline current legislation and practice guidance; - Discuss how this legislation and practice guidance can assist in the improved safeguarding of children and young people; - Consider the ways that risk to children is accurately assessed and responded to. Please book your place now as places are limited. Course Dates: Closing date: 13th January 2012. To book your place please complete the training application form on the training page. You must have a confirmed place to attend. Effective Interventions training - 14th and 15th November 2011 Effective Interventions 14th and 15th November 2011 Venue – Bedford Golf Club, Great Denham This course is suitable for practitioners responsible for undertaking child protection enquiries / investigations, Senior Practitioners in Integrated Teams, DTM’s, Health named Designated Nurses, Designated GP’s, Health Visiting Area Managers, LADO’s, Conference Review Managers and their Team Managers, Senior Education staff and Designated Teachers, and workers from similar posts within the voluntary sector. Aim • To enhance knowledge and skills and the ability to work together on the processes for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in complex and challenging situations • To provide an opportunity for people to learn together and to explore professional dilemmas • Take and advise others on action to be taken to safeguard children in complex and challenging situations Closing date - 05/10/2011 CAF Referral form for Central Bedfordshire Families Please note that Central Bedfordshire Council are now using the Every Child Matters CAF form. This form can be found on the CAF/MAAG page on this website. Please Note: From 1st May 2010, CAFs will only be accepted if they are on the new form, please download your CAF form from: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/resources-and-practice/TP00004/ Safeguarding Disabled Children - 23rd May 2012 New course This course is designed for anyone working with deaf and/or disabled children/young people. This group of children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and yet this abuse is very under-reported. Aim: Increase knowledge and awareness of the particular safeguarding responsibilities for all staff when providing services to deaf and disabled children, young people and families. By the end of the course the delegate will be able to:- 1. Define the term disability 2. Outline the legal framework relating to Children’s Rights, Disability Discrimination, Health and Education for deaf and disabled children, young people and their families 3. Discuss the impact of children’s disability(ies) on their siblings and families 4. Explain the reasons for deaf and disabled children’s increased vulnerability to all forms of abuse 5. Consider and respond to the professional challenges that may present when working with deaf and disabled children, young people and their families See flyer in the training section for more details. Introductory Loss & Grief Awareness A training day that explores:  Our own attitudes towards death and dying.  How we cope ourselves.  How grief affects children and young people.  Exploring practical ways to offer support.  Sharing ideas and resources.  Death and the national curriculum in school.  Policies and guidelines.  CHUMS and the support available. This training is relevant to teaching staff, learning mentors, TA’s, family workers, education welfare officers, social workers, social services employees and anyone else involved in working with children. Workshop facilitator Russell Bradley trained as a Registered General Nurse and is a Humanistic Counsellor (BACP), Certified Play Therapist (PTUK) and provides Supervision to professionals and volunteers. He has been working in the field of bereavement, loss and grief since 1998 and has extensive experience of working with children and families, and supporting people involved in education, health and the welfare of children. He maintains an active one to one caseload, working directly with children, and manages the children and family workshop programme. Buffet Lunch, refreshments and literature provided. Cost Ł95 (students Ł85) Please contact CHUMS 01582 707469 or email paula.fensome@luton-pct.nhs.uk if you require further information or a booking form. Tuesday 15th November 2011 at Barnfield College, New Bedford Road Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 7BF From 9.30 am to 3.30 pm Registration 09.15 New 1/2 day course - Working in Core Groups If you are working with children and families and may be designated to: a) Attend multi agency core group meetings where you contribute to discussions of management of risk; b) As a core group member organise, co-ordinate, develop and modify the Child Protection plan for the vulnerable child/young person then this half day multi agency course is for YOU The course has been specifically commissioned to support frontline practitioners in all agencies to ensure that we work together in a spirit of open enquiry with clarity regarding roles and responsibilities to keep children and young people safe. 14th March 2012 9am-1pm @ The Forest Centre, Marston Moretaine (closing date 31/1/2012) New substance misuse 1/2 day course New 1/2 day course. Training dates: Substance misuse – ˝ day course 25th April 2012 9am-1pm @ Bedford Golf Club, Great Denham (Closing date 9/3/12) 13th September 2012 9am-1pm @ Dunstable Fire Station, Brewers Hill Road, Dunstable (Closing date 1/8/12) CHUMS Annual Conference - October 2011 CHILD BEREAVEMENT AND TRAUMA SERVICE ANNUAL 2 – DAY CONFERENCE * Relevant to all professionals who work with children* Including opportunities for networking Letchworth Hall Hotel Letchworth SG6 3NP 6th - 7th October 2011 DAY 1 Alicia Sims Franklin from Seattle GRIEF IS NOT “ONE SIZE FITS ALL” Exploring the ways in which children, adolescents and their families grieve differently Graham Ogilvie “Records and illustrates the important aspects of the day in animation” DAY 2 Kate and Gerry McCann Gerry and Kate describe how they have helped Sean and Amelie try to understand and cope with Madeleine’s disappearance whilst trying to understand and cope with it themselves. Workshop 1 Alicia Sims Franklin Available day 1 and 2 Taming the Tornado Within Focusing on the connection between children’s anger, unresolved grief, and violence. Workshop 2 Kate Cairns Available day 1 and 2 Secondary Trauma Exploring the impact of living and working with traumatised children. Workshop 3 Emma Chilvers Available day 1 and 2 Managing Energy ‘A Whole Life Balance’ Taking care of yourself. Workshop 4 Donna Wade Available day 1 and 2 Looking at self-harm Why young people do it. What can we do to help? CONTACT: CHUMS 01582 707469 or email paula.fensome@luton-pct.nhs.uk For further information or a booking form. COST: One day - Ł140 including lunch, Two days - Ł250 including lunch, Whole package - Ł360 including overnight stay with evening meal. A 10% discount on the overall cost for students, plus reduction for more than one person booking from any one organisation. Delegates have free access to some Spa facilities LSCB new fax number The new fax number for the LSCB team is: 0300 300 8258 New training calender for 2012 Please see the training section for calender for 2012.

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