5.15 Administrative Arrangements and Record Keeping for Child Protection Conferences

Children's Social Care is responsible for administering the Child Protection Conference service.

Each authority must have clear arrangements for the organisation of Child Protection Conferences including:

• Information leaflets for children and for parents translated into appropriate languages; and
• Standard invitations to children, parents / carers and professionals;
• Report formats for initial and review conferences.

A summary record in a consistent format must be made of all initial and review conferences by either the conference chair or a dedicated person.

In order to protect the confidentiality of all individuals involved in conferences, and to protect the integrity of the information discussed, recording devices are not permitted at conferences.

The decision letter (indicating whether the child(ren) was/were made the subject of a Child Protection Plan(s), a brief summary of the reasons for the decision, the outline Child Protection Plan, name of the Lead Social Worker and details about the right to complain) should be dispatched within one working day to all who have been invited to the conference including parents / carers and child(ren) identified by the chair as having sufficient understanding.

Conference records should include:

• Name, date of birth and address of the subject(s) of the conference, parents / carers and other adults in the household;
• Who was invited, who attended the conference and who submitted their apologies;
• A list of written reports available to conference and whether available to parents or not;
• The purpose of the conference;
• A summary of significant facts;
• Opinions of conference members, clearly identified as such, if not contained with social worker's report;
• Views of child, if not contained with social worker's report;
• Views of parents / carers, if not contained with social worker's report;
• A summary of discussion at the conference, accurately reflecting contributions made;
• All decisions reached, with information outlining the reasons;
• An outline or revised Child Protection Plan;
• Name of Lead Social Worker;
• Members of the Core Group and date of first meeting;
• Date of next conference.

The conference record should be sent to all those who attended or were invited, within 10 working days of the conference. Any amendment to accuracy of record should be sent, in writing, within 10 working days of the receipt of that record to the chair.

The parents' copy of the conference record should be clearly 'marked ' on all pages that it is a parent's copy. Confidential material may be excluded from the parents' copy.

Where an advocate, supporter or solicitor has been involved the parent should decide whether they give a copy of the conference record.

Where a child has attended a Child Protection Conference, the social worker must arrange to see her/him and arrange to discuss relevant sections of the record. Consideration should be given to whether that child should be given copies of the record. They may be supplied to a child's legal representative on request.

Where parents and / or the child(ren) have a sensory disability or where English is not their first language, steps must be taken to ensure that they can understand and make full use of the conference record.

Conference records are confidential and should not be passed to third parties without the consent of either the conference chair or order of the court. In criminal proceedings the police may reveal the existence of child protection records to the Crown Prosecution Service and in Care Proceedings the record of the conference may be revealed in court.

Every agency must establish arrangements for the storage of Child Protection Conference records in accordance with their own confidentiality and record retention policies.