Concept of Inter-Agency and Partnership Working within United Kingdom Children Services - Essay Example

?Review and Critical Evaluation of the Concept of Inter-Agency and Partnership Working Within United Kingdom Children (Safeguarding) Services Table of Contents 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Review of the Current Scenario 4 Critical Evaluation of the Concept of Inter-agency and Partnership Working 6 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction In accordance with the Children Act 1989 and 2004, the concept of ‘working together’ underlines the fact how organisations and individuals must work together in order to safeguard and encourage the welfare of young children. The government of United Kingdom has taken various initiatives for protecting the country’s children from being abused and neglected (Crown, 2010). However, it has pointed out that the government single-handedly cannot protect the children and therefore, appeals to professionals and organisations to support the cause of safeguarding the children. In order to effectively participate in the cause, the government clearly states that coordinated and collaborative working is essential for substantial contribution to the cause. Thus, a relevant source from the government stated that multi-agency training is essentially helpful to professionals to identify their respective duties and responsibilities. Furthermore, the training will enable individuals as well as organisations to determine the procedures involved in safeguarding the children (Patsios & Carpenter, 2010). The Child Protection Act has been introduced after the suspicious death of a child named Maria Colwell which evaluated the lack of coordination between the service providers and professionals. Initially, local authorities have been established for protecting the children however, in the later years the government focussed on developing new concepts that provided enhanced safeguarding to the children. The modern concept emphasised more on inter-agency collaboration in order to prevent and promote healthy well-being (Patsios & Carpenter, 2010). Review of the Current Scenario The government of the UK ensures that all children should get equal opportunities to accomplish their optimum level. In this context, the government wants children to be as much physically and mentally fit as possible. It has also ensured that children achieve the optimum benefits of education provided by quality educational institutions. The government has further ensured that the children of the country live in a safe and healthy environment and experience emotional well-being. Moreover, the children must stay in a social environment surrounded with people who love, care and expresses affection towards them. The government also wants children to become competent enough for looking after themselves and coping up with the activities related to daily living. Most importantly, the government wants the children to possess positive images about themselves and have a sense of identity involving cultural and racial identity. Moreover, it wants to ensure the children to develop efficient inter-personal skills and confidence required in social environment. Thus, the children who are devoid from these fundamental opportunities are likely to get excluded from the society in the early adulthood. In certain cases, the parents of children are both engaged in service due to which children do not receive the appropriate process of growing up. They lack the sufficient love, care and affection from their parents which are significant in the younger days (Crown, 1999). In order to protect children from the dangerous hazards of exploitation, the government has introduced services of working together which will provide support to children and their families who might be under stress for not being able to meet the requirements of their child. Furthermore, the support from these agencies will ensure parents to strengthen their capacity and respond effectively to the needs of their children before these issues develop into serious matter of concerns. Encouraging children’s well-being and protection from imperative damages relies in effect upon information sharing, understanding in between agencies as well as professionals and collaboration between them. Furthermore, the strategies should be determined while working in partnerships with agencies and professional individuals in order to plan effectively for safeguarding the children. Moreover, children who involve in the vulnerable groups and thus have the greatest risks of getting excluded from the society require collaborative support from education, health, social services and other voluntary organisations and agencies. An inter-agency is a forum consisting of members who agree to partner with different services as well as professional groups in order to provide support for safeguarding the children and ensure arrangements perform effectively to bring about positive outcomes from the children (UK Border Agency, 2012). The government of the UK has specified special guidance to inter-agencies dealing with vulnerable children. The agencies should compulsorily have senior level managerial personnel who are committed in providing well-being and ensuring safety of the children. Furthermore, the agencies should be clear about the people’s responsibility towards protecting and well-being of the children. The agencies require having appropriate recruitment and human resources procedures while verifying newly recruited volunteers whether they are safe to work for the betterment of the children or not. In addition, the agencies should have various procedures for dealing with accusations or abuses from members of the staff and volunteers of the agencies. The agencies shall have potential trainers who will be responsible for providing skill enhancement training to the volunteers and staff of the agencies (Ward & et. al., 2004). It has been observed in the previous two decades that government funded huge amount of money aimed at promoting incorporated services and co-ordinated partnership working between private, public and voluntary organisations. However, the increased initiatives of the government did not help to promote inter-agency and partnership working recently. This was due to certain reasons; firstly, the information sharing across agencies were not done effectively; secondly, false assessments were provided while identifying needs and subsequently allocated fund were not utilised in a proper way. Furthermore, the activities across inter-agencies were not co-ordinated appropriately due to which partnership working was not effective. In addition, the agencies experienced higher rate of staff turnover due to lack of conflicting level of service provision. Lastly, the agencies did not have a responsible person who can be accountable to the government for providing effective care and safety to the children through partnership working (SAGE Publications, 2008). Critical Evaluation of the Concept of Inter-agency and Partnership Working Inter-agencies are organisations that have been voluntarily engaged or assigned by the government to provide measures for the well-being of the children and to maintain safety. In order to support effectively to the causes, the government has initiated opportunities for partnership working among the private, public and non-governmental organisations in order to provide support to the government in safeguarding the children from getting exploited. Moreover, health professionals and organisations have a significant role in safeguarding and encouraging welfare of the children. The professionals ensure that affected children receive suitable and timely protective measures and therapeutic interferences. Professionals working directly with the children should make sure that all stages of care are being taken into consideration while safeguarding and encouraging welfare. Furthermore, personnel who come in contact with parents, carers and children should also be aware of safeguarding as well as sharing responsibilities. Furthermore, health professionals, identifying any risk factors can contribute to the reviews, studies and child protection plans thereby, promoting welfare and preventive support through continuous work (Crown, 2010). The police officers also play a key role in protecting children. They identify basic importance of inter-agency working in eradicating child abuse, as demonstrated by reputed organisations while providing training, involving social workers, colleagues and police officers. Furthermore, the police are dedicated in sharing information and intelligence with inter-agencies and should be informed as early as possible about the criminal offence occurring or being suspected to occur. Moreover, probation services manage offenders with the motive of reducing abuses and protecting the general public. Working along with the offenders, such as parents as well as carers, offender managers can protect and encourage the welfare of the children. Trusts and non-governmental organisations offer a statutory victim contact scheme to the children who have been a victim of violence and sexual offences. Furthermore, the trusts provide the unpaid amount related to work to 16 and 17 years old who do not receive the minimum salary or wages. The trusts ensure that support are being provided to the victims especially the parents in the family who have been found guilty of domestic abuse or participating in domestic abuse programmes (Crown, 2010). Partnership working has been an effective tool in providing welfare services to the children. The private and voluntary organisations, such as ChildLine and National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) have been operating the national help-lines free of cost for 24 hours. ChildLine service is available to children who are in serious trouble or danger, whereas, NSPCC’s services are available to the adults who have concern about their children. Moreover, an organisation named Parentline has been developing national support help-line for parents who are suffering from higher stress levels. Thus, the services along with numerous smaller help-lines provide support to the government in protecting the rights of the children and promoting their welfare (Crown, 1999). Voluntary organisations such as ‘Provision for Direct Services’ offer a wide range of services for safeguarding children and assisting families in effectively bringing up their child. Moreover, the service provides support to disabled children and families who have the probabilities of being excluded from the society. Furthermore, the service is responsible for protecting the children who have been earlier victims or witnesses of any crime. In addition, the private sectors and voluntary organisations are responsible for performing another vital role known as advocacy, both in relation to individuals and through promotion on behalf of the wider groups and on particular issues (Crown, 1999). Housing authorities too play an imperative role in safeguarding children with regard to identification, referral and consequent management of risk. Housing authority staff through their daily interactions with public members can identify the concerns about the welfare of specific children and refer to one of the inter-agencies for appropriate cases. Furthermore, housing authorities contribute significantly in the health and developmental requirements of children, including children who need safeguarding from significant harm. The housing authorities assist women and children in arranging accommodation facilities who have become homeless or have the probabilities of becoming homeless due to domestic violence (Crown, 1999). It has been observed that training provided to the inter-agencies and other organisations are equally important in order to provide significant protection to the children. Thus, the government of the UK allocate lots of fund to the organisations responsible for protecting children and provide training to the individuals who voluntarily want to support the causes of the government. Furthermore, abuses and issues concerning the children are of various types. Therefore, constant training is required to identify the issues and to provide effective solutions in solving them. Furthermore, private and voluntary organisations are focussed in supporting the parents in order to effectively bring up their children. They also illustrate negative impacts to the children for not expressing love, care and affection towards the children. These children therefore, form the vulnerable groups who have the probabilities of being excluded from the society in the future (Royal College of General Practitioners, 2011). Conclusion Safeguarding and promoting children welfare has been one of the prime objectives of the UK government. The children are the future of the country, who will be representing the country. Therefore, protecting them before they involve with the vulnerable groups is considered a significant decision of the government. Furthermore, the government has initiated various programmes to include private and voluntary organisations or individuals for supporting the government in safeguarding the children. Moreover, the private organisations aim at providing support to the parents who are under stress in bringing up their children. Issues related to finances or availability of accommodation is arranged by various organisations that deal with housing development. The government has formed an agency which provides a national structure for identifying the risks posed by violent offenders. Thus, the responsible authorities need to ensure that probable risks are identified and strategies developed in order to minimise the risks. It has further been observed in the modern days that both the mother and father are enthusiastic in joining jobs. As a result, many children do not receive the sufficient care, love and affection from their parents and therefore, are becoming a part of the vulnerable groups. These children are likely to get excluded from the society in the future which may provoke them to commit crimes. Thus, the government’s initiative in protecting the children have been accepted and supported by many individuals and organisations. Moreover, the police have been extending help to the organisations for identifying probable crimes or suspected places of crimes in order to take necessary steps for protecting the children and their parents. References Crown, 2010. Working Together to Safeguard Children. A Guide To Inter-Agency Working To Safeguard And Promote The Welfare Of Children. [Online] Available at: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00305-2010DOM-EN.PDF [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Crown, 1999. Working Together to Safeguard Children. Department of Health. [Online] Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_4075824.pdf [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Patsios, D. & Carpenter, J., 2010. The Organisation of Interagency Training to Safeguard Children in England: A Case Study Using Realistic Evaluation. International Journal of Integrated Care, Vol. 10, pp. 1-12. Royal College of General Practitioners, 2011. Safeguarding Children & Young People. A Toolkit for General Practice. [Online] Available at: http://www.rcgp.org.uk/pdf/CIRC_2Safeguarding%20Children%20Young%20PeopleA%20Toolkit%20for%20General%20Practice.pdf [Accessed August 19, 2012]. SAGE Publications, 2008. The Origin, Concept and Principles of Multi-Agency Partnership Working. Chapter 1. [Online] Available at: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/25240_01_Cheminais_Ch_01.pdf [Accessed August 19, 2012]. UK Border Agency, 2009. Every Child Matters Change for Children. Statutory Guidance To The UK Border Agency On Making Arrangements To Safeguard And Promote The Welfare Of Children. [Online] Available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/legislation/bci-act1/change-for-children.pdf?view=Binary [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Ward, H. & et. al., 2004. Safeguarding Children: A Scoping Study of Research in Three Areas. Publications. [Online] Available at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ccfr/Publications/safeguarding%20Master%20copy%20FINAL.pdf [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Bibliography Cheminais, R., 2008. Every Child Matters: A Practical Guide for Teaching Assistants. Taylor & Francis. Horwath, J. & Morrison, T., 2010. Effective Inter-Agency Collaboration to Safeguard Children: Rising to the Challenge Through Collective Development. Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 33, Issue 2, pp. 368-375. Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board, 2012. A Guide to Inter-Agency Working to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://www.nscb.norfolk.gov.uk/documents/A%20Guide%20to%20Inter-Agency%20Working%202012.pdf [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Pycroft, A. & Gough, D., 2010. Multi-Agency Working in Criminal Justice: Control and Care in Contemporary. The Policy Press. Safe Guarding Sheffield Children, 2011. Services We Provide. Home. [Online] Available at: https://www.safeguardingsheffieldchildren.org.uk/welcome/safeguarding-children-service/services-we-provide.html [Accessed August 19, 2012]. Read More