Management Information Sheet

The LA model policy for schools has been revised as attached in response to the findings of a Multi-agency Management Review undertaken by Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board as follows:

Recommendation 5: The Safeguarding Advisor for Education should include in the Local Authority model Safeguarding Policy for schools a requirement that parents/carers must provide the school with full personal details of all adults living with and caring for a pupil in their school.

In line with this recommendation, Paragraph 6.5 has been added to the Model Policy.

Please note that this is an important practice point for schools to consider as soon as possible but, as this amendment does not reflect a change to statutory guidance, there is no requirement for you to amend your safeguarding policy in line with these changes until the point that the policy is due for renewal within your existing policy review cycle.

Practice Guidance: Assessing unknown Adults

The learning from many serious case reviews highlights the difficulties and dangers of working with resistant and evasive families. The following are some suggestions that schools may wish to consider implementing in their practice:

• Be clear as to who exactly lives in the household and their relationship and involvement with the parent and individual children by requiring parents to provide accurate and up to date information regarding:
• Full names and contact details of all adults with whom the child normally lives
• Full names and contact details of all persons with parental responsibility (if different from above)
• Emergency contact details (if different from above)
• Full details of any other adult authorised by the parent to collect the child from school (if different from the above)
• Advise parents that the school will only share information about pupils with adults who have parental responsibility for a pupil or where a parent has given permission and the school has been supplied with the adult's full details in writing
• Try to encourage the involvement of any new partners in schools activities and any assessment such as a Family Support Process
• Ensure that you share information on all known adults living within a household families with other agencies when necessary e.g. when making a referral to Children's Services

The NSCB Multi-Agency training course 'Awareness of Challenges when Working with Parents' can also be accessed by Senior Designated Professionals wanting to gain further knowledge of how to deal with dangerous, difficult or evasive parental behaviour