Whatever your professional role, you play an important part in protecting children and young people in East Ayrshire. As a practitioner, you have the following responsibilities: 

• to be aware of your organisation’s child protection policies and procedures
• to be alert to indicators of concern in children and young people you come into contact with
• to respond to concerns you have about a child by acting in accordance with your organisation’s procedures

The following will support you in fulfilling these responsibilities:

The National Guidance for Child Protection provides information on new areas of practice and approaches which have shaped activity at both national and local level.

Child protection policies and procedures in East Ayrshire are informed by Ayrshire Multi-Agency Child Protection Practitioner Procedures (PDF 1.47MB).

Getting it right for every child approach, commonly known as GIRFEC, is the national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of our children and young people by offering the right help at the right time from the right people.  It supports them and their parent(s) to work in partnership with the services that can help them.  Information is available on the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) page or via the Pan Ayrshire GIRFEC site.

The Scottish Government, in September 2021, published National Guidance for Child Protection Committees Undertaking Learning Reviews. This replaces the previously revised National Guidance for Child Protection Committees – Conducting a Significant Case Review.   This guidance is primarily intended for members of Child Protection Committees (CPCs) across Scotland, whilst it also has relevance for Chief Officers Groups, the Scottish Government and the Care Inspectorate. However, it should also be read and understood by a wide multi-agency audience.

All three Ayrshire CPCs have collaborated to produce an Ayrshire Learning Review Guidance which include Annexes. This guidance provides a common approach to handling Learning Reviews in Ayrshire and should be used as a guide by Learning Review Panels  to follow the processes and procedures set out to conduct a Learning Review.

A toolkit has been developed by Health Improvement Scotland (HIS). It offers multi-agency guidance to all multi-agency practitioners in respect of a sudden and unexpected death in infancy.

Guidance has been provided by the Scottish Children's Reporter Adminstration (SCRA) to give practical advice to professionals and any other person who may be considering making a referral to the reporter.  The document Guidance on Referral to the Reporter - Information for Partners (PDF 960 KB) was issued in February 2015.  They have issued a new  briefing sheet (PDF 310 KB) and a training resource (PDF 578 KB) to help new and recently qualified social workers, help prepare children and young people for Hearings. 

Support and guidance in relation to Human (including Child) Trafficking and Exploitation can be found on the Human Trafficking webpage.

Reviewed in September 2015, the Ayrshire multi-agency guidance for people working with children and young people at risk of self-harm or suicide (PDF 3.97 MB) provides useful information to help ensure that all staff working or in contact with children and young people in Ayrshire provide a consistent, caring and appropriate response to children and young people who have been, or are at risk of, self-harm and suicide.

Training

People who work with children and young people throughout East Ayrshire can access a variety of child protection training opportunities.

• The Multi Agency Children's Services Learning and Development Calendar has been suspended with no further face to face training events taking place before April 2021. All courses scheduled to take place before then have now been cancelled until further notice.
• View the Prevention and Service Support Team Interim Addiction Training Calendar
• View the Multi Agency Learning and Development Strategy (PDF 976 KB)
• Download the Understanding Child Protection Self-Learning Pack (PDF 526 KB)
• View the Dental Practice Guidelines (PDF 2.18 MB)
• Watch the West of Scotland Child Protection Consortium on YouTube - Making Best Use of Chronologies animation:

Contact us at the details below for further information on training opportunities. 

Neglect

Child Protection Scotland, with support from CELCIS and Scottish Government, has a series of online learning webinars to raise awareness nationally about the impact of neglect on children and young people.

Recordings and transcripts are available, providing an opportunity to gain further insight into good practice and approaches.

Child Protection Scotland: Thinking critically about neglect webinar

Child Protection Scotland: Family group decision making for unborn babies and young infants webinar

Briefing notes

A series of practitioner briefing notes have been created to assist and support front line practitioners in their work with children and families. These documents are listed below:

1. Sudden and Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI)
2. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
3. Multi-agency attendance at Child Protection case conferences - Updated March 2018
4. Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 - Supporting People and Protecting People in East Ayrshire - Interagency Practitioner Guidance - May 2014
5. Glossary of Terms - Child Protection Assessments and Case Conferences
6. Getting Our Priorities Right - Revised Practitioner Guidance (GOPR2)- Updated March 2018
7. Role of Named Person and Lead Professional Interim Practice Note
8. East Ayrshire Social Work Child Protection Procedures
9. Child Protection and Disability Toolkit
10. Care & Risk Management (CARM): Managing children & young people who present a risk of serious harm and Multi-agency Risk management Framework and Protocol for Children with Sexually Harmful Behaviours
11. Multi-Agency Protocol - Non-disclosure of information - Updated September 2020
12. East Ayrshire Violence Against Women Partnership – Service Access Pathway And Resource Directory For Practitioners
13. Resilience Awareness Raising Animation For Practitioners
14. FGM Aware Newsletter No.1 - Challenging Female Genital Mutilation
15. Managing Risk In School and Other Settings
16. The Management of High Risk Pregnancy - Multi-Agency Guidance for staff
17. Child Sexual Exploitation - New Definition and Briefing paper
18. Working with Resistance - Practitioner Portfolio
19. Care Inspectorate: Practice Guide To Chronologies
20. Responding to Female Genital Mutilation in Scotland: Multi-agency Guidance
21. Transforming Psychological Trauma, a Knowledge and Skills Framework for the Scottish workforce
22. The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2018
23. Age Assessment Practice Guidance for Scotland
24. Child Protection/Adult Support and Protection Interface Guidance
25. Clarity surrounding Police Information / Police Intelligence
26. Guidance for Local Authorities on Minors returning from Syria
27. Mental Health & Wellbeing – Support and Information Sites
28. Child Protection – Under Age Sexual Activity - Police Scotland’s Standard Operating Procedure
29. Case Management Transfer Protocol in Children & Families Social Work  
30. East Ayrshire HSCP Emergency COVID-19 Child Protection and Looked After Children Contingency Guidance
31. Transitions Pathway Flowchart
32. Ayrshire and Arran Working Model for interagency Referral Discussions (IRDs)
33. Equal Protection from Assault Multi-Agency Guidance for Practitioners Supporting Children and Families
34. Clinical Pathway for Children (Under 16) presenting at the Emergency Departments  (University Hospitals Ayr & Crosshouse)

Child sexual exploitation resources

For information below are a variety of CSE related documents including; practitioner guidance, Scoping Studies and Reports:

1. Barnardo's Scotland - Guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation - A Practitioners' Resource Pack (PDF 849 KB)
2. Professor Alexis Jay - Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham 1997 - 2013 (PDF 2.4 MB)
3. Barnardo's Scotland - Lessons for Scotland from the Jay Report into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (PDF 357 KB)
4. Scottish Government - National Action Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation (PDF 364 KB)
5. Children in Scotland - Safeguarding Scotland's Children from Child Abuse - A Review of the Scottish System (PDF 718 KB)
6. Barnardo's - Working with children and young people who experience running away and child sexual exploitation (PDF 4.3 MB)
7. CELCIS - The Sexual Exploitation of Looked after Children in Scotland (PDF 103 KB)
8. Barnardo's - Hidden in Plain Sight (PDF 2.1MB)
9. Glasgow Social Services - Sexual Exploitation of Vulnerable Young People Looked After and Accommodated in Glasgow (PDF 336 KB)
10. Child Sexual Exploitation: A Guide for Health Practitioners (PDF 661 KB)
11. Report of Inspection of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council February 2015 (PDF 800 KB)
12. Child Sexual Exploitation leaflet (PDF 587 KB)
13. Child Sexual Exploitation - Ayrshire Multi-agency Practitioner's Guidance (PDF 332 KB)
14. Barnardo's Scotland - Public Understanding of Child Sexual Exploitation (PDF 683 KB)
15. Scotland Upstream - What we all need to know to protect our children (from CSA) (PDF 5.5.MB)