Child protection

When the investigation ends it may be decided to hold a child protection conference, to which you will usually be invited. The purpose of the conference is to:

• share information
• decide whether your child is at continuing risk of significant harm and therefore in need of protection
• agree an outline child protection plan that sets out the actions necessary to reduce the risk to your child

All the professionals who work with your child will be invited to the conference, including the Police Child Abuse Investigation Team. It will be managed by a child protection co-ordinator, who will make sure that everyone gets a chance to contribute.

It is really important that you give your views to the conference as they will be vital to the decisions that are made. In order to help you with this:

• the social worker will show you the report they have written before the conference so you can think about what you want to say
• you can bring someone to the conference to support you - normally called an 'advocate' - if you think it would help
• you can talk to the child protection co-ordinator before the conference to make sure they know what you want to say
• tell the social worker if you need an interpreter to be there or if you have any special needs

The conference is not always a good place for a young child as there are a lot of adults sharing information. Older children could attend the conference if discussed in advance and the proper arrangements are made