SCIE/NICE recommendations on looked after children: Promoting the quality of life of looked-after children and young people

Professional collaboration

Evidence suggests that for the ‘team around the child’ to provide effective care, professionals need to collaborate closely and share relevant and sensitive information. It is also reported that when multi-agency teams are supported and encouraged to address their way of working, they are better able to collaborate when handling difficult and complex situations, and more readily adopt a non-defensive approach that focuses on the best outcomes.

Recommendation 6 Support professional collaboration on complex casework

Who should take action?

• Directors of children’s services.
• Directors of public health.
• Senior staff with responsibility for commissioning and providing health services.

• What action should they take? Open

  • Ensure the multi-agency ‘team around the child’ (including frontline staff and carers) has access to a consultancy service to support collaboration on complex casework. The approach taken by this service should be based on the concept of reflective practice (see also recommendations 33, 34, 36, 38 and 50–52), and how to manage:
    • conflicting views in the team about the best interests and needs of a looked-after child or young person
    • risks to or disruptions of long-term placements
    • patterns of repeated placement breakdown or exclusion from education
    • uncertainty or delays in care planning
    • communication with colleagues, decision making, information sharing and lead responsibilities, ensuring that the needs of the child continue to be prioritised.
  • Such a service could be designed and delivered by in-house experts, external advisers or child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and should participate in regional support networks. This can contribute to children's needs being met and placements being more effectively supported.

Recommendation 7 Ensure everyone involved understands their role

Who should take action?

• Directors of children’s services.
• Directors of public health.
• Senior staff with responsibility for commissioning and providing health services.

• What action should they take Open

  • Ensure that social workers undertake the key worker and coordinating role and fulfil their responsibility for managing the multidisciplinary care plan, including managing the transition between child and adult health services (see recommendation 49).
  • Ensure that any professional who considers that the needs of the child or young person are not being addressed, or that interventions are being avoidably delayed, can request through their line manager that a review of the care plan is reconvened before the date of the next statutory review.
  • Ensure that a child or young person is able to request a review of their needs and that they are consistently reminded of this right by their social worker and independent reviewing officer.
  • Ensure that independent reviewing officers have routine access to managers at all levels to deal with any problems in implementing agreed actions.