North and West Belfast Health And Social Services Trust The Context Urban Area – Inner City Issues for N&W Belfast High Levels of deprivation Post Conflict Weak Infrastructure Large Travelling Community High suicide rates Substance misuse – Drugs, alcohol

Regeneration to address Political vacuum Devolved Government Unemployment Inequality Sectarianism Policing Cultural Issues Financial Investment levels

Structures At present in NI Children services are delivered within a Social Health Model, with Social Services and Health Professionals managed under 4 area health Boards incorporating 19 Trusts. The structure in England is different with local Councils managing Social Services and education provision and health managed separately.

Population Total population of children aged under 18 in North and West Belfast HSS Trust is Source ‘Key Indicators of Personal Social Services for NI 2003’

Children Services Include: Child Protection Care of Looked After Children Family Support Adoption Children in Need (including disabled children Day Care facilities Children’s homes

Children in Receipt of Services Details from North and West Belfast HSS Trust Corporate Parenting Report –

CHILDREN IN NEED

Children with a Disability CN4 How many of these children in need have a disability? PROG OF CARENUMBER LEARNING DISABILITY222 PHYSICAL DISABILITY24 VISUALLY IMPAIRED55 HEARING IMPAIRED11 MENTAL HEALTH3 TOTAL315 Source: Management Information Department

Child Protection A parent, a sibling or other relative or carer, an acquaintance or a stranger may abuse children. The abuse may be as a result of a direct act or of a failure on the part of a parent or carer to act to provide proper care or both. The abuse may take a number of forms including: Neglect Sexual abuse Physical abuse Emotional abuse

How many children’s names are there on CP Register There appear to be no discernible trends informing the fluctuations in the levels of registered children across the period since 31/03/04.The figure does, however, reflect the significant volumes and throughput of Child Protection registration work.

Children Looked After

Children’s Placements The Trust directly manages 5 Residential units providing 35 placements The Trust accesses a further 26 residential placements in the voluntary sector The Trust is responsible for 143 approved foster placements Central to Looked After Children’s well being is the promotion of their positive emotional and mental health.

Current guidance to Social Work staff and carers emphasises the importance of the monitoring of Looked After Children’s health needs, emphasising a strong preventive as opposed to reactive approach and identifying issues such as sexual health education, dental care, personal esteem and emotional well- being.

How we manage Child Protection in N&W Trust Six fieldwork prevention teams in 3 sub-offices: Antrim Road Falls Road Shankill Road And a specialist CP Team comprising: 1 APSW/Manager 6 Senior Practitioners 1 Community CP Worker 1 Secretary 1 Team Clerk

Remit of CP Team Investigate all allegations of Physical and sexual abuse Joint protocol working with Police Risk manage all alleged SIO Risk manage all convicted SIO

Outcomes Short term intervention to include initial and comprehensive assessment Outcomes: No further action Family support Initial CP Case Conference Care Placements Cases then transfer to Prevention Team