This summary guide is designed for cases where there have been concerns about child sexual abuse and children's socials care are no longer involved. It is aimed at social workers who have been working with children and their families, and at practitioners who are likely to have an ongoing or new role in working with a child and their family.
Why will children’s social care no longer be involved?
After being alerted to concerns that a child may be being or have been sexually abused, children’s social care will have led a child protection enquiry or a multi-agency assessment of the child, which may have resulted in the child being supported through a Child in Need plan (care and support plan in Wales) or a child protection plan (care and support protection plan in Wales).
At some point, children’s social care will decide that their ongoing intervention is no longer needed, because the child is safe and their immediate needs have been met. They will then bring their involvement with the child and their family to an end, unless another child in the family needs support or protection.
This doesn’t mean that the child and their family no longer have ongoing support needs. There is still much that other practitioners and organisations can do to address those needs.
Under Families First arrangements, the family may continue to receive Family Help (early help in Wales) without any statutory involvement.
How may the child be feeling?
The child and family may be feeling a complex range of emotions. They may feel relieved that their case is being closed, especially if they believe they can now cope with the impact of any abuse or feel there are no longer concerns about their own sexual behavior. Alternatively, they may feel abandoned and anxious about losing support from children’s social care.
It is common for the child and their family to feel angry. They may interpret the decision as meaning that practitioners don’t believe the abuse happened, think the harm was minimal, or expect them to feel ‘better’ now they have received support.
The child’s feelings may depend on:
- the actions taken to safeguard and support them and their family
- how effectively the impact of sexual abuse on the family has been addressed
- how well they think children’s social care understand their ongoing needs.
“My social worker. I love her so much she’s just pure awesomeness … I can’t really explain it. She’s always been there, she’s like a real mummy. She’s my government mummy. She’s really cool. I am still in contact with her even though I am not with [service] anymore.”
“I think they could have given me and my family more support like afterwards cos it was sort of like as soon as we find out it wasn’t going to court or anything and then you’re left stuck in that situation. It was like ‘oh well’ we was left with like the aftermath sort of thing but no support or anything. We were just sort of left to cope with it.”
“They just wanna know a little bit then they take you away put you away and then that’s it. File closed. Or we’ll send you back to your family; send you back to drugs and drunks. And then close the file that’s it.”
As the social worker who has been involved with the child and family, make sure that you have carefully considered the needs and safety of the child and their family before deciding with your manager that the involvement of children’s social care is no longer needed.
When closing the case:
- Make sure that there is a proper handover to any follow-on services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), other therapeutic services, early help and/or third-sector organisations.
- Think about how you will inform the child and their family that children’s social care will no longer be actively involved with them. Consider how they are likely to react, and how you will respond to this. When you speak to them, let them know what will happen next, and assure them that they were right to seek help – and that they should do so again at any point in the future. Address robustly any belief within the family that the decision to close the case indicates that the child was not sexually abused.
- Check that the electronic records contain a comprehensive chronology, and add a closing summary; make sure that you clearly communicate the reasons why children’s social care are closing the child’s case. Share this summary with any new practitioners who are becoming involved. so the child and their family will not have to tell their whole story again unless they want to.
- Introduce those practitioners to the child and their family, and tell the family what information you have shared with the practitioners.
If you are involved with the child and/or their family in a professional capacity, you can and should continue to support and protect the child after children’s social care are no longer involved. It is important for you to find out what the original concerns were, how they were responded to, why children’s social care are no longer involved, and what the ongoing needs of the child and their family are.
Regardless of what else is happening and what actions other agencies have taken, there is much that you can do to help the child and their family:
- Consider what ongoing support the child may need in specific aspects of their life. Our guides to supporting the child’s emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing, relationships and education can help you do this.
- Reassure the child that they aren’t being disbelieved, by you or by children’s social care.
- Make sure that they have someone they can talk to about any worries or concerns they have.
- Talk to the child’s parent(s) to find out whether they too are getting the support they need, and whether you can help them with this in any way. If the child has any siblings, consider their needs too.
- Ensure the child understands that they can come to you if they are worried about anything – including if they ever think they are in danger or are being abused again.
- If at any point you have concerns that the child is being harmed, or concerns about the behaviour of an adult in the child’s life, talk to your safeguarding lead or contact children’s social care for advice on making another referral. Our Signs and Indicators Template sets out the different ways in which a child’s behaviour may indicate that they are being abused, or an adult’s behaviour may indicate that they may pose a sexual risk.