Children's social care lead a multi-agency assessment

This summary guide is aimed principally at the social worker who is leading a multi-agency assessment of a child and their family after concerns have been raised that the child is being or has been sexually abused, or is at risk of sexual abuse. It explains how you can centre the child in your planning and conduct of the assessment.

It is also relevant to any other practitioners working with the child (in school, for example), to help them understand what happens during an assessment and how they can contribute to it, as well as supporting the child and family during this time.

What is a multi-agency assessment?

place if, following a referral of a child to children’s social care:

possible indications of sexual abuse are identified but there is no reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, or
a child protection enquiry is conducted and identifies that the child is thought to have been sexually abused but is not
considered to be at continuing risk of significant harm.

In the latter case, the multi-agency assessment will build on the child protection enquiry.

Led by a social worker but conducted in collaboration with the multi-agency network, this assessment will involve the child, their family members, and all practitioners who know the child and family; it will build a holistic picture of the child, their circumstances and their needs (including the need for protection from any risks they continue to face), to help children’s social care decide how best to meet those needs.

How may the child be feeling?

The child may be experiencing a range of complex feelings:

Relieved that the abuse is now known and hoping for action.
Unhappy about revisiting past events.
Anxious about what raising concerns might mean for them or their family.
Unsure about what social workers or police involvement will bring.
Mistrustful if they've had negative experiences with authorities.
Worried or relieved about possible placement in care.
Responsible for their family's distress or blame.

The child may also feel in trouble or that they've done something wrong, and may find talking about their experiences frightening or embarrassing.

Planning the multi-agency assessment

Often, multi-agency assessments are carried out because of concerns relating to matters such as neglect, substance misuse or domestic abuse in addition to indicators of sexual abuse. When planning and conducting the assessment, it’s important to maintain a clear focus on the risk or likelihood of sexual abuse, while also addressing these other areas of the child’s health and development.

Decide who you want to talk to, and where and when these conversations should take place – this is likely to include the child, members of their family (including, in the case of intra-familial abuse, the person of concern), the person who raised concerns, and any practitioners and other safe adults who may have relevant information. If you have already conducted a child protection enquiry, you are likely to have already spoken to some of these people but you may wish to speak to them again.
Prepare to visit the child, which you may want to do with another practitioner who knows them well. Think about how you can talk to them without other family members present, if possible. Identify and address any communication needs, including needs related to language, learning disability, physical disability or neurodivergence.

A multi-agency approach is essential for effective information sharing and building a picture of the child's circumstances. Practitioners from different agencies may have information about possible signs and indicators of sexual abuse in the child's behaviour, their environment, or the behaviour of people around the child.

If a police investigation is taking place at the same time as the multi-agency assessment, liaise with the Officer in the Case about its progress and share any relevant information you discover.

Check the child's understanding of the situation, what the enquiry involves, and how they can get in touch with you.
Identify the child's concerns and what they want to happen

During your conversation, and at other times (such as when the child is around their parent(s) and any family members suspected of sexually abusing them), look for any emotional, behavioural and physical signs that may indicate child sexual abuse.

Bear in mind that any child who has faced discrimination or prejudice, or had poor previous experiences of agencies’ involvement in their lives, may be reluctant to trust and talk to you.

Non-abusing family members are those who are not considered to have been involved in the sexual abuse of the child, even if they have previously come to agencies’ attention for other reasons.

Even where a child’s parent(s) have had no involvement in the sexual abuse of their child, professionals sometimes assume that they were complicit in or knew about the abuse. But they can be key allies in making their child(ren) safe, providing support and repairing the harm that has been done.

It is critical to continue talking to the non-abusing parent(s) throughout the assessment and beyond, so that you can understand their circumstances, draw on their unique knowledge of their child, and explore their understanding of how the family works. Interview them separately from any adult about whom there are concerns.

Find out about the child’s non-abusing parent(s) and the family, and how they are feeling – they might need support for themselves or support to understand the child's needs and how they can help them.
Find out what they know about the person or environment of concern.
Discuss with them how the child can best be protected. Establish whether the parent(s) are acting to keep the child safe, or can be supported to keep them safe, and whether anyone in the family is subject to violence, coercion or control more generally.
Talk to other non-abusing family members who know the child well. Ask them whether they have noticed any recent changes in the child’s behaviour, or have any concerns. Explore the possibility that any other children in the family may also have been sexually abused but felt unable to tell anyone.

Remember to consult the police before talking to any family members included in ongoing police investigations. If concerns of child sexual abuse have been raised about any adult(s) in the family, it is important for you to consider their motivations, beliefs, behaviours and individual circumstances. Our Signs and Indicators template can help you think about the sorts of things to consider.

Talk to them about their role in the family, their relationship with the child, and their behaviour, building on any information provided by the non-abusing parent(s).

If there are concerns that the child is being sexually harmed by a sibling or another child in the family environment, talk to that child about their relationship with and behaviour towards the harmed child. Explore too the reasons for that behaviour. Our guide to assessing and responding to sibling sexual behaviour contains useful information.

Consider whether the child should be removed to a place of safety under police powers of protection, a court order, or a voluntary agreement.
Consider taking steps to limit the child’s contact with the person of concern.
Where there are concerns about grooming or coercive control, contextual safeguarding risks, or technology assisted harms, consider what can be done to address this.
Develop a safety plan with the child and family; this can be built on later if the family receives ongoing support from children’s social care.
Consider whether a paediatric medical assessment/examination is necessary.
Consider what immediate support the child and family might need – from help with talking to one another about the abuse to receiving emotional therapy. Remember that the Crown Prosecution Service says children can receive emotional support and therapy during a police investigation. And make sure the child is referred for support from an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA) or a child and young person’s sexual violence advocate (CYPSVA).
Where appropriate, make sure the family is aware of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which offers financial compensation to victims of violent crime (including sexual assault) which has been reported to the police
Where the child has engaged in harmful sexual behaviour outside the family environment, consult your local guidance on what to do.

Depending on its findings, and the views of the police and other agencies, the multi-agency assessment will have one of the following outcomes:

If the child is considered not to be at continuing risk of serious harm, but has unmet support needs, a child in need plan (or care and support plan in Wales) will be developed.
If they are thought not to need continuing support from children’s social care, you may decide to take no further action at this time, or an offer of Family Help support (or early help in Wales) may be made.
If you consider that they are in fact at continuing risk of serious harm, there will be a multi-agency strategy discussion and potentially a child protection enquiry.

Once the assessment’s outcome has been decided, consider how best to inform the child and their non-abusing parent(s). Explain:

the decision
what the decision means
what will happen next.
Ensure that they understand why the decision was made, especially if it does not reflect what they hoped would happen.

If there is an ongoing criminal investigation, liaise with the police about its progress and check that they are keeping the child and non-abusing parent(s) updated.

Check that the practitioner who made the referral understands how the multi-agency assessment has concluded, the next steps, and the ongoing role they can play in supporting the child.

Share good-quality information to help the social worker – who may never have met the child – to understand the child and their circumstances.
Do what you can to support the child's emotional health, education, physical health, and relationships with family and friends.