Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. e-Bulletin

May 2020

Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. business continuity plans in response to COVID-19

Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive – made up of leads from our 3 statutory lead partners, Police, CCG and Local Authority – has continued to meet virtually on a weekly basis to review the business continuity plans and responses of key agencies in Bexley. We have focused discussions planned over the next 2 weeks on voluntary sector resources (with Vikki Wilkinson from Bexley Voluntary Services Council) and mental health resources (with Beverley Mack from CAMHS). We will also be revisiting domestic abuse resources to consider post-lockdown demand on services. Our Partnership Board members will be receiving their papers this week for a ‘meeting by correspondence’ where we will be providing updates on our Learning Hub priorities, progress with any current learning reviews, the development of Bexley’s MASE arrangements, and plans for this year’s Section 11 activity. We will report back on any key decision-making from this meeting in next month’s e-bulletin.

Decision-making in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is continuing through this pandemic, including Conclusive Grounds and Reasonable Grounds decisions, and Recovery Needs Assessments with decisions being issued electronically. The Home Office has developed a flyer on ‘spotting the signs’ of modern slavery and a similar resource for First Responders (e.g.: police and local authority staff) which outlines their responsibilities during this period and how victims can be referred for support. Please note in Bexley all children’s referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (including country lines) should go via the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and adult referrals should go through the contact centre. You should also inform the Community Safety team by email: community.safety@bexley.gov.uk. For further information, please see pages 9-11 of the Bexley Modern Slavery Strategy and Toolkit. A reminder for those who work in the local authority - mandatory online training can be accessed via Evolve.

Referrals of potential victims of trafficking to the National Referral Mechanism during COVID-19

We are continuing to share COVID-19 resources on a weekly basis. Thank you to everyone who has passed on resources we can share. For the latest COVID-19 resources, please see here. If there are any other resources which would be helpful for colleagues across the partnership, then please let us know via shield@bexley.gov.uk and we will include them in the next edition.

COVID-19 resources for children, professionals and families

‘Good news’ stories during COVID-19

We continue to be impressed by how services are responding and adapting during COVID-19. Some recent ‘good news’ stories shared with us include:

• Carlos Galaz, Service Manager for Children Looked After and Permanence, noted there has been a significant increase in engagement from some young people, who are now wanting to engage more via WhatsApp messages and videos. One particular child told them they found it easier to talk to their worker and wanted to have more conversations this way in the future.

• In unknown circumstances, a social worker collected an unaccompanied young person from the police station ensured he was settled in placement, understood the need to self-isolate and helped create a virtual network for him of other young people who share his nationality and language.

• A senior practitioner in Children’s Social Care passed on their thanks to a member of the Early Years team who responded almost immediately to an email asking for advice for a young child who has very recently moved to Bexley with their family and about whom they have significant worries. “With their help and support they have, within 48 hours, secured funding and identified a local nursery place where the child will start attending from tomorrow. This is going to make an enormous amount of difference to the child and his parents at a very difficult time and we would not have achieved this so quickly and easily without her prompt help.”

If there are any good news stories you think would be interesting to share across the partnership, then please let us know via: shield@bexley.gov.uk.

Bexley young people’s feedback on COVID-19 - by 05/06/20

Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D, is inviting all young people in Bexley to share their creative ideas, experiences and concerns during the COVID-19 period so far. This could be in the form of pictures, photos, poems, short stories, or quotes. Please pass on this flyer to any young people you are currently working with, as we would love to hear from them. Contributions are requested by Friday 5th June to shield@bexley.gov.uk. We would also welcome any creative work they may have already shared with you (subject to their agreement of course). We are in the process of talking to Bexley’s Youth Council about how we can best share what young people send us – watch this space!

Updated Children’s Social Care protocol for Assessments

As part of Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Priority 2 focus on Parental Mental Health, an issue identified by the Learning Hub was that more was required to ensure that Adult Mental Health understand their role in contributing to assessments where mental health is a factor and children are involved and to strengthen the relationship with Children’s Social Care. In response to this, the following recommendations were made: 1a. The partnership to review the Children’s Social Care protocol for assessments to ensure that there is appropriate and effective guidance around a multi-agency approach to completing the assessment 1b. The partnership must ensure that Adult Mental Health and Children’s Social Care contribute to assessments in line with their statutory duty where mental health is a factor and children are involved A multi-agency panel met in November 2019 to review the existing protocol. It was identified that more focus was needed within the guidance to ensure assessments were holistic and all agencies working with the family, including adult mental health, contributed to the assessment. Only when this is achieved, can reliable analysis be drawn, leading to appropriate and targeted intervention. The Assessment protocol was refreshed in December 2019. Additions to the protocol include a direction that any gaps in information should be clearly recorded within the assessment. When partners are asked to contribute, they should be clear about what information is required and importantly, by when, giving practitioners as much notice as possible. No assessment should have a final analysis if contributions from significant agencies are missing and where that information could potentially impact on the outcome of the assessment. The refreshed protocol emphasises the need for agencies to make use of their escalation policy, should efforts made to obtain information not be responded to. It is recognised that all agencies working with children and their families hold relevant information and that by agencies being accountable for their role in assessments and working closely together, as many already do, the family will benefit from a comprehensive assessment that will result in a more targeted and responsive intervention, based on the family’s needs.

Mental Health Awareness Week - 18-24 May 2020

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 May). Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, the original theme for this year should have been “Sleep” but with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the theme has been changed to “Kindness”. “One thing that we have seen all over the world is that kindness is prevailing in uncertain times. We have learnt that amid the fear, there is also community, support and hope. The added benefit of helping others is that it is good for our own mental health and wellbeing. It can help reduce stress and improve your emotional wellbeing.” As part of their preparations, the Mental Health Foundation has prepared some information and suggestions of kind acts to help others and you during the Coronavirus outbreak. To mark Mental Health Awareness Week in Bexley, the partnership would also like to highlight:

• COVID-19 resources on mental health and well-being – a list of recent resources we have recently shared, specifically on mental health and well-being.

• The Bexley Parentcare leaflet, designed to encourage parents who are feeling low in mood to access the directory of services which signposts parents to information on local services and resources that support the mental health and wellbeing of Bexley’s parents and carers.

• HeadScape Bexley. HeadScape has been designed for young people, by other young people in Bexley and Greenwich to give them a trusted website to use for information, to check how they feel and even take a test to find out if they need help with their emotions. Depending on the results, the site can offer young people living in Bexley the option to self-refer directly to their local Children and Young People's Mental Health Services.

• Leaflets for children of parents admitted to mental health wards - South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust shared these age-appropriate leaflets with us as part of priority 2 on parental mental health. They are aimed at very young children, those aged 7-11 and aged 11+.

Bexley Knife Crime Awareness Conference Bexley Youth Council and Community Safety Services held a conference on Knife Crime Awareness on 13th March, which was attended by approximately 90 pupils from secondary schools across the borough. At the event, the Youth Council launched their film “Crime Pays” to outline the dangers of crime in relation to drugs and knife crime. The film made with the support of the Rob Knox Foundation, gives a clear message on how crime can ruin lives and the impact it can have in the future, “Crime pays but so do you!” The day also included:

• An ex-gang member speaking about his involvement as a gang member, discussing the dangers of grooming and the crime that escalates from it, also about the violence that can be an integral part of gang life.

• A speaker on drugs and alcohol misuse speaker speaking about the dangers and long-term effects of alcohol and drug misuse, including cannabis and nitrous oxide cannister use.

• Workshops delivered by St John’s Ambulance and London Fire Brigade on first response training for knife attacks and acid attacks and by Kyodai Karate Club on personal protection training for possible knife attack as a victim.

• Fearless.Org - speaking about the methods of grooming, county lines and where help can be sought anonymously, and safely.

• Libby’s Story - A video made by a young person aged 16, who spoke about the pain and trauma of losing a good friend to knife crime in October 2019.

In addition there was a Q&A session with the speakers and workshop trainers, which also included representatives for Met Police, Children’s Social Care and St Giles Trust.

Bexley Knife Crime Conference, Council Chamber, 13th March 2020 The day was very well received by the young people and school staff who attended. Many of the young people said they had found it informative and eye opening and the school staff confirmed it addressed many of the issues young people in the community face today. A poster campaign on knife crime awareness was due to go live on the JC Decaux boards in Bexleyheath this month. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, this has had to be postponed but it will be rescheduled to a time when it will have a greater impact on the target audience. Subject to securing funding, Community Safety Services hope to repeat the conference next year.

Previous SHIELD e-bulletins are available here. The Bexley Safeguarding Adults Board latest newsletter is available here. The latest SHIELD Training e-bulletin is available here.

Useful links

National guidance and useful resources EU Settlement Scheme looked-after children and care leavers: local authority and health and social care trust guidance, Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration, May 2020 The Government has published guidance, and an accompanying toolkit, to help local authorities and health and social care trusts ensure that looked after children and care leavers who are EU, EEA or Swiss citizens make an application to the EU Settlement Scheme. Eligible applicants will be able to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021 with the same rights and entitlements as they had before the UK left the EU. The Children’s Society has written a policy briefing. Local vulnerability profiles, Children’s Commissioner, April 2020 The Children’s Commissioner for England has published local area profiles of child vulnerability which map the challenges faced by schools and local authorities supporting children and young people in lockdown during the coronavirus crisis. The local area profiles of child vulnerability provide a way for councils to understand which groups of children are likely to be at risk under lockdown, and how many children in their area fall into those groups. It also provides a framework for central government to target additional resources at the areas most in need.

Pixels from a Crime Scene, Podcast series, Internet Watch Foundation, April 2020 The Internet Watch Foundation has released a podcast series bringing together global experts, victims, industry leaders, and criminals to explore how children are being exploited by online predators and what can be done to tackle this. Surviving Incarceration, University of Bedfordshire’s Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime, May 2020 The University of Bedfordshire’s Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime has published findings from research looking at factors contributing to the over-representation of looked after children in child prisons in South and West Yorkshire, and their differing experiences whilst in custody. Their analysis found children who have been in care are more likely to develop a 'survivor mentality', a form of self-reliance that made it harder for them to focus on future ambitions for positive achievement and to leave their offending behind them.