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

July 2020

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

Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive has met weekly throughout July 2020. Focused discussions in this period have included domestic abuse and parent engagement. The Executive will meet fortnightly in August and then back to weekly from September. Future issues to be considered are the role of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), schools returning, and planning for Year 3 of the partnership. The Partnership Board met virtually on 13/7/20. Board members were updated on the work of the Learning Hubs for Priorities 4 and 5, current learning reviews and activities to develop Bexley F.L.A.R.E. (parent engagement group), and progress with the review and relaunch of the MASE (soon to be CREST). Feedback from Board members in response to their agency’s business continuity arrangements and COVID-related concerns was shared and the timeline for completing this year’s Section 11 survey was agreed.

COVID-19 resources for children, professionals and families

We have recently reduced the frequency for sharing COVID-19 resources down to a fortnightly 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, please let us know via shield@bexley.gov.uk and we will include them in the next edition.

‘Good news’ stories during Covid-19

Priority 4 update The Learning Hub identified a group of 75 young people the partnership was collectively worried about and Hub members were tasked in June with carrying out well-being checks on those young people to establish where they were, who they were with, if they were safe, which agencies were working with them, what risks were identified, and if the young person agreed with the identified risks. The Learning Hub has completed most of these checks and the feedback is being reviewed by the partnership’s operational team. An update on progress with Priority 4 was presented at the Partnership Board meeting on 13/7/20 and Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive will review final progress with the work in August. The learning from Priority 4 will be shared at the partnership annual (virtual) conference in October of this year.

We have been asking you to share ‘good news’ stories with us, including any creative and inspirational work completed by children and young people during COVID-19. John Seal, Team Leader for the Bexley Kickstart Motor Project has been sharing examples of what the young people on this project have been doing during COVID-19 including art work, baking and photography. We are sure you will agree they are a talented group of young people! John also highlighted, “If you’re looking for more positive activities young people have engaged in during these difficult times, the young people at Kickstart are currently repairing and restoring a number of push bikes. This has kept them busy and their minds active, both of which have been helpful during lockdown. Once they have repaired these bikes, we hope to donate them to local charities / groups.”

Some of the creative endeavours by young people on the Bexley Kickstart Motor Project The Bexley Kickstart Motor Project aims to help young people progress, wherever their starting point and teaches the young people both basic and advanced motorbike maintenance skills. If you would like to see more of the young people’s photographic skills, please see their Facebook page here. Referrals to the project are made via the Bexley Targeted Youth Service. If you would like any further information about the project, please contact John.Seal@bexley.gov.uk.

Priority 5 - Getting basic child protection right The partnership’s fifth priority – Getting basic child protection right – was launched in June 2020. Basic child protection is one of the partnership’s priorities each year. The CCG and the local authority are jointly leading on this priority, which is focussed on ‘fixing’ a number of practice-related issues. Due to COVID-19 it was not possible to launch this priority at a system learning event. However, learning hub members have been identified and a number of project activities are underway:

• June 2020: o Revisiting cases audited as part of the JTAI on young people’s mental health o Scoping the content of multi-agency training on professional curiosity (as suggested by

the CCG) o Section 11 activity 2020 o The multi-agency assessment protocol (this had now been successfully disseminated

across the partnership) • July/August 2020:

o Reviewing JTAI outcome o Reviewing the impact on parents of the leaflets produced as part of Priority 3 o Police MERLINs into MASH o Audit on strategy discussions o Young carers o Impact of training o Training materials on child protection procedures o Quality of chronologies in CSC and health agencies o Feedback from Bexley F.L.A.R.E. on alternative language to ‘step down’ o Fabricated and Induced Illness

The original timeline the work was April-July 2020 but due to COVID-19, the revised timetable is June-August 2020. Each of these project activities are being taken forward by a small working group consisting of Learning Hub members and relevant partnership leads. Recommendations for future action will be reported to the Partnership Board via the Learning Hub in October 2020.

Supporting parents with their mental health and emotional wellbeing

As part of some follow up activity for Priority 2 on parental Mental health, we are launching Stories from the heart and mind: A collection of stories and key messages from parents with mental health difficulties. These stories have been collated to help publicise the Bexley Parentcare directory of services and to help parents understand they are not alone in what they might be experiencing and that ‘it is ok’ to ask for help. The stories include the experiences of:

• Anjani – age 27, experiencing post-natal depression • Kayleigh – age 17/18, depressed with alcohol misuse • Anne – age 30 has Perinatal Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety/panic

attacks • Daz and Caz - both aged 35 - mum and dad, both clinically depressed • Sandra – aged 36, post-partum psychosis due to abuse • Dean – aged 30, father struggling to cope with how to best support his wife who is low

in mood We would also like to take this opportunity to re-publicise 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. Despite COVID-19 many services are still running but may have moved their support online / via the telephone. Some of the services included in the directory which we would like to highlight in particular are the following voluntary sector perinatal wellbeing support services:

• Cocoon Family Support offers free peer support groups and low-cost individual counselling for parents struggling with their mental health during pregnancy and early parenthood. They offer support to both mums and dads. Due to Covid-19 they have moved all their support online including their Bexley Perinatal Peer Support Group on a Monday 1-2pm. Further details of these and other services including training for professionals and peer support consultancy are available here.

• Mindful Mums and Being Dad are offering online support sessions for expectant / new mums & dads in Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich. Due to Covid-19 these are currently being offered via Zoom. Mindful Mums is on Wednesdays 11.30am–12.15pm and Fridays 1-1.45pm. Being Dad is on Tuesdays 8pm-9pm. For further information including details of how to join in, please contact mindfulmums@blgmind.org.uk or beingdad@blgmind.org.uk.

We would also like to highlight: • Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust Specialist Community Perinatal Mental Health

Service for women in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. This service provides specialist assessment and intervention to women experiencing significant mental health difficulties in pregnancy and up to a year postnatal. Further information including how to refer can be found here.

Please do share the leaflets and information with the families you support, if you feel these would be of benefit to them.

National guidance and useful resources Government guidance:

• Keeping children safe in education (from 1 September 2020), Department for Education, June 2020

• Implementation of relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education 2020 to 2021, Department for Education, Updated 9 July 2020

Other national guidance: • Recommendations to achieve best practice in the child protection and family

justice systems: Special guardianship order, Public Law Working Group (endorsed by the President of the Family Division)

Podcasts: • Coercive control, Podcast, Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP) • Safeguarding in Sport, Podcast, Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP)

Briefings: • Using strengths-based video-feedback techniques to build parent-child attunement, Research

in Practice (in partnership with NSPCC Learning) • Beyond referrals: harmful sexual behaviour in schools: a briefing on the findings, implications

and resources for schools and multi-agency partners, Contextual Safeguarding Network, June 2020

• Safeguarding children from racism and creating an anti-racist culture, Farrer & Co, Just for Kids Law, June 2020

• Timely justice: turning 18, A briefing on the impact of turning 18 in the criminal justice system, Youth Justice Legal Centre (YJLC), part of Just for Kids Law, June 2020

• Duty of care in sport, Briefing, NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) • Definitions and signs of child abuse, NSPCC Learning

Reports: • Out of routine: A review of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) in families where the

children are considered at risk of signifcant harm, Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel • Children left out? Securing children’s rights to stay in the UK beyond Brexit, Coram

Children’s Legal Centre, July 2020 For families:

• MindEd for Families (funded by the Department of Health and Department for Education) MindEd is a support charity and free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults. There are over 150 different modules to choose from. The on-line courses are free to access, can be saved as you go and you can print off a certificate when you finish each module.

• Preparing for adult life, Contact (for families with disabled children)

Useful links

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.