Effective multi-agency training arrangements are the key to maximising the support available across organisations to identify needs and safeguard children and families. A strong multi agency approach to training and development across the public and voluntary sector workforce is integral to building rigorous practice and contributing to the efficacy of the system. Whilst agencies need to be responsible for their own core training and development arrangements, it is vital that there is shared responsibility, shared ownership, and a collegiate approach to understanding the importance of multi-agency working and how this can impact on children and families.
The Rotherham Multi-Agency Workforce Safeguarding Competency Framework outlines a key set of competencies that are aligned to specific public and voluntary sector roles. The Framework has been developed across multi-agency partners and the competencies are ordered in relation to the levels and complexity of practitioner engagement “They are a combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values that are required for safe and effective practice (Chapter 10)1
All staff that come into contact with children have a responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare and know ‘what to do’ if they have concerns about safeguarding issues, including child protection. This responsibility is equally valid with staff working primarily with adults who have dependent children (or access to families that have) It is therefore important that training and development meets the levels of complexity that professionals work with on a day-to-day basis. For example, a frontline housing repair worker needs to have a basic understanding of neglect and how to identify and report a child protection concern but would not require the same level or intensity of training as a Health Visitor or Family Support Worker. Learning from Serious Case Reviews2 , which take place following a serious incident or death of a child, frequently cites a lack of multi-agency information sharing, lack of escalation and lack of awareness across professionals to the issues that were occurring in families. The framework is designed to enable all organisations and workers operating within them to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities within child and family safeguarding competencies.
- Intercollegiate Doc. 4th Edition 2019. Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencesfor Healthcare Staff.
- https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/publications/pub-007366