Child protection risk assessment template

Generally, standardized tests and assessments are intended to monitor and rate aspects of pupil performance, instead of the underlying causes of these facets.

Assessments frequently rely on complicated computer programs that attempt to represent the many complicated elements of studying in a way a student can understand and remember. This representation takes the pupil to make sure cognitive choices, such as how to align their visual memory together with the composed text. Additionally, the student must use various nonverbal cues, too. Any openings in these regions must be closed so as to reach a balanced appraisal.

Including teachers at the elementary and secondary school teaching-learning program. A comprehensive assessment can serve as a tool to assist the teacher and school administrators create a scientifically and culturally competent instructional program for their own students. This showcase highlights several examples, including using decision-making models, such as the ACTION for Child Protection Safety Assessment Family Evaluation Model and Structured Decision Making; using practice models that incorporate safety assessments to support decision-making such as the Signs of Safety practice model ; teaming during different decision-making points; and using existing data to engage in predictive analytics.

The report evaluates the degree to which the delivery of the practice adheres to the program model as intended and makes recommendations for practice improvement in order to increase safety.

Skip to main content. Back to Top. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Risk is a difficult and complex notion that can create understandable anxiety for many.

It is, however, also a core consideration of any intervention that is undertaken with children and families. Risk is not just about considerations of concern or harm. It is also an inherent aspect of all healthy human development. Children and young people have to be exposed to experiences that may raise their risk potential at differing stages of their growth and development to help them develop into rounded, secure, healthy individuals.

It is further an aspect of life in every area of society. Staff within every service at every level, no matter where they work and with whom, are at some point going to be working directly with children and young people who may be both in need and at risk. Risk is also a dynamic concept that can be multi-dimensional in character - it's not static and seldom mono-dimensional, it is fluid and critically shaped and characterised by a range of events and movement in the context and setting where it occurs.

For instance, when supporting an individual adult to address a substance misuse issue, it may become apparent that there are also clear parenting issues, self-esteem and confidence concerns, possible mental health matters, relationship difficulties with partner and child, aspects of violence and aggression and so on.

Thus, practitioners may be faced with trying to address a single area of need eg. It may need to be activated by something else, such as a situational hazard situational hazard - this is something which happens, and which has an immediate effect directly related to the danger Predisposing hazards static factors are the sort of risks which are factual, and usually fixed at the time of the assessment, for example, the child is under 5 years old and has special needs, or a child has been sexually abused and is therefore vulnerable to further abuse.

Situational hazards dynamic factors are more dynamic, and concern events or developments in the case, such as parents stop co-operating, or the protective parent decides to re-unite with the child's abuser, or a parent loses their job and faces debts and stress as a result The latter are factors which are more likely to be amenable to change, and should be the key focus of the child protection plan.

Risk Weighting This involves listing the identified dangers, hazards, risks and protective factors in the relation to each of the 3 Domains of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families then ascribing a weight to each factor as follows: Risk: On a scale of 1 to 10, how concerning is each risk factor in relation to the danger posed to the child or children?

Neglect and emotional abuse The Salford Graded Care Profile may be used for all situations where actual or likely neglect is the key risk identified in the information gathered to date.

Sexual Abuse The following identifies two key models for understanding and responding to sexual abuse: Finkelhor's four preconditions, and Ward's Pathways.

Overcome external inhibitors - create opportunity groom or manipulate the environment to disempower any protective adult and ensure one does not get caught; consciously or unconsciously put oneself in a position where there are vulnerable children and an opportunity for 'temptation' Overcome resistance - undermining or overcoming the child's resistance to the sexual abuse groom and manipulate the child - threats, persuasion, trickery, use of alcohol or drugs Finkelhor's model has been greatly developed through the work of the NSPCC, Barnardo's, and the Lucy Faithfull foundation and it provides a helpful and evidence based framework for understanding the experience of the child and the potentially protective parents and network, and therefore a means of evaluating and managing risk.

Some assumptions that can be made Child sexual offenders are not an homogenous group. Whatever the nature of offence, there will be certain similarities which can assist both in identifying the level of risk and in understanding the child's experience, and that of the non-abusing parent: The alleged abuser holds a position of power in the family and family network All offences are premeditated.

The role of fantasy and masturbation is central. They will seek to lay the responsibility for the offence elsewhere- usually on the child or the non-abusing parent. They will say that the offence is 'out of character'. They will have built up a compulsive cycle of behaviour.

The offender will say ' I won't do it again'. There is no "cure", only control. The offender's behaviour will follow the following pattern: The cycle is characterised by denial, excusing and justifying of behaviour, and the alleged or actual abuser will have followed this cycle and may have done so over a period of years. Finkelhor also suggests the following categories to help professionals understand the impact of child sexual abuse: traumatic sexualisation, stigmatisation , betrayal and powerlessness.

In assessing risk, the practitioner must also consider: What is the role of the non-abusing parent, if there is one? Are they complicit, or are they potentially protective? Ward's Pathways Model The work of Ward and Siegert is regarded among researchers as being very instructive for investigating the individual's role in committing child sexual abuse.

Source: Adapted from Ward et al. Mapping risk factors Research results on perpetration risk factors This section presents the risk factors for child sexual offending across the identified relationships and contexts. Family risk factors: social isolation; family disorganisation, dissolution, and violence, including intimate partner violence; and parenting stress, poor parent-child relationships, and negative interactions.

Community risk factors: community violence; concentrated neighbourhood disadvantage e. While there is a crossover with these child maltreatment risk factors, the literature on adult perpetrators of child sexual abuse also emphasises factors such as: their history of violence and delinquency; their maladaptive sexual behaviours, such as deviant sexual fantasies; social deficits, such as lack of empathy and social skills deficits; and attitudinal and cognitive variables, such as their attitudes towards rape, the "sexual precociousness of children" and cognitive rationalisations Indeed, in their meta-analysis of 89 studies of sex offender risk factors, Whitaker and colleagues found that child sex offenders were more likely than non-offenders to have poorer family functioning, more harsh discipline, poor attachment and generally worse functioning in their family of origin.

Child sex offenders also demonstrated: poorer social connectedness to others e. Perpetrator risk factors Personal characteristics Biologically unrelated male: A well-documented risk factor for certain forms of child sexual abuse is the presence of a biologically unrelated male. In authority, care and extra-familial relationships this can mean a male who has unrestricted access to a child due to their authority status e.

Within a familial relationship, the male can be an uncle, step-father, de facto or boyfriend to the mother who is biologically unrelated to the child. This risk factor has been calculated from victim response surveys and other records where the offender's relationship to the victim is detailed. In cases of online perpetration, research indicates that males unknown to the victim are the main offenders. Young: Generally means the perpetrator is under the age of 25 years, although for peer and sibling abuse it means under 18 years.

Psychological deficits: The perpetrator has a low IQ or is cognitively impaired. Traditional gender values : Generally understood to be values that place women and children in an inferior position to the male offender's wants and needs. It can mean also acting on these held values; for example, through preventing a female partner from controlling her own finances, expecting children to be deferential to the offender's authority within the family, etc.

Interest in child exploitation material: The offender has accessed and used such material. Computer savvy: The perpetrator is a very competent user of information technologies. They can upload material, connect with other users, encrypt their uploads and downloads, can possibly access a "dark-net" anonymous online file sharing service , and find ways of evading detection on the Internet.

Substance misuse: When perpetrators currently or at the time of the child sexual abuse have alcohol or other substance abuse issues. Social characteristics Highly sexualised environment: A highly sexualised environment for adult perpetrators is usually defined as one where there is high pornography consumption and a high degree of sexual discourse between adults, and where the children are often exposed to this behaviour.

It does not necessarily mean creating or accessing child exploitation material. For peer and sibling offenders it often means they have witnessed sexual acts between adults in their home, or have been exposed to high levels of pornography. It has been measured from self-reports, or from online offenders, generally from details taken about their search and browsing histories prior to their arrest.

Social isolation: The offender has not had close or significant friendships and relationships in their childhood or early adulthood. Low socio-economic status: The perpetrator may be unemployed, or have low-level employment. Low education: When the perpetrator has education only up to high school graduation level. Childhood history and past behaviours Child sexual abuse history: If the perpetrator was a victim of child sexual abuse when a child, they are more likely to become a child sexual abuse perpetrator themselves.

Childhood neglect: This is usually defined as the perpetrator having experienced neglect as a child or adolescent rather than referring to someone who neglects their own children. There are not always substantiated or reported cases of neglect in the history of the perpetrator, so this is often measured by self-reports describing childhoods that have been characterised by neglect.

Childhood physical abuse: The offender was physically abused as a child. Large family size: The perpetrator grew up in a family with three or more children. Early parenthood: The perpetrator was aged 15 to 20 years when their child was born.

Prior sexual criminal behaviour: The perpetrator has a history of sexual crime, not necessarily against children. Prior non-sexual criminal behaviour: Criminal behaviour of a non-sexual nature either while an adolescent or adult. Violent behaviour: The perpetrator has a history of violent and abusive behaviour.

This is usually defined as other, non-sexual, criminal behaviour for adults or adolescents or problems with regulating emotional outbursts in children. For adults and adolescents it has been measured by looking at criminal records, reports from child protection services or self-reporting from the perpetrator.

It is often linked with low-income families. Domestic violence in the family: Child sexual abuse is often found in families where there are other forms of violence and abuse being perpetrated against the children or the perpetrator's partner.

Familial and some Indigenous offenders of sexual abuse may also be committing domestic violence. It is measured through self-reports or reports from the police or child support authorities, or the offender may have been first reported for domestic violence and it is through this that their sexually abusive behaviours are discovered. Risk factors for adult familial offenders The following risk factors for familial offenders have been identified by the research: biologically unrelated male including step-father, de facto boyfriend of mother traditional gender values highly sexualised environment social isolation prior non-sexual criminal behaviour poor family cohesion and domestic violence in the family This is not to suggest that all families presenting with these risk factors will have child victims of sexual abuse, but there is a higher likelihood of child sexual abuse within a family where these risk factors are present than one where they are not.

Extra-familial offending risk factors The difficulty with categorising risk factors for adult acquaintances or neighbours of the family is that there seems to be only one major risk factor in the perpetrator's background: that they are a biologically unrelated male with access to the child.

The list below includes the variety of risk factors that have been tested for in authority and care offenders, but where research has concluded that they were not risk factors: psychological deficits; traditional gender values; interest in child exploitation material; computer savvy; substance misuse; highly sexualised environment; social isolation; low socio-economic status; childhood neglect; childhood physical abuse; large family size; early parenthood; prior sexual criminal behaviour; prior non-sexual criminal behaviour; poor family cohesion; and domestic violence in the family.

Risk factors for female offenders As mentioned previously, while the number of female child sexual abuse perpetrators is very low, it is useful to point out where female and male adult sexual abuse perpetrators are similar and different. The risk factors for female offending include: young years low-socio economic status low education child sexual abuse history childhood neglect poor family cohesion; and domestic violence in the family Risk factors for online offenders Teens involved in sexting or online sexual harassment are not included here.

There is a range of common and healthy behaviours at different developmental stages. When a child or young person behaves in ways considered to be outside this range, their behaviour may be called 'harmful' because it is harmful to themselves or others. There are no accurate figures on the full spectrum of HSB. However, one major UK study found that two-thirds of contact child sexual abuse was perpetrated by other children and young people.

The majority of children and young people displaying HSB do not become sexual offenders as adults. HSB in pre-adolescent children is more likely to be at the 'inappropriate' or 'problematic' end of the continuum rather than being 'abusive' or 'violent'. Young children may be 'acting out' abuse they have experienced themselves, or responding to other trauma and neglect.

The early teens are the peak time for the occurrence of HSB, most of which is displayed by boys. There are some gender differences, with girls tending to be younger when their HSB is identified. Children and young people who display HSB are more likely than other young people to have a history of maltreatment and family difficulties. Some children and young people displaying HSB have been sexually abused themselves, but most victims of sexual abuse do not go on to abuse others.

It is a history of child maltreatment, rather than sexual abuse specifically, that is most strongly associated with later sexual offending. A significant proportion of online-facilitated sex offences are committed by young people, but limited research has been carried out into young people engaging in HSB with an online element. For some young people, there may be a link between viewing online pornography and subsequent HSB.

There is also limited published research on effective interventions, particularly at the 'problematic' end of the HSB continuum. However, there is a general consensus that interventions need to be holistic and child focused, and involve families. Cognitive behavioural-based, multi-systemic and adventure-based interventions have been shown to have benefits for some children. Services should avoid stigmatising children and young people as 'mini adult sex offenders'.

The most effective prevention education takes a 'whole school' approach to healthy relationships, is longer term and involves young people in development and delivery. What is harmful sexual behaviour? Johnson and Doonan suggest that all of the following criteria should be met for any child aged 11 or under to be defined as 'sexually abusive': 1.

Such individuals may: have less understanding that some sexual behaviours are not acceptable receive less sex and relationship education than other young people have fewer opportunities to establish acceptable sexual relationships struggle with social skills generally relate more easily to children younger than themselves. In reviewing the research, Robinson identifies the following potential pathways for adolescent females who engage in harmful sexual behaviour: early maturation - sexualised behaviours for which they are not developmentally prepared, through contact with older males depression and victimisation family criminality poor relationships with parents, particularly mother lack of continuity of care poor peer networks impact of pornography related to their own abusive experiences.

Effective assessment of children and young people displaying harmful sexual behaviour There is little published research on the most appropriate ways of assessing children and young people presenting with HSB, although there is general agreement that assessments need to take account of the whole circumstances of the child and their family - including any prior experience of abuse and other behavioural issues Chaffin et al, ; Hackett, These consider both the specific risks of the young person's behaviour and motivations and their needs and strengths at individual, family and community levels Hackett, ; Prentky et al, ; Griffin et al, Within this context, practitioners and their managers are referred to the Brook Traffic Light Tool which provides a framework for assessment and action here The NSPCC framework should be used alongside the NICE guidelines on harmful sexual behaviour among young people, which make recommendations about: roles of universal services early help assessment and risk assessment linking with families pre and post intervention key principles and approaches for intervention.

These can be accessed here All assessments should be completed using the Child's World format and recorded within the Child's Plan, as set out within the Guernsey Child Care Procedures. Therapeutic interventions after abuse and neglect NICE has also published a quick guide for practitioners and managers to help and support abused and neglected children, young people and their families.