The Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership (DSCP) is established in accordance with the Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act 2017) and Chapter 3 Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.
The DSCP provides the arrangements under which the safeguarding partners and relevant agencies work together to coordinate safeguarding services such as the commission and publication of local child safeguarding practice reviews. By working together agencies are better able to identify and respond to the needs of children in County Durham and provide scrutiny to ensure the effectiveness of safeguarding services.
What are the Vision and Values of the Partnership?
The vision of the DSCP is to ‘Keep Children Safe’.
The Partnership looks to realise this vision by focussing on
- Prevention Through Early Intervention - We will work together to prevent harm at the earliest opportunity.
- Joined Up Response - We will respond bringing together the expertise of partners.
- Listening - We will listen to and observe children ensuring their voice is heard even when they don’t or can’t speak out.
- Identifying - We will identify those most at risk of harm by sharing information and data effectively.
- Challenging - We will challenge, learn and continuously improve.
and by applying the following values
- Tenacity – acknowledges that there will be an element of endurance required by teams and individuals facing difficult and long term problem solving where solutions are not immediately apparent. In the area, effective inter-agency working is vital to maintain a focus on keeping the child safe.
- Curiosity – it is essential that we look beyond the immediate presentation to ensure that the concerns about children are not being masked or hidden by individuals, circumstances or a lack of curiosity on the part of those responsible for safeguarding.
- Openness – we need to be open and empathetic to the child and the perspective of other agencies. This includes an openness to challenge and be challenged so that the best decision in the interests of the child are made.
Who are the Partners?
The DSCP membership includes a broad range of relevant agencies who contribute to achieving the aims of the Partnership.
However, there are three key statutory partner organisations and in Durham these are:
- County Durham Clinical Commissioning Groups
- North Durham CCG
- Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG
- Durham County Council (Children and Young People’s Service)
- Durham Constabulary
You can find out more about what the partners do by going to Partnership Arrangements and Partner Website Links.
How Does It Work?
The Partnership is led by an Executive Group and the Statutory Partners, agree who has the lead on any specific issues and improving ‘working together’ within local safeguarding arrangements.
The Executive Group consists of:
- Independent Scrutineer
- County Durham Clinical Commissioning Groups
- Durham County Council’s Children and Young People’s Service
- Durham Constabulary
- Chairs of DSCP Sub-Groups
- Designated Doctor for Safeguarding Children
- DSCP Business Manager (for support)
All members may request to attend Safeguarding Executive meetings to provide information and updates on initiatives, inspections and contribute to the DSCP Annual Report. All members are invited to attend DSCP development days to review priorities and identify partnership progress:
- The welfare of children is safeguarded and promoted
- Organisations collaborate to achieve the vision of improving outcomes for vulnerable children
- Organisations challenge and hold one another to account effectively
- Identification and analysis of emerging safeguarding issues are addressed early
- Learning is promoted enabling services to become more reflective and embed practice improvements
- Accurate and timely decision making is facilitated through effective information sharing
- Protection of children is founded on practitioners developing effective and trusting relationships with children and their families
You can find out more about how the partnership works by going to Partnership Arrangements.
Where Does The Partnership Operate?
Approximately 100,540 young people live in Durham. Many young people experience issues in their life, such as domestic abuse and receive support, such as Early Help, are looked after by the Local Authority, are subject to a child protection plan and are considered to be children in need.
Some partner organisations operate across local authority boundaries and have responsibilities for children living in other areas. The DSCP child protection procedures include appropriate guidance for operational arrangements to address the needs of children and families who move between or live within different areas.
The Partnership arrangements and the multi-agency child protection procedures apply to the area defined by Durham County Council’s local authority boundary.