Pre-Birth Child Protection Planning Meetings

All practitioners who work with expectant mothers must be aware of parental behaviour and circumstances that could cause significant harm to an unborn baby. A pre-birth assessment can begin whenever a pregnancy is confirmed and the GIRFEC practice model should be used to identify need at an early stage in the mother’s pregnancy.

When there is a potential risk of significant harm the assessment should begin as soon as possible. This provides the unborn child with the best possible opportunity to thrive and gives parents maximum opportunity to engage with practitioners and family supports to begin to work towards necessary changes to protect their unborn/child from future harm.

Practitioners must be aware of how to refer concerns about potential harm to Social Work or Police Section 4 explains how to do this.

Health, Police or Social Work will initiate an Inter-Agency Referral Discussion when there is reason to believe an unborn baby may be at risk of significant harm, as described in Section 2 The IRD must take place within 4 weeks of referral or as soon as practically possible if it is a late presentation Health (including Blossom midwives), Police and Social Work will attend the IRD.

Early engagement and planned support is essential. A Social Worker will complete a pre-birth Child Protection Investigation by 26 weeks gestation. If a woman books late in her pregnancy an assessment should be completed as soon as possible. The timescale should be agreed with the Team Manager.

If a Child Protection Planning Meeting is not required a multi-agency meeting will be chaired by a Team Manager by 28 weeks gestation to agree a child in need plan.

If a Child Protection Planning Meeting is required this should be held at 28 weeks gestation. This will be chaired by an Independent Decision Maker.

The child protection pre-birth assessment must assess:

• Needs and risks of both parents
• Mental health of both parents
• Extended family support
• Previous parenting; preparation for birth
• Domestic abuse in current relationship or with previous partners
• Drug and alcohol use
• Views of any other agency they are involved with
• Involvement with justice services
• Attendance at health appointments
• Housing of both parents
• Ability to manage money

Pre-birth Child Protection Planning Meetings will consider whether serious professional concerns exist about the likelihood of significant harm to an unborn baby. These meetings will be co-ordinated and chaired by Social Work as detailed in Section 9.

The Child Protection Planning Meeting may place the unborn baby’s name on the child protection register before birth. If the unborn baby’s name is registered, the Child Protection Plan must stipulate who is responsible for notifying the birth of the child and what steps need to be taken at that point (for example, referral to the Principal Reporter).

Legal measures such as referral to the Reporter and application for a Child Protection Order (CPO) can only be made at birth. The need for these should be considered within the Child Protection Planning Meeting.

The Child Protection Planning Meeting must decide what supports must be put in place prior to the birth and after the birth. These supports will be reviewed and updated at core groups so all agencies are aware of the plan.

When the child is born, a post discharge planning meeting or post delivery planning meeting may need to be held only if the circumstances change significantly since the last core group. The circumstances which may indicate a need of these meetings may include:

• A need for a reassessment of risk relating to a baby born with unexpected withdrawal symptoms (neonatal abstinence syndrome)
• A need to reassess the care needs of a baby born with complex needs and any additional support required
• A change in family circumstances such as the introduction of a new carer or change in family dynamics
• Information from maternity staff indicating concerns about the care of the baby or presentation of the parents whilst in hospital

A review should be held within three months of the previous Child Protection Planning Meeting but professional judgement should be applied to the timing of this meeting post-birth. This does not prevent an earlier review where changes to the child’s living situation are enough to remove or significantly reduce risk.