Children in need of help and protection (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

There is no single factor which is necessary or sufficient to create a risk to a child's safety or wellbeing. Research evidence indicates a significant association between families' socio-economic circumstances and the chances that their children will experience neglect or abuse (Joseph Rowntree foundation, see references). The interactions between contributory factors are complex and frequently circular, affecting families' capacity to protect and support their children:

• parenting capacity, which can be affected by a range of factors such as economic situation, prior education and educational experience; physical and emotional well-being; offending;
• family capacity for protection, including capacity to accept and invest in support to enhance their protective role;
• extent of child or adult disability including physical, learning and mental health difficulties
• negative adult and child behaviours, for example domestic violence or substance use, sometimes provoked or exacerbated by family stress;
• positive adult and child behaviours, promoting social support and resilience; extended family support
• external neighbourhood factors: the social and physical environment

As children develop independence and in particular, move into adolescence, they become a key agent in their own situation, and their need for protection will be affected by their learned experience, emotional and mental well being. Other factors include their social, educational and economic circumstances; cultural context and response; diversity and peer context. The risks for young people evolve, and vulnerabilities include children and young people who experience homelessness; who go missing; and who are vulnerable to exploitation (including sexual exploitation). Other risks associated with adolescence are sexual health, drug and alcohol misuse.

Those children who meet the legal definition of a Child in Need as detailed in the Children Act 2004 are:

• Unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving, or maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for them of services by a local authority.
• Their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without the provision of such services.
• They are disabled (Sec.17/10 Children Act 1989).

When a child is referred to Children and Families Social care, this means a request for service is made for a child who is not in need at the time. The risk of harm to the child will be assessed and a decision made about the level of support required. Where the assessment concludes that the child is in need, the intervention is classified as:

• A child who requires support/intervention to secure their safety and enable them to develop
• A child in need of protection (Child Protection Plan)
• A child who needs to be cared for by the local authority (Looked After Child)

The Department for Education publish annual statistics on children in need of help and child protection which provide a national oversight. The most common primary reasons for referral for children in need at 31 March 2016 were

• 50.6%, abuse or neglect
• 17.4%, family dysfunction
• 9.6%, child's disability or illness.

Nationally on 31 March 2016,

• 3% of children under the age of 18 in England were assessed as being in need of help or protection, a total of 394,400 children, of whom :
• 50, 310 children were on Child Protection Plans with the most prevalent recoded reason being neglect
• 70, 440 children were Looked After

This number was 4% more that on 31^st March 2011 and in line with the general increase in the child population. The number of children in need has remained broadly stable over the past few years. The number of children in need on 31 March of any year is a snapshot and considerably lower than the number of children that local authorities work with throughout the year.

Of these children:

• 52.7% are male, 45.3% are female and 2.0% are unborn or of unknown gender.
• The largest age group is those aged 10 - 15 years accounting for 30.6% of children in need; 23.6% are under 5 years of age.
• The percentage of children in need at 31 March with a disability was 12.7% in 2015 / 16, a decrease from 14.2% in 2010 / 11.

National information on Children in Need is available using the Local authority interactive tool (LAIT).