Nature of work
The Referral, Assessment and Child Protection Service comprises of the following teams:
- Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
- Children’s Assessment Team (CAT)
- Children in Need Team (CIN)
- Child Protection and Court Team (CP & C)
- Emergency Duty Team (EDT)
MASH
Mash (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) is Solihull’s front door for children and young people aged 0-18 years where members of the public or professionals can contact if they have a concern about a child or young person. The team that brings together partner agencies such as the Police, Education, Health and Housing to share information, knowledge and skills to enable the right decisions to be made for a child and ensure support is identified and put in place at the right time to safeguard and protect the children and young people of Solihull.
Children’s Assessment Team (CAT)
The team progress referrals received into MASH and complete assessments to determine risks to children, identify what their needs are and how these could best be met. They will do this by liaising with partner agencies to share and receive information relating to children and families they are assessing so as to ensure a clear picture of the child’s circumstances is understood. This is a short term intervention team that upon completion of an assessment recommendations will be made as to whether further work or signposting is required to other social work teams such as the Children in Need Team, the Child Protection and Court Team or whether Early Help services are more appropriate.
Children in Need Team (CIN)
The Children in Need Team work with children and families for a period of 6-9 months offering support to vulnerable children in Need as defined under Section 17 (Children Act 1989). The focus of the work is to support and assist families in their care of their children using a preventative approach, undertaking direct work and co-ordinating CIN meetings with families and partner agencies. The aim of the team is to prevent children requiring to be accommodated by the Local Authority as well as prevent children suffering significant harm requiring a Child Protection Plan.
Child Protection and Court Team (CP & C)
The CP & Court team undertakes the majority of the child protection and court work in Children’s Services. The team works with children who are subject to Child Protection Plans who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to the care they receive. The team work with multi-agency partners to reduce the risk to children and keep them safe. However, if this cannot happen, the team are responsible for escalating their intervention into the Court arena to seek Care Orders to share parental responsibility for the child, which may mean the child needing to be accommodated and cared for by the Local Authority.
Emergency Duty Team (EDT)
EDT provides an emergency out of hours Social Work response to concerns relating to both Children and Adults as well as provides an out of hours Approved Mental Health Practitioner response where mental health concerns have been identified. They then pass their work over to the day teams for them to carry on the work as required.
Why we need your information
Your information will be used to fulfil our statutory duties to promote the welfare and safety of children we work with.
Type/Classes of information processed
We process a variety of information relating to the above which may include:
- personal details
- family details
- lifestyle and social circumstances
- health information
- financial information
- employment and education details
- housing information
- visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
- licenses, permits or registrations held
- student and pupil information
- business activities
- case file information
- record of criminal offences
- Births and Deaths details
- Texts, phone records and information from social media
We may also process what is referred to as special categories of information that may include data revealing:
- racial or ethnic origin
- political opinions
- religious or philosophical beliefs
- trade union membership
- membership of professional bodies
- health or data concerning a person's sex life or sexual orientation
Who information is processed about
We process information for the following classes of individuals where this is relevant to the business of the teams as outlined above:
- service users and customers
- staff, persons contracted to provide a service
- complainants, enquirers or their representatives
- professional advisers and consultants
- the Judiciary
- other local authorities
- carers or representatives
- witnesses
- offenders and suspected offenders
- license and permit holders
- traders and others subject to inspection where they in a position of trust
- representatives of other organisations
- healthcare users/patients
- survey respondents
Who information may be shared with
What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share some of the personal information we process with, for one or more reasons.
Where necessary or required we share information with:
- service users and customers
- family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
- current past and prospective employers
- healthcare, social and welfare organisations
- educators
- providers of goods and services
- financial organisations
- debt collection and tracing agencies
- service providers
- local and central government
- ombudsman and regulatory authorities
- press and the media
- professional advisers and consultants
- courts and tribunals
- trade unions
- professional bodies
- survey and research organisations
- police forces, including non-home office police forces
- housing associations
- voluntary and charitable organisations
- religious organisations
- Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
- data processors
- regulatory bodies
How long we will keep your information
We will not keep your information any longer than needed. The length of time will vary from service to service and will be guided either by legislation which states how long records should be retained e.g. records of initial contacts (12 months) through to adoption records (100 years) or by the business need to keep the information (which will vary).
Transfers Overseas
It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information overseas. When this is needed information may be transferred to countries or territories around the world. Any transfers made will be in full compliance with all aspects of data protection legislation.