Neglect

Tameside has a high proportion of children who are involved in the Looked After Care system. One of the main reasons why children become involved with Social Care services is neglect. Tameside has relaunched its Neglect Strategy in 2020. There are four priorities for Neglect Strategy. Each of which is focused on reducing the numbers of children affected by neglect, and when neglect does occur, aims to tackle it early on in the process.

• Priority 1: Secure Strategic commitment across all agencies.
• Priority 2: Improve awareness, understanding and recognition of neglect.
• Priority 3: Prevent neglect through early help.
• Priority 4: Improve effectiveness of interventions to tackle neglect.

Neglect Strategy 2019-2022

Neglect

The Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance, July 2018 states neglect is;

The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:

• provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment)
• protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger
• ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers)
• ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Children at risk of neglect

No child asks to be neglected. There are several parental risk factors that make children more likely to be neglected.

• The child’s parents or carers might not have had a good role model themselves. They themselves might have being neglected, therefore they repeat the pattern of behaviour.
• The parents or carers might have their own issues, as well as looking after their child/ren. These might include;
  1. One or both parents/carers are having issues with either drugs or alcohol.
  2. There is partner abuse happening between the parents or carers.
  3. One or both parents/carers are suffering from mental health difficulties.

Having one or more of the issues going on in your life might impact on a parent’s ability to provide adequate care for their child.

Signs of Neglect

There is no one indicator that will signify neglect. If a child is being neglected there might be signs to be aware of. This is not an exhaustive list.

• Appearing unkempt.
• Inappropriately dressed for time of year clothes are not clean and do not fit.
• Hungry at school.
• Failure to attend health appointments.
• Non-attendance at school/nursery.
• Development delay, that isn’t related to a disability.
• Poor or excessive weight gain/nutrition.

Actions to take if you suspect a Child’s being neglected

Actions to take if a Child/Young Person is in immediate risk of harm

Ring 999 and ask for the Police.

If your unsure contact Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0161 342 4101.

Monday to Wednesday: 8.30am - 5pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Friday: 8.30am - 4pm

Out of office hours, contact 0161 342 2222

Actions to take if you suspect a Child/Young Person is being neglected

Firstly, if you suspect a child/young person is a risk of neglect and would like some advice in relation to the Graded Care Profile and/or Early Help Assessment please contact the Neighbourhood Coordinators or EHA Advisors on the below.

Areas	Early Help Assessment Advisors	Neighbourhood Coordinators
North (Ashton)	Paul Mottershead paul.mottershead@tameside.gov.uk	Carol Baguley carol.baguley@tameside.gov.uk
East (Stalybridge, Dukinfield, Mossley)	Natalie Smith natalie.smith@tameside.gov.uk	Jacki Shirley jacki.shirley2@tameside.gov.uk
South (Hyde, Hattersley, Longendale)	Katie Legg katie.legg@tameside.gov.uk	Denise Thorley denise.thorley@tameside.gov.uk
West (Denton, Droylsden, Audenshaw)	Ella McCalman ella.mccalman@tameside.gov.uk	Lauren Foster lauren.foster@tameside.gov.uk
PVI’s (Early Years Settings)	Currently a vacancy and all Neighbourhood Co-Ordinators are supporting the settings within their areas.

Secondly, if you think a child is a victim of neglect and would like advice, guidance and to explore next steps contact the Early Help Access Point to discuss your worries.

Contact Early Help Access Point (EHAP) on 0161 342 4260

Monday to Wednesday: 8.30am - 5pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Friday: 8.30am - 4pm

Thirdly, if you have evidence of neglect please complete a Multi-Agency Request for Service (MARS) attaching the evidence, indicating the worries, what’s working well and what needs to happen.

https://secure.tameside.gov.uk/forms/mars/f1312mars.asp

Using a neglect Screening Tool

There are two screening tools that can be used in supporting yourself to identify neglect in children, and its impact on the child. For further information on which to use, or further discussions around using screening tools contact your Neighbourhood Co-ordinator or Early Help Advisor.

Further information on guidance on using neglect please visit The Early Help Assessment (tameside.gov.uk). Please note two thirds done are supporting documents relating to screening neglect tools. If you feel it’s a safeguarding concern contact the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub on 0161 342 4101.

The Graded Care Profile

Tameside uses the Graded Care Profile to support identification of neglect. There is the tool and a guide on how to use the tool.

The Neglect Screening Tool

Tameside also uses “The Neglect Screening Tool”.

More information on Neglect

The TSCP has numerous training opportunities around neglect. Further information on courses can be found at TSCP Training Courses.