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Contents

Caption: contents table

	Introduction
	Responsibility for Children Who Require Immediate Protection
	Children who are Subject of a Child Protection Plan who Move Out of the Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP) Area
	Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan Moving into the Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP) Area
	Moving Abroad

Introduction

1. Local agencies and professionals, working with children and families who move where there are outstanding child welfare concerns should consult their organisations procedures and refer to the appropriate agencies in the area the child and family have moved to, in the same way that referrals would be made for children and families who had remained living within their originating authority;
2. Any professional who receives a referral from another agency that a child whose case is open to Children's Social Care in another local authority has moved to stay in the region on a permanent or temporary basis should bring this information to the attention of the relevant Children's Social Care team. They will consult departmental records to ascertain whether the child was previously known to them, and will telephone the relevant Children's Social Care office to discuss the case in order to determine what action if any is necessary. A letter requesting a case transfer summary will be sent to the referring local authority within 2 days. The case will not be accepted until this summary is received. On receipt of the requested information a letter of receipt will be returned within 2 days and a decision will be taken about what further action is needed.

Responsibility for Children Who Require Immediate Protection

3. In any locality where a child is found to be in need of protection, that local authority will take responsibility for ensuring the child is provided with such protection. For example, if a child originating from another local authority is found to be in need of immediate protection whilst they are in a different area then the local Children's Social Care where the incident takes place will ensure that such protection is provided;
4. The authority in which the incident takes place should notify the Children's Social Care in the child's originating authority of the action they have taken and involve them in planning any further action to be taken and future case management responsibility, Only if the originating authority are prepared to accept responsibility are the resident authority absolved from responsibility to take action.

Children who are Subject of a Child Protection Plan who Move Out of the Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP) Area

5. Whoever receives information about a child with a Child Protection Plan moving out of the CSAP area should immediately notify the social worker for the family;
6. The social worker is responsible for immediately notifying the relevant Manager and other relevant professionals and for contacting the new area to notify them of the move, request a transfer in conference and agree any visiting arrangements on behalf of the relevant Children's Social Care office. The relevant Children's Social Care Manager will send a letter to their counterpart for the area where the family has moved/is moving to, to formally alert them to the situation. The social worker should make direct contact with the professionals involved and their equivalent colleagues in the new area, and should ensure all relevant information is transferred;
7. The child/children will continue to have the Child Protection Plan monitored and reviewed by the relevant professionals. Children's Social Care will retain case management responsibility pending a transfer Child Protection Conference taking place in the receiving area, when the relevant professionals in the inter agency network will be informed of and consider the child and family's changed circumstances, and decide the further action necessary, including the continuation of the Child Protection Plan.

Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan Moving into the Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP) Area

8. Any worker who receives information about a child who is the subject of a Child Protection Plan in another authority moving into the CSAP area should immediately alert the relevant Children's Social Care Safeguarding Manager. A referral will be made and a record made that the child is subject of a Child Protection Plan in another area pending an initial Transfer-in Child Protection Conference. The Safeguarding Unit will ensure that key agencies likely to become involved with the child are notified that the child has moved into the area and is the subject of a Child Protection Plan in another authority;
9. The originating authority will maintain case responsibility, pending the case being transferred at the first Child Protection Conference held in the relevant area;
10. All transfer in conferences should be held within 15 working days from notification to the Safeguarding Manager that the child and family's move to the region is a permanent one. It will be necessary for the relevant departments to obtain reports from their equivalent colleagues in the originating area.

Moving Abroad

Local agencies and professionals should bear in mind when working with children and families where there are outstanding concerns about the children's safety and welfare, including where the concerns are about an unborn child who may be likely to suffer Significant Harm, that a series of missed appointments may indicate that the family has moved out of the area or overseas. Children's Social Care and the police should be informed immediately when such concerns arise.

Where a child subject of a Child Protection Plan moves abroad whether planned or unplanned the Lead Social Worker and Conference Chair should consider whether to reconvene a Review Conference or Core Group to determine what action to take. Appropriate steps should be taken to inform the relevant local and overseas authorities in the country to which the child has moved of any concerns.

Consideration needs to be given to appropriate legal interventions, where it appears that a child, who has outstanding child protection concerns about their safety and welfare, may be removed from the UK by their family in order to avoid the involvement of agencies with safeguarding responsibilities. This also applies when a child, who is subject to a Care Order, has been removed from the UK. Children's Social Care, the Police Child Abuse Investigation Team and the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit should be informed immediately.

In the case of children taken overseas it may be appropriate to contact the Consular Directorate at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which offers assistance to British nationals in distress overseas (020 7008 1500). They may be able to follow up a case through their consular post(s) in the country concerned.

End