Regional Policies & Procedures

The Policies & Procedures Sub Group operates collaboratively and in conjunction with both CYSUR & CWMPAS Boards. This Sub Group seeks to provide guidance to professionals by the development of regional policies and procedures. A number of local policies and procedures are in place within each member organisation. The Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board has developed a number of multi-agency safeguarding polices and procedures that provides operational guidance to staff on safeguarding practice. 

In order to provide regional guidance and consistency, the following ‘adult safeguarding threshold guidance document” has been developed by CWMPAS, the Mid & West Wales Safeguarding Adults Board in collaboration with partner agencies and in consultation with frontline staff.

The purpose of the threshold guidance document is to ensure our regional, collective response to keeping people safe is appropriate and proportionate to the abuse /neglect identified or the risk thereof.

CYSUR – Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Children Board. Agency Reports for Child Protection Conference

In line with the Children's MARF, the CWMPAS Board has developed an Adult version to enable the same consistency for adult services.

This protocol provides guidance to the Social Services, Police and other parties involved in any Child Protection enquiries strategy discussions and/or meetings undertaken under Section 47 of the 1989 children Act that require either joint Social Services and Police Child Protection, Section 47 enquiry or investigation, or a single agency Child Protection Section 47 enquiry or investigation.

The overarching aim of this Protocol is to ensure that children, including unborn children of parent(s) experiencing mental ill health receive appropriate support, safeguarding and protection.

These protocols have been developed to clarify the working arrangements for both Child & Adult Practice Reviews within the Mid & West Wales Safeguarding Board region.  The documents focus on the broader principles of Child & Adult Practice Reviews prior to a decision being made by the Regional Safeguarding Board to formally commission a Child or Adult practice Review or Multi-Agency Professional Forum.

The below policy states how the Board will manage complaints.

The Mid and West Wales region has a strong history of multi-agency partnership working.  It is inevitable that on occasions professional differences will occur within the context of complex safeguarding work.  However, when professional differences occur that cannot be resolved informally, it is essential that all individual professionals or staff members are able to constructively and critically challenge the practice and decisions of others.  The below policy states how professional differences with the context of the Mid & West Wales Safeguarding Board will be resolved.

The Mid & West Wales Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards and the respective Community Safety Partnerships within the region have committed to strengthen communication and information sharing in the process for undertaking Child and Adult Practice Reviews and Domestic Homicide Reviews.

This Protocol provides a framework for the inter-agency sharing of safeguarding information across Mid and West Wales. The purpose of the protocol is to enable and provide a suitable framework through which children and adults at risk can be better safeguarded, through enabling professionals to make decisions based on all relevant safeguarding information available.

This Protocol is intended to provide guidance for member agencies of the Mid and West Wales Regional Safeguarding Board (CYSUR) to follow when a child has been identified as being at risk of significant harm and the utilisation of the police power granted under Section 46, Children Act 1989 is being considered. Application of the Protocol should ensure a consistent response from member agencies.

Multi-Agency Professional Forums (MAPFs) are reviews conducted by a Local Authority where a child or adult at risk dies, or experiences significant harm, in order to identify learning from the case, as well as any good practice, and key themes arising. The Regional MAPF Forum convenes regularly to discuss new and ongoing MAPFs, and to share good practice across the region. The below guidance serves to equip Local Authorities in the Board area with a toolkit of resources and best practice guidance, in order to strengthen and ensure regional consistency of the MAPF process.

The Conference Chairs across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys convene as a regional forum through the Mid and West Wales Regional Conference Chairs group. Through the forum, the Conference Chairs have developed a regionally approved leaflet which serves to provide information to parents who are subject to Conference. This leaflet covers the purpose of a Conference and the process it will follow, as well as attempting to alleviate some of the concerns or worries which parents may have.

Our Health colleagues have driven the development of these key documents, which are designed to explain the process of Child Protection Medicals to the parents/guardians of children who are identified as requiring a test or examination. These leaflets aim to address the key questions which are often posed by parents, and to ensure they have an understanding of the process.

It is very important to recognise that minor injuries can be an indicator or precursor to significant injuries or death of a child. Early recognition and action in such cases is key to preventing further injuries. This procedure provides a consistent approach across the Mid and West Wales Region. It applies to all practitioners when dealing with suspected injuries in non-mobile babies and children to ensure that they are appropriately safeguarded.

This guidance is about when service users, parents, and others with parental responsibility want to record a multi-agency meeting such as a looked after child review, a child or adult protection conference or care and support meeting. The purpose of this guidance is to provide clarity about the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board’s approach to the recording of meetings. It will support existing good practice about how meetings are held and it should encourage practitioners to listen to parents and service users about their reasons for wanting to record.

Agreed Terms of Reference for Multi-Agency Child Expoitation meetings in Mid and West Wales.

This document sets out a regionally consistent approach for grouping agencies' views at Child Protection Conferences where a unanimous view is not held, in order to reach an overall decision and outcome.

This guidance is designed to better identify those babies most at risk and promote effective sharing of information between agencies and effective and efficient multi agency working.

Guidance on Working with People who are Difficult to Engage

Mid and West Wales Regional Child to Parent Abuse Guidance

The Rapid Response to Incidents of Suspected Suicide Protocol sets out regional arrangements to provide a rapid, multi-agency response to managing the consequences and impact of incidents of suicide for children and adults across the Mid and West Wales region.

The Child Exploitation Strategy makes a commitment to prevent and tackle child exploitation in the Mid and West Wales region. This strategy includes a range of responses to address prevention, protection and support responses, based on current evidence of what effective support looks like, underpinned by principles which are child centred and grounded in children’s rights.

This guide has been created to support staff, practitioners, professionals and partner agencies working with children, young adults and families and the community to use appropriate language with specific reference to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Child Criminal Exploitation.

This Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board practice guidance has been produced to address the recommendations set out in the Welsh Governments ‘All Wales Protocol for reducing the criminalisation of care experienced children and young adults’, providing clear operational guidance for residential providers and agencies within the Criminal Justice System. The Welsh Governments protocol, published in March 2022, was aimed at various agencies including Local authorities, Police services, Youth Justice Services (YJS), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and many more who are involved in providing support for children in care.

This document provides additional guidelines to assist partners of the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board to work together to address the issues of Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) where they affect adults with care and support needs and also where these referrals fall outside of the adult at risk threshold.

This guidance brings YJB Serious Incident Notification: standard operating procedures for youth justice services in England and Wales (March 2020) alongside regional safeguarding arrangements for YOTs.

A procedure outlining the role of the Adult Safeguarding Team in reporting avoidable pressure damage which has occurred in the Acute Hospitals to the relevant Local Authorities.