How Cornwall's safeguarding children services are helping to protect the most vulnerable

Children and young people in Cornwall are being given more help to overcome issues such as domestic violence, sexual abuse and exploitation.

However the Safeguarding Children Partnership says that more needs to be done in several key areas to ensure that children and young people are protected.

John Clements, independent chair of the partnership, outlined some of the successes and challenges of the organisation to councillors.

The partnership brings together a number of different agencies including Cornwall Council, Devon and Cornwall Police and the NHS to help ensure that safeguarding practices are upheld in Cornwall.

Mr Clements praised staff and organisations in Cornwall for their “outstanding” work to ensure that support and help remained in place during the coronavirus lockdown.

He also highlighted that the most recent Ofsted inspections of children’s services in Cornwall had been rated as “outstanding” as an endorsement of the work being done in the Duchy.

But he said that there was a need to improve even further and highlighted some of the areas that need more focus.

These include neglect, child sex abuse, domestic abuse, child exploitation, emotional health and wellbeing, early years (pre-birth to four) and vulnerable adolescents (11-18).

In a presentation to Cornwall Council’s children and families overview and scrutiny committee Mr Clements said there was also a need to continue to look at unresolved trauma.

The partnership’s annual report states: “There is an improved understanding of the effects of unresolved trauma and this is leading to more tolerance, better communication and a more in-depth way of working with children and their families. Children are now rarely seen as ‘difficult’ but are instead recognised as having experienced difficult situations.”

Mr Clements said that children’s negative experiences can sometimes lead to them being exploited and used an example teenagers who have been pressured into drug dealing.

However his comments raised concerns with one councillor who said he had a “zero tolerance” approach to drugs.

David Atherfold said that he had attended a funeral of a young girl who had died from taking drugs and said that seeing young people so upset and affected by what had happened had reinforced his views.

Mr Clements said: “It is about understanding it. In the past people saw children caught up in this as one-dimensional as a drug dealer. They didn’t think about how they arrived at that situation. It is about understanding the difficulties in their lives.

“I am not saying that we don’t have to deal with the issue of that person dealing drugs – it is about the best way of dealing with that. What happened in their lives that we can unpick.

“I think it has been too simplistic in the past and it is about trying to create understanding.”

He added: “There are too many people who are locked up who were not understood when they were 15 or 16 years old and did not get the support that they needed.”

Cllr Atherfold said: “There is no giving giving excuses for this sort of behaviour. Seeing children sobbing their eyes out (at the funeral) brought it home to me. It reaffirmed my complete intolerance for the people who supply drugs.”

Mr Clements said that the partnership was focusing on the priority areas to ensure that the right support is in place for children and young people in Cornwall.

He said that dedicated groups had been established for some of the areas to ensure that all those providing support are working together.

In his introduction to the annual report he states: “I have said many times over the past year that we must look over our shoulders and see how far we have travelled with child safeguarding in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly over the past few years.

“It is astonishing how much progress the partners have made and I acknowledge how hard everyone has worked to get them to where they are. Children are safeguarded extremely well, their needs are considered and, when appropriate, they are fully involved in the work to help and protect them.

“This is not misplaced confidence or over optimism. We know this to be true through our own robust quality assurance measures and the findings of inspectorates who have visited our area over the past few years.”

He added: “The staff who support child safeguarding in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have continued to push the boundaries in relation to working with children. Children are at the centre of their efforts and over the past twelve months, I have seen amazing examples of professionals going way beyond what is expected of them to give children that extra support they need. I am humbled by their efforts and assured that our children are in safe hands.”