Appendix 13 - Working with Sexually Active Young People Under the Age of 18 Protocol |
Contents
1.0 Introduction
Aims |
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| 1.1 | This Protocol is designed to assist professionals to identify where children and young people's sexual relationships may be abusive and the children and young people may need the provision of protection or additional services. It is based on the core principle that the welfare of the child is paramount and emphasises the need to accurately assess the risk of Significant Harm when a child or young person is engaged in a sexually active relationship. This risk assessment will inform practitioners when to involve the Children & Young People's Service and when a situation requires criminal investigation by the Police. Government guidance, legislation and the Bichard Report |
| 1.2 | This Protocol provides a bridge between:
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2.0 Assessment
Assessing young people's needs |
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| 2.1 | When a professional becomes aware that a young person is, or is likely to be, sexually active, an assessment should be made, in the context of the sexual relationship, of the young person's physical and emotional health, education and safeguarding needs. The assessment should be based on the Assessment Framework or the Common Assessment Framework. |
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| 2.2 | In order to determine whether a relationship presents a risk of harm to a young person, the following factors should be considered:
NB Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 children under the age of 13 are considered of insufficient age to give consent to sexual activity.
In situations where asking the Police for information is deemed inappropriate due to the confidential nature of an agency's relationship with the client, the agency making the decision not to check information with the Police must take responsibility for conducting a risk assessment without relevant Police information. This decision must be made within the agency's supervision arrangements and at first line manager level or above. (See also Section 4. Information Sharing and Section 5.7). |
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| 2.3 | Sexual abuse and exploitation of a child or young person involves an imbalance of power. The assessment should seek to identify possible power imbalances within a relationship. These can result from differences in size, age, material wealth and/or psychological, social and physical development. In addition gender, sexuality, race and levels of sexual knowledge can be used to exert power. Whilst a large age differential could be a key indicator of a power imbalance e.g. a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, practitioners should be aware that a 14 or 15 year old boy, supported by a group of his peers, is able to exert very real pressure over a girl of the same age or older. There will also be instances when the sexual predator is a woman or girl and the victim is a boy. A power imbalance may result in coercion, manipulation and/or bribery and seduction. These pressures can be applied to a young person by one or two individuals, or through peer pressure (i.e. group bullying). There will be an imbalance of power and the child or young person will not be deemed able to give consent if the sexual partner is in a position of trust or is a family member as defined by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and/or any pre-existing legislation. |
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| Automatic formal referral to the Police may stop young people confiding in social care and health practitioners, including those young people most at risk of abuse. Nevertheless, the police may hold information about individuals who pose a danger to young people, which is not necessarily known to other agencies. The Police have agreed therefore that, for the purposes of this Protocol, they will provide information about children and their sexual partners for the purposes of an agency's risk assessment without treating the information as a formally referred allegation of crime. The police will record the request for intelligence purposes in order that potential abusers can be identified. | |
3.0 Disabled Children and Young People
| 3.1 | Disabled children and young people are more vulnerable to abuse than non-disabled children. They may be particularly vulnerable to coercion due to physical dependency or because a learning disability or a communication difficulty means that it is not easy for them to communicate their wishes to another person. This increases the risk that a sexual relationship may not be consensual. In assessing whether a relationship presents a risk of harm to a disabled child or young person, professionals need to consider the indicators listed in section 2.2 above in the light of these potential additional vulnerabilities. |
| 3.2 | A child or young person with moderate learning difficulties could be vulnerable to harm from a sexual relationship developed through inclusive activities. This may be in mainstream schools, education colleges, leisure centres and other places where children and young people meet where supervision is at a minimum. Staff need to be alert to the different capabilities of the children and young people they supervise, and assess risk of harm accordingly. |
| 3.3 | Where professionals in children's services have concerns that a relationship may present a risk of harm to an older disabled young person, they should begin work with adult protection staff at an early point in order for there to be a smooth transition from protection under the Children Act 1989 to protection for the young person, from their 18th birthday onwards, under the local Protection of Vulnerable Adult Procedures. |
4.0 Information Sharing
The Welfare of the Child/Young Person is Paramount |
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| 4.1 | The first duty of every practitioner is to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child or young person. It must always be made clear to children and young people that the duty of confidentiality is not absolute, and that there will be some circumstances where the welfare of the child or young person, or other children and young people, can only be safeguarded by sharing information with others. Good practice requires that any assessment of a child's needs includes asking them their thoughts, feelings and wishes. Although these views will be taken into consideration it may be that the views of the child or young person about what is in their best interests will conflict with the paramount principle. However the discussion can be useful as a means of helping the child to understand the seriousness of some situations. |
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| 4.2 | The Sexual Offences Act 2003 does not affect the duty of care and confidentiality of health and social care professionals to children and young people 13 to 16 years old. According to current Government guidance for health and social care professionals(1), although the age of consent remains at 16, it is not intended that the law should be used to prosecute mutually agreed teenage sexual activity between two young people of similar age, unless it involves abuse or exploitation. |
| 4.3 | Decisions to share information with parents require staff to use their professional judgement following their own agency guidelines and guidance in Section One of Wolverhampton Safeguarding Procedures. Decisions by health professionals are informed by the Fraser Guidelines (2) which state that information may be withheld from parents if the child or young person :
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| 4.4 | On each occasion that a practitioner has contact with a young person (by telephone or a meeting) or receives information about them, consideration should be given as to whether the young person's circumstances have changed in a way which may require referral (or re-referral) to the Children & Young People's Service and the Police. |
(1) Framework for Social Workers, Residential Social Workers, Foster Carers and other Social Care Practitioners (DfES/Teenage Pregnancy Unit, 2004)
(2) The Fraser Guidelines, also known as the Gillick Competency test. In 1980's the House of Lords ruled that young people under 16, who are fully able to understand what is proposed, and its implications, are competent to consent to medical treatment regardless of age.
5.0 Thresholds for Referring to the Children & Young People's Service and the Police
Procedure for when there are no Concerns of Abuse |
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| 5.1 | The decision whether or not to make a formal referral to the Children & Young People's Service and the Police must be made within the agency arrangements for making such a decision. Where an agency knows that a young person is sexually active but the practitioner's assessment does not raise concerns that the young person's sexual relationship is abusive, then that agency should continue to make arrangements for the young person to receive confidential advice and support from appropriate young peoples sexual health services. Relevant services will be listed in the local Teenage Pregnancy Directory of Resources. |
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| 5.2 | In cases where a practitioner has concerns that a relationship presents a risk of harm to a child or young person practitioners should discuss the case with their designated child protection colleague. In any case which raises a concern under any of the criteria in Section 2.2 and Section 2.3 above, it is possible that the young person is being sexually abused or is at risk of Sexual Abuse and a referral must be made to the Children & Young People's Service following the guidance in the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Procedures |
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| 5.3 | If there are concerns that the child or young person may be at risk of abuse through sexual exploitation e.g. prostitution, pornography (including creating/exchanging images) or grooming through the internet, a referral to the Children & Young People's Service must be made. |
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| 5.4 | Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 children under the age of 13 are considered of insufficient age to give consent to sexual activity. Therefore a criminal offence will have been committed whenever a child under the age of 13 is involved in sexual activity. |
| 5.5 | All cases of children under the age of 13 years believed to be engaged in sexual relationships or activity should be referred to the Children & Young People's Service. (See paragraph 2.2) The Children & Young People's Service will carry out an assessment in respect of every young person under 13 years old who is believed to be vulnerable because of this sexual activity and will discuss the case with the local Police Child Abuse Investigation Unit. |
| 5.6 | In exceptional cases an agency may decide not to refer such cases to the Children & Young People's Service. A decision not to refer should only be made following consultation with the Safeguarding Children Support Service and senior managers of the agency concerned. When a referral is not made the agency concerned is fully accountable for the decision and should keep a detailed record of the reasons for not making the referral. |
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| 5.7 | The Children & Young People's Service will assess the referral information and will advise the referrer of the outcome of the referral in writing. Possible outcomes are:
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| 5.8 | In cases where the Children & Young People's Service identify a risk of Significant Harm or are aware that an offence may have been committed against a child, they will hold a strategy discussion with the police and other involved agencies. The police will check their records about the children/young people and/or adults involved and share information with the Children & Young People's Service. The Strategy Discussion will plan any Section 47 Enquiry following the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Procedures and will consider whether the young person is in immediate need of protection or support services. |
| 5.9 | In any cases where the Children & Young People's Service staff receive a referral or become aware of a sexually active young person 13 - 16 years of age and decide not to make a formal referral to the Police, this decision must be made by a first line manager or above and only after Police indexes have been checked. A decision not to make a formal referral to the Police will usually only be made by the Children & Young People's Service after an initial assessment and when there is clear evidence that the young person is not being abused or exploited through the sexual relationship. The decision and the reasons for it must be recorded contemporaneously in the Children & Young People's Service's case record for the young person. |
| 5.10 | Where a young person has previously lived outside the local authority area, the social worker and police officer should obtain relevant social work, education, health and police information from previous local authority areas. Where a young person has lived for some of his/her life outside the UK, the social worker and police officer must use agencies such as embassies and International Social Services, or Interpol to gather relevant information from that country in order to develop as wide a picture of the young person's history and circumstances as possible. Contact information can be obtained via the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) or the relevant Embassy or Consulate (see the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website) |
6.0 Criminal Investigation
| 6.1 | It is an offence for any young person to engage in a sexual relationship under the age of 16. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases, it will not be in the best interests of the young person for criminal proceedings to be instigated against them. |
| 6.2 | The decision whether to proceed with criminal action against a young person who has been referred to the Police will be made by the Crown Prosecution Service acting upon the advice of the Police. The best interests of the young person concerned will be one factor in informing this decision. |
| 6.3 | All agencies hold responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to assist with the prosecution of criminal actions in their local area. When the Police are advised of a likely criminal offence, it will record the information it receives but will investigate according to whether or not the individual circumstances of the case warrant it. The Police will liaise with the Children & Young People's Service about an investigation unless the urgency to act to protect an individual or secure arrests precludes them from doing so. |
| 6.4 | All agencies have responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to assist with the prosecution of criminal actions in their local area. When the Police are advised of a likely criminal offence, they will record the information received to assist police intelligence which may become critical in achieving the protection of a young person but will make a decision to investigate based only on whether the individual circumstances of the case warrant it. The Police will liaise with the Children & Young People's Service about an investigation unless the urgency to act to protect an individual or secure arrests precludes them from doing so. |
7.0 Safeguarding Young People 16 and 17 years
| 7.1 | Consensual sexual activity is not an offence over the age of 16. Nevertheless 16 and 17 year old young people are still vulnerable to harm through an abusive sexual relationship as defined in Section 2, Assessment. |
Appendix 1:
Police Information Request/Referral Process
Principles
- The need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people is paramount
- Children and young people have a right to protection and a right to access the criminal justice system
- Positive outcomes for children and young people are maximised when agencies work together and co-ordinate their activity
Requests for Police Information
In cases where an agency requests information from the police for the purposes of a risk assessment, the police will:
- Receive the information
- Validate the legitimacy of the enquirer
- Search relevant indexes and pass the results to the enquirer
- Record the request and the details provided for intelligence purposes only. Such requests will not be treated as allegations of crime referrals.
If the risk assessment concludes the child is at risk of Significant Harm and that a criminal investigation is required, a subsequent allegation of crime referral may then be made.
Referrals to Police
In cases where an agency contacts the Police with an allegation of crime or potential crime, the Police will:
- Receive the information and create an allegation of crime report
- Pass the report to the relevant investigating unit
- Interrogate internal information records
- Assess the need for emergency action to protect a child or young person
- Make a referral to the Children & Young People's Service following Wolverhampton Safeguarding Procedures
- Confirm the need for a criminal investigation and Section 47 enquiry and agree any fast-track actions.
- Share relevant information and have an initial strategy discussion with the Children & Young People's Service, a Consultant Paediatrician and the referring professional to plan the investigation, making sure the interests of the child/ren remain paramount.
- Conduct the criminal investigation as agreed and co-ordinate with the Section 47 enquiry.
- Conclude the criminal investigation and decide, in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, an appropriate criminal justice disposal, taking into account the wishes of the victim, the public interest, and the views of relevant professionals who are working with the child or young person.
Appendix 2: Risk Assessment Matrix
Click here to view Risk Assessment Matrix
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