Protecting Disabled Children

OfSted (England and Wales) have issued a report Protecting disabled children: thematic inspection. The report examines how well local authorities and Local Safeguarding Children Boards work in evaluating the work done by the multiple professionals and agencies involved in provision of services to disabled children. Most children and their parents/carers were offered multi-agency support at an early stage, which was keenly received. However in the work with children in need, plans were often found to lack detail of focus on outcomes and reviews often failed to include all the professionals working with children and in some cases the planning or review process was absent. The report concludes that these gaps may cause delay in  identifying child protection issues with disabled children. Additionally, not all staff from the different agencies working with disabled children were adequately trained in their safeguarding responsibilities.