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Contents

1. Case Accountability
2. Conduction the Pre Birth Assessment
3. Carefirst/Recording Assessments

1. Case Accountability

All pre-birth core assessments will be completed by the Duty & Assessment Service unless the case of other siblings is already open to the Care Management Service (CMS).

If the case of other siblings is already open to the Care Management Service the allocated worker from CMS will be responsible for completing the pre-birth assessment.

If the expectant mother is a Looked After Child the procedure relating to Pregnant Looked After Young People should be adhered to.

2. Conduction the Pre Birth Assessment

The following principles apply:

Each new pregnancy, where there are, or may be, significant concerns regarding the unborn child, must be the subject of a new assessment, giving due regard to the history.

The assessment process should begin as early in the pregnancy as is possible.  Workers need to be mindful that the baby may be born earlier than anticipated and should allow sufficient time to conduct the assessment and put in place the appropriate birth plan. At the latest the assessment must be started 12 weeks prior to the expected date of delivery.  During the course of the assessment the Social Worker should discuss with the Midwife the progress of the pregnancy and any changes to the anticipated expected date of delivery.

Whenever pre-birth assessments are undertaken, the GP should be contacted in all instances. 

The purpose of a pre-birth assessment is

1. To consider whether additional support is needed to promote good enough parenting and plan accordingly;
2. To determine the extent of risk to the forthcoming child;
3. In conjunction with other relevant agencies, to formulate a plan in response to this risk.

The depth and type of pre-birth assessment will vary. In some situations, it would be a duplication of previous work to undertake a detailed pre-birth risk assessment as the circumstances may already be well known and little may have changed; in other situations, there may be some significant differences from the past to justify a different approach to the expected child. 

Consideration should be given to the need for a practical parenting assessment running alongside the social worker's assessment. If this is the case a referral to the Family Support and Assessment Service should be made at the start of the assessment.

In conjunction with the social worker's pre-birth assessment it may be appropriate to commission other type of assessment to be undertaken which will provide a holistic overall assessment of the parent's capacity to parent a newborn child. Such assessments should be undertaken by the relevant agency/professional if a parent(s) have:

• Suspected drug/alcohol misuse;
• Learning difficulties;
• Psychiatric history;
• Chronic or acute medical conditions which may impact on their physical ability to care for a child.

Where social workers in Safeguarding & Specialist Provision are completing a pre-birth core assessment, and any sibling(s) of the child(ren) have previously been made subject to Care Orders or are subject to applications for care orders, legal advice should be sought on completion of the assessment.

Before the child has been born and irrespective of the outcome of the assessment and the future plan there should always be a pre-birth planning meeting between Safeguarding and Specialist Provision and key professionals to agree how to manage any risks identified including contact between parent and child. This applies as much to children in need, those in need of protection and those subject to care proceedings.  This meeting should be chaired by the Team Manager responsible for the case.

The pre -birth core assessment will determine whether :

1. The expected child is a child in need; if so, the parents should be  signposted and referred on to the appropriate support services, as indicated above;
   
   or       
2. Whether the threshold for a child protection strategy or case conference has been reached;
   
   or      
3. Whether there is a need for legal proceedings.

Where the assessment and indicators of need indicates a lower level of concern, it may be sufficient to signpost or refer the parent(s) to appropriate community based services - such as Sure Start, Sure Start Plus, or Family Centre.

Where on-going services are required, and a number of differing agencies are involved, but the concerns do not meet the threshold for convening a Child Protection Case Conference (CPCC), the Team Manager responsible for the case should give active consideration to convening an inter-agency Child In Need support meeting.

Where it is identified that a Child Protection Case Conference may be required, discussion should take place with the Child Protection & Review Unit to jointly determine the timing of the conference. Where possible, the conference should take place sufficiently early for plans to put in place and to progress further work. Good practice states that the case conference should be convened no later than 6 weeks prior to the expected date of delivery.

However, there are some situations where it may be helpful to delay a conference - e.g.  pending the outcome of further specialist assessments or where it is felt that, with further work with the parent(s), a conference may ultimately prove not to be necessary.

Where an early CPCC is thought to be needed, whilst the case is still held within the Duty & Assessment Service , it is that team's responsibility to convene and prepare for the meeting. Liaison should occur with the Care Management Service.  The transfer point for the case will be immediately subsequent to the CPCC unless care proceedings are to be initiated.

When the assessment indicates that Care Proceedings are necessary, the allocated social worker would initiate these, following the processes and undertaking tasks that are compliant with the Public Law Outline Procedure.

In conducting the pre-birth core assessment the allocated social worker must be familiar with the content of the following documents:

1. The historical case files relating to the parents of the unborn child and/or any older siblings of the unborn child;
2. Assessments that have previously been undertaken on the parent(s);
3. Any previous assessments on siblings of the unborn child;
4. Any useful documentation that has been used in relation to Court Proceedings or Child Protection Plans of the siblings;   
5. Any other historical information as may inform the pre-birth core assessment.

If older siblings are still the subject of on-going Care Proceedings,  consideration has to be given to whether proceedings will be required in respect of the unborn child and, if so, whether to consolidate these Proceedings.

If older siblings are still subject to on-going proceedings or if care proceedings have been completed within the last 6 months and there is a likelihood of further legal proceedings in respect of the new baby, careful consideration needs to be given as whom would be the appropriate worker to undertake the pre-birth core assessment. There will be a balance of factors including:

• The value of having a worker to undertake the assessment who has a detailed knowledge of the history;
• The quality of the relationship between the worker and the expectant mother;
• The wishes and feelings of the expectant mother; 
• The value of having an independent view to present to the Court. 

If there is any indication that the baby when born has a disability then the Children with Disability Service should be made aware so that consideration can be given to any ongoing service provision from that service.

3. Carefirst/Recording Assessments

It is acknowledged that pre-birth assessments do not neatly fit into assessment timescales of 7/35 days;

In order to meet the expectations of the Framework, the following should apply:

1. Where an initial/core assessment is undertaken by the Duty & Assessment Service , this will be entered into the system and follow the usual procedures as relate to all cases;
2. Where the assessment will continue beyond the 35 day timescale, because there is a need to monitor/continue work as the pregnancy progresses, this will be viewed as a 'specialist assessment'. The relevant Duty & Assessment Service Team Manager will ensure that the core assessment is ended on Carefirst within 35 days and the case is moved onto ongoing service provision;  
3. If the case transfers to the Care Management Service any additional follow on work will be recorded as ongoing service provision.

End