Expecting the safeguarding lead to take concerns regarding a child seriously

[concernedcoconut]

And not tell me to report them to childrens services if I think they are true?
This is a teenager in my own family who is being neglected by the parent she lives with. The parent was brought home off his face after going missing the other night. He was found in a dumpster by the police. The child was home alone worried sick all night. Parent drives under the influence of drugs and exposes his child to a series of partners who he has very indiscreet sex with and the child hears all this. 6 different partners this year all involved in the child's life such as looking after her when dad is at work or out partying. Safeguarding lead wasn't interested. Surely they have a duty to pass this on?

They will probably but you should too.

sounds horrific.

rhe more people
who report the more likely something will be done

Did they actually say they were not going to report it?

or suggest you reported it?

I will be reporting to childrens services but as school safeguarding lead I thought he should be aware too.

Safeguarding lead sounds like they think it’s a malicious complaint. Phone children’s services yourself if you want to be sure the information is heard.

If was the "if you think it's true" that's annoyed me.

I'm a specialist safeguarding nurse. Professionals are not allowed to pass on third party safeguarding concerns. It is good to let them know so they can keep an eye on the child in school and look out for their own concerns but they are genuinely not allowed to make a safeguarding referral to the Local Authority based on information they haven't seen first hand so they can only encourage you to make your own referral.

I am safeguarding lead for an organisation.
Third party reports are very difficult.
Social services don't like to take them.
There are so many malicious reports that it makes it hard for them.
I would have arranged to speak to the child myself but I would have told you to refer to social services and I wouldn't have done it unless the child confirmed everything in conversation with me.
I would document that I had advised you to report it.

I used to work in Safeguarding in a school and we weren't allowed to pass on 3rd party reports. We had to encourage the person to report it themselves. We would log it on the cpoms system but couldn't report it on behalf of whoever called.

I didn't know that, thank you.

Given that you're closely related to the teenager in question and given that you clearly disapprove of the resident parent's lifestyle it's likely that the safeguarding lead suspects you're making a malicious complaint. The "if you think it's true" comment shows this. Presumably you're only hearing one side of the story, that of the teenager, and teens aren't always the most reliable of witnesses.

If you think there's a problem, report it yourself.

OP it's very important you give this information and any evidence directly to CS.
You are the childs witness, but an anonymous referral is better than taking no action.
I know making this report can be a difficult thing to do for many reasons, do you need support to take action to help this child?

I'm ok to report it myself I just thought the safeguarding lead was a logical first step because this impacts on her education because she's so stressed. Social services have previously acknowledged the issues but just shrug their shoulders and say it's not bad enough to do anything. His lifestyle is his choice but his daughter shouldn't be impacted by his choices like this.

@concernedcoconut it’s good to log it with school as building up a picture. They can also talk to the child.