Safe guarding .concerned school not doing enough

[notmrscookie]

Been with school for 20months as a ta.
Said student been present all that time..
Single mum and 3 children one late secondary school, out student middle school and one pre school.

Mum has been described as being present but not present , older sibling doing parenting but now out of house so more responsibility o our student.
Whonis coming in unkempt, un suitable clothing , reporting there is no food or clothing or household furniture. No set routine in place etc
School welfare have visited and confirmed all this. Key support offered and slight improvements but not enough for mum to step up without on her own.
She makes poor choices on spending and gets more and more pets which have now be removed by rspca and then replaced and the cycle begins again

Came to ahead today and school advised they may be able to get support in end of next week or the week after.
Can I challenge school or should I just call social services. Surely we should be doing more..

Not a teacher.
I'd expect this to be reported to SS.
It was school reporting a similar profile to SS that helped build the picture that sadly meant my DC ended up in care (before I adopted them).
Have you talked to you school's safeguarding lead?

Have you asked whether a social services referral has been made? Because it may have been done but school told it's below threshold.

Talk to the schools DSL

@Lulu1919 @Lulu1919 @TeenDivided

Really want to but not sure if I am overstepping my place.
My gut feeling Is the kids would be better off in care even if just for a short term so mum can get some support and try and help herself.

Not a school person, but within a school everything goes via the DSL doesn't it?

Neither your gut nor the DSL can make that decision. Only social services can. It is very unlikely to happen. Children have to be at significant risk of harm for a referral to be made.

You are entitled to ask what has been done about the safeguarding concerns you have reported.

It is your responsibility to report anything to your DSL. It is then for them to deal with and you just need to continue monitoring the situation. Just follow your safeguarding policy! It is really hard as it's easy to get emotionally involved but you also need to be professional. Just voice your concerns to the DSL.

Have you made an official safeguarding report about the child/ren? If you have, then you are entitled to ask how that report was followed up on. If you personally haven't reported, then make an official report through the system, and then follow up on it in a reasonable timeframe (e.g. a month).

I don't think the school can do more than they are- schools have limited ability to support children outside of the school.

Social services may have had a referral and not acted on it (unfortunately it won't be treated as urgent) or may have decided it doesn't meet their threshold. Unfortunately, they are very stretched at the moment and seem unable to help, even in real emergency situations (at least in my local area).

They are unlikely to share that information

Our safeguarding leads usually would. I'm sure it depends on the situation.

Ours absolutely wouldn't.

You need to have made a safeguarding referral to the DSL detailing your concerns. They will either make a referral or may seek advice from the MASH team as to what to do. If you don't think the school are taking it seriously, you can make your own referral. However, I think in the first instance, you need to speak to the DSL. You also need to accept that it is in no way a given that a child will be taken into care. The school does not make this decision.

I've been told (in two separate schools in the past 18 months or so) that if you make a referral, you are entitled to ask how it has been followed up on, and that this is good safeguarding practice.

I've also been told when a referral was made involving a student in my tutor group.

I'm sure in some cases there are reasons why this wouldn't be shared with a member of staff, but I thought generally policies based around "need to know" and not sharing any information with staff involved wasn't seen as good practice any more?

Keep logging your concerns on your reporting system. The more evidence documented the higher the concern becomes. Sadly we have been told the threshold for referrals has been raised so high lots are being batted back to us, not enough capacity in the system at all levels.

It is truly heart-breaking when you are unable to put help in place when you can see it is so needed, the system is overwhelmed.