Developing innovative models of practice at the interface between the NHS and child and family social work where children living at home are at risk of abuse and neglect: a scoping review

The case has been made for introducing a rights-based, public health approach to child protection in England. A continuum of prevention is proposed, with multi-agency responses calibrated more carefully to the level of risk identified by children, parents and practitioners. The aim was to allocate inter-professional authority and resources in such a way as to ensure the safeguarding response is proportionate to the nature and level of concerns expressed and reliable in achieving good outcoSmes for children and parents alike. Recent research findings confirm the need for new models of service alignment and interprofessional responsibility at the interface of ‘primary’ and ‘specialist’ health-care services and ‘children’s social care’, where significant safeguarding concerns are raised. This paper reports the findings of a scoping study, designed to establish the extent to which innovative practice methodologies have been implemented and evaluated in England to date. While the evidence to support the effectiveness of specific practice methodologies and contrasting logics of service design and implementation is shown to be very limited still, achieving reliability and legitimacy in the safeguarding elationships established at the service interface seems to depend on the integrity of the dialogue facilitated in each case