MASH Streamlined referral processes, comprehensive information collation, timely service provision, increased protection = Better Outcomes
• MASH co-locates safeguarding agencies and their data into a secure assessment, research, and referral unit for notifications of vulnerable children. • By providing a fire walled facility, each partner can exercise the tension between privacy and sharing information for safety. • This will identify unknown risk by building up a full picture on the child of concern and their family, and is seen as a key tool in building stronger partnership work to identify vulnerable children at an early stage and put in place protective strategies to keep them safe from harm.
• The introduction of MASH, designed to streamline referral routes and provide the highest level of knowledge and analysis of all known intelligence and information across the safeguarding partnership to ensure all safeguarding activity and intervention is timely, proportionate and necessary supports recommendations made by the Lord Laming within his report ‘The Protection of Children in England: A progress report’ (HMSO, March 2009) • Specifically, recommendation 13 of that report states ‘ Children’s Trusts must ensure that all assessments of need for children and their families include evidence from all the professionals involved in their lives, take account of case histories and significant events…..
• A MASH does not replace established child safeguarding procedures for investigation and remedy . The MASH collates information from all available sources in order for the most informed decision to be made concerning any required intervention. All interventions are required to be necessary and proportionate . It is proposed to be the central resource and the single front door for all contacts to children’s services where there is a ‘ concern ’ in relation to a child and their family.
• Elsewhere the MASH method is reported to have resulted in more effective and earlier identification of vulnerable children. It has reduced the number of different professionals being involved, while keeping the most appropriate professional to deliver interventions to meet the needs identified in any particular case. It has the potential to avoid unnecessary duplication and visits, and simplified processes.
• The MASH undertakes research on a priority basis, with cases that present the highest potential risk being researched to produce a ‘product’. • That product, the sum of information collated from all systems that partners use to store personalised information, is placed onto an I.T. system as designated by the relevant safeguarding partnership.
• The importance and role of professional supervision is well understood and statutorily required social work and the medical profession. • With staff deployed to a multi-agency environment, where they may be exposed to different pressures and influences, profession based supervision becomes even more important. • Supervision in this environment will not only provide welfare and personal support for staff it will also be essential to ensure that their training and development needs are recognised, as well as to ensure and support objectivity in decision making. • Maintaining independence within professions and the supervisory structures to support it is essential to prevent the risk of group dynamics and bias – ‘group think’.
Governance 1 • The DCS holds overall responsibility for the quality of children’s safeguarding activity delivered within the MASH. • Individual partner organisations retain responsibility for their own safeguarding activity and processes which may be present and delivered within the MASH environment. • The MASH will be delivered under the governance of the local authority but clearly has reference to both the Children’s Trust and the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
Governance Chief Executive -L A has general duty to safeguard children placed upon it by virtue of Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 DCS exercises the functions Scrutiny MASH Programme Board DCS Chairs or appoints and holds accountability and LSCB Strategic Leaders - ability to Challenge commit resource MASH -Children Social Care Line Management of MASH Manager
• Agencies would be encouraged to make a contact when they consider a family requires either an enhanced or a specialist service (Level 2 and 3). The contact format will require a description of the professional analysis of the child’s needs and /or the professionals concern and describe why they require enhanced or specialist services. The format will also encourage parental approval for a contact in all cases other than Child Protection. Where a referral is urgent this format could be completed following telephone contact.
Low level single agency response – MASH lead Redirects Enhanced Service need – MASH directs to early MASH Intervention services Specialist assessment Required refer to Social Care Troubled Families Location Year 1
Timescales • MASH review all cases in the day. • Section 47 passed to duty social work in the same day. • All other cases outcome and passed onto relevant service with 48 hours of receipt by MASH. • Section 47 completion timescale child seen in 24 hours. Section 47 assessment completed in 10 working days. • All other cases – child seen within 10 working days and single assessment commenced. Single assessment timescale/review?
The Activity Set of MASH Analysis of Determination concern – data of threshold and sharing and referral on collation of single narrative Info in and out (advise and information) and NFA e.g. Ofsted checks signposting We need to understand much more clearly and forensically the likely workload – we will be undertaking an analysis of the workload in ‘March 12’ to inform this work.
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