weeks, with all professionals and family members involved at the planning meeting, and any other professionals who may have become involved since. My role as the chair of the child in need review is to ensure that invites are sent, a location is arranged and booked, with consideration made to the family’s accessibility, and to prepare for the review. I took copies of the last child in need plan with me for attendees to follow and to promote participation. It is also my responsibility to ensure attendees receive a copy of the updated plan within 5 working days. (PCF 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9). Reviews are held to ensure that the plan is meeting the needs of the child. During the review, attendees should share information, discuss progression and update the plan if necessary. If the child is still on the child in need plan after 6 months then the team manager should chair the review meeting, it then becomes their responsibility to review the effectiveness of the plan, and should seek to understand the reasons for any lack of progress (NSCB, 2019).

Despite the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) document indicating that all agencies should have arrangements in place for sharing information, during the meeting, it became apparent that other professionals were not always forthcoming with providing updates or participating. The Working Together document states that effective sharing of information between professionals and local authorities is essential for effective identification, assessment and service provision (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2018). On more than one occasion during the child in need review, I had to challenge other professionals; one example of this is in respect of Child A who was working closely with a mental health specialist whose role it was to explore self-harm and Child A’s self-esteem. When this was discussed, the mental health nurse provided minimal information to the meeting, leaving questions from both myself and the mother unanswered. It fell upon myself to emphasise the importance of multi-agency working. (PCF 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9).