Under the section 17 of the Children Act 1989 local authorities have a general duty to provide a range and level of services appropriate to the children in their area who are ‘in need’ so as to safeguard and promote their welfare, and, so as far is consistent with that aim, promote their upbringing by their families (DoH, 1989). In addition, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 states that a child or young person is in need if he/she is; ‘unlikely’ to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving and maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him/her of service by the local authority (Holmes and McDermid, 2012). The legal definition of harm under the Children Act 1989 is ill treatment (including sexual abuse and non-physical forms of ill-treatment), or the impairment of health (physical or mental) or development (physical, intellectual,emotional, social or behavioural) (Brammer, 2007).
The call for professional to work together more effectively on the front line emerged strongly in the government Green paper Every Child Matters (2003), which was published alongside the government’s formal response to Lord Laming inquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie (Garret and Lodge, 2009). Cheminais (2010) states that Every Child Matters is a government initiative designed to address the well being and needs of the whole child in relation to ensuring that all children and young people are healthy, safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well being.
The Children Act 2004 provides the statutory basis for the establishment of the Children’s Trust by setting out a duty for all ‘relevant partners’ to cooperate in planning and providing services to children and young people in a local authority (Garret and Lodge, 2009). These partners are district councils, police, probation board, youth offending teams, education, health, learning and skills Council (ibid). The Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013) aims to help professionals understand what they need to do, and what they can expect of another, to safeguard children. It further seeks to emphasize that effective safeguarding systems are those where the child needs are ‘paramount’ – all professionals share information in a timely way and also all professionals contribute to whatever actions are needed to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare (HM Gov, 2013).
The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DoH, 2000), devel
