About us

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined by government guidance as: 

• protecting children from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of children’s health and development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Whilst the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership contributes to the wider goals of improving the wellbeing of children, it has a particular focus ensuring that children are safeguarded and that their welfare is promoted. 

The Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership provides and develops leadership regarding the safeguarding of children.

To do this, the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership must:

• influence and hold to account the range of organisations, agencies and individuals who have the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, as outlined in section 11 of the Children Act 2004.
• be independent.
• not be subordinate to, or subsumed within other local structures.
• co-ordinate safeguarding locally through shared policies, procedures and training.
• influence other relevant agencies and organisations in the local authority area which affect children’s lives.
• engage with the voluntary, independent, private, community and faith sectors.
• connect with, and impact on, communities, businesses and people who live and work in the local authority area.be influenced by the lived experiences of children and families.

While adhering to key principles that:

• children, young people and their families have access to early help.
• we safeguard the rights of children by focussing on the priority needs in our community.
• the needs of children are paramount when agencies are making decisions about their lives whilst working in partnership with their families.
• the partnership will support working in a trauma-informed way.
• all partners will champion continuous learning, to further develop service provision and delivery that will support children and families.
• there is a statutory duty to co-operate on all partners, particularly schools.
• that any change is not led by austerity or efficiencies but by measurable improvements in the safeguarding system that benefit children and families.

The objectives of the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership are to:

• co-ordinate local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
• monitor and ensure the effectiveness of individual agencies’ and multi-agency safeguarding work.
• collaborate, share and co-own the vision for how to achieve improved outcomes for vulnerable children.
• challenge each other appropriately and hold one another to account effectively.
• identify and analyse new safeguarding issues and emerging threats.
• promote and embed learning and change practice in a way that local services for children and families can be become more reflective and effective.
• ensure agencies share information effectively to facilitate accurate and timely decision-making for children and families.

These 2024-2026 priorities reflect our desire to improve the collective effectiveness of agencies in four key areas:

Structural Inequalities (aligned with current Disproportionality and Inequality):

Themes around intersectionality, structural racism, and disproportionality are consistently present. The need for a better understanding of these systemic issues and their impacts on various groups, coupled with a drive for more inclusive and equitable practices, was a common thread in the feedback.

Family Wellbeing (Early Intervention and Prevention):

There's a strong emphasis on the need for early identification and intervention in various issues impacting children's welfare. This includes shifting from reactive to proactive approaches, focusing on preventative strategies, and the need for multi-agency collaboration for early help and support

Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH), Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) and Inclusion:

The mental health of children, especially those with SEND (SEND Projection Report, 2022), is a prominent concern. The rise in mental health issues, including SEMH (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2023), and their link to various factors like online safety, domestic violence, poverty, and neglect is repeatedly highlighted. This also highlighted a refocus of Transitional Safeguarding and how can the Partnership link these issues in a SEND and SEMH capacity.

Neglect and Parental Factors:

Neglect and issues arising from parental factors such as mental health (also developmental trauma), substance misuse, and domestic abuse feature prominently. This suggests a need for improved strategies and tools to assess and address neglect, along with a more trauma-informed approach to parental issues. Understanding new contributing factors such as supervision on online activity. Whilst the ISCP acknowledges that this has long been a priority, it was felt that we needed a strategy and a toolkit for Neglect in order to better assess how effective we are at its threshold and measuring the effectiveness.