Current battles facing home educators and what you can do…

There are two main concerns that need addressing at the moment, the CNIS register (which we previously discussed here) and the proposed changes to needing consent to deregister when there is an open child protection case or s47 enquiries are in process.

The children not in school register is aimed at identifying children missing education, we don’t believe it is going to do that, instead, what it will do is infer home educators are doing something wrong by forcing them to register. It will mean EHE teams could overstep more than they do already. The government are going to be opening a forum to discuss the inclusion of home educators, to take part you can fill in the below form by the 27th November, if you can not open the form then email your EHE team and ask for the form to take part in the CNIS forum.

Do not worry if your EHE team have emailed you the form saying it is ‘to support the register’, this wording is a little misleading, it is to ‘support’ the discussion, not to show your support of the register.

The government wrongly believe EHE teams are helpful and supportive, they also currently have no method to hold badly behaved LAs accountable, we do not feel a CNIS register is where the government efforts should be. A child truly missing from education, where the parent wants the child in school, will be known to the LA already. A child whose parents are trying to hide their child on purpose will not make themselves known willingly, therefore not finding the children this register hopes to find. Please read the post we linked earlier for more information.

Consent to home educate when subject to a child protection case or s47 enquiries.

Page 13 of this document talks about proposals to require consent to home educate when there is a child protection case ongoing or s47 enquiries are being carried out, and the power to force a home educated child into school while a case or enquiry is ongoing. We are strongly against this proposal in its current format as current legislation already has adequate safeguarding measures in place for these situations. Allowing LAs to give consent opens the system up to misuse by unscrupulous schools, social workers and EHE teams. It infers visits by the EHE team will be compulsory to assess the learning environment, or a social worked not trained in home education to be allowed to be making decisions around education.

We ask all home educators to write to your MP. If you have ever been subject to a s47 enquiry that did or did not result in a child protection plan you can summarise the story and ask them to contact the Secretary of State about the document released in particular page 13, you could explain how this proposal would have made the situation more difficult. Anyone can ask their MP what safeguards will be in place to protect a family whilst an enquiry is being undertaken from having their child’s consistent suitable home education being disrupted. Ask them how they will prevent the already large number of malicious school referrals causing havoc unnecessarily. And how the voice of the child will be heard without further intrusion into their home life.

What is a child protection plan or Section 47 enquiry?

Section 47 (relating to s47 of the Child Act 1989) enquiries begin when a safeguarding referral is received where there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm in the form of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, or neglect, or following an Emergency Protection Order or Police Protection being taken. If the referral is for a new case not already open to children’s services, a MASH team (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) or Duty team will take this forward (or similar depending on the set up in each local authority). For cases where there is already a named social worker, the social worker and their team will take the s47 enquiries forward. As soon as the referral is received, children’s services will become involved, working with the family to begin the assessment process and implement immediate safety planning. Within 3 days of the referral, a strategy discussion will be held. This is a meeting for professionals only, and every professional and agency involved with the family will be invited. This will include the police; health services, including GP’s and any other specialist teams involved; education, including schools (recent past and present) and nurseries for all children in the family and EHE teams; universal services such as health visitors, school health; other involved agencies such as Home-Start; and any agencies known to be involved with the parents/ carers. The strategy discussion will involve professionals and agencies sharing relevant information and they will be expected to attend or at least provide some written information for the purposes of the meeting.

Whilst social workers always try to work with consent with parents including during s47 enquiries, in a safeguarding enquiry, information can be shared without consent for safeguarding purposes. The strategy discussion will allow information to be shared; decide whether an assessment under s47 is required/ needs to be continued; what needs to be included in the assessment; whether there is a criminal investigation to be completed and how this will proceed; deciding if and when any medical intervention needs to be completed (such as a child protection medical), what action is required to provide immediate safeguarding for the child(ren), determine what information will be shared with the family, as information that may place a child at risk must not be shared, and some information could affect a criminal investigation; and if any legal action is required (such as an Emergency Protection order).

Possible outcomes following a strategy meeting could be no further action; a decision that the referral does not meet the s47 threshold, in which case an assessment at s17 Child in Need may be recommended; legal action; for s47 child protection enquiries to continue which will involve an assessment being completed in 45 days; or for the case to go to a Initial Child Protection Conference (ICPC) which will be held within 15 days of the decision. An assessment will need to be completed and shared with the family before the ICPC.

Significant harm.

For those not involved in the professional side of s47 enquiries, it isn’t always clear what the threshold for significant harm is. As explained above, the threshold may be met where there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm in the form of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, or neglect, or following an Emergency Protection Order or Police Protection being taken. It is important to note that this can be inside, or outside of a child’s home environment. But what does this look like in reality?

Examples of referrals that lead to s47 enquires could include: A father arrested for grooming young children online; a young person sexually assaulted by a peer at the peer’s house; A child who has alleged sexual abuse by a relative that provides childcare in their home; a young person who has alleged physical abuse by a parent; children who have experienced domestic violence in their home; children who have experienced harm due to their parent’s alcohol/ substance use; a young person alleging physical abuse from their sports coach.

Whilst some of the themes in these scenarios are common themes, they must always be fully assessed and assessed holistically taking into account each family’s unique history, experiences, situation and support network.

What should you do if your family has to undergo the s47 enquiries process?

It can be a very stressful, difficult and worrying time having any involvement or intervention with children’s services and processes, and s47 enquiries process can feel oppressive. Social workers should recognise this and should work hard to work in partnership with families. Social workers should be seeking your views, and those of your children- your voices should be heard. You should also be given updates as to what is happening so that you are not left anxious or unclear about what is happening. It is helpful for parents to be open, and social workers want to see that parents are protective and responsible. Whilst the s47 enquiries process can feel a difficult, negative process, the strengths of the family and its individual members are also very important and should be considered within the assessment and as part of safety planning.

It is important to note that s47 enquires are just that- enquiries, it does not automatically mean that the case will need to go to an Initial Child Protection Conference, or that you will need further or long-term intervention with children’s services.

What does the Government’s ‘Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive’ strategy mean for home education?

Within the government’s new strategy, there is a section about home education and child protection where it states that “We propose to introduce a new requirement whereby if a child registered at a school is subject to an enquiry under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989, or on a child protection plan, their parent will need local authority consent to home educate that child. If a child in those categories is already being home educated, the Local Authority will have a power to require them to attend school” (DofE, 2024).

Currently if a child is home educated, or if a parent expresses their decision to home educate, this will be considered both during s47 enquires and if a child is already on a Child Protection plan. It is still a parent’s right to choose to home educate and consent is not required, but children’s services will consider the decision within the context of the case, and if it is felt that home education may put the child at a greater safeguarding risk, they can choose to apply for a School Attendance Order, or put safety planning in around the home education during the assessment period and into a child protection plan.

The new Government proposal will place a requirement upon all local authorities to consent to home education given the safeguarding context around each case. We feel there is too much scope for this to be misused and the lack of knowledge around home education to cause problems.