Escalation Process

Multi-agency working to keep a child or adult at risk protected from harm is often complex. From time to time, the judgement of staff from different professional backgrounds may differ and can cause conflict. Child and adult safeguarding work can be emotionally overwhelming, and this can affect judgment and can lead to conflicts arising over relatively minor issues. Normally the professionals involved both want to protect the child or adult in question but disagree on how best to do this. It is rare for one party in such a dispute to care less than the other. This process sets out clear routes to escalate professional concerns where there are fears that a difference of opinion may be getting in the way of keeping a vulnerable person safe. Ultimately, any professional caught up in a conflict must keep their focus in the best interests of the child or adult in question.

Managing Professional Disputes

This policy and procedure is for all staff members working for partner agencies of the Suffolk Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB). It provides all staff with;

• the process that is to be followed in the event of inter-agency dispute, and

• the opportunity for future learning

Collaborative Casework

Collaborative Casework describes the way we expect everyone across our services to work collaboratively to get the best outcomes for the adults and children we work with. We must all change the way we think about what we do and the way we do it, so the County Council, Health and other partners have been looking at how we work together. All parties recognise that the current system in Suffolk is disjointed, not preventative enough and sometimes doesn’t work best for the customer. This guidance applies to all casework and collaborative working across service boundaries at every level, to support a child, young person, adult and their whole family