Safeguarding adults and children

Safeguarding is an essential element of our domestic abuse response which is focused on reducing harm and building safety for the survivor and their family. Ensuring that survivors have agency and control over their support is an essential element of a trauma-informed approach and, where is safe to do so, consent should be sought before making any safeguarding alerts or sharing information.

However, information can be shared legally without consent if a practitioner is unable to, cannot reasonably be expected to gain consent from the individual, or if to gain consent could place a child or adult at risk.

Safeguarding children.

Children exposed to abuse at home may be affected by physical and/or emotional abuse, neglect and ongoing psychological damage. Where children are involved you must make a referral to Children’s MASH at the earliest opportunity to ensure any children are adequately safeguarded.

• Safeguarding referrals should be made to: Email: [email protected] /Phone: 020 7974 3317
• Out of office hours (after 5pm, weekends and bank holidays): 020 7974 4444

Safeguarding Adults.

The Care Act 2014 imposes a duty to make appropriate referrals where there are safeguarding concerns. If there are no children involved, a referral to Adult MASH should always be made if the victim/survivor has care and support needs and should be considered in every case, even if it is just to highlight our concerns for information.

• Adult Safeguarding referrals should be made to: Email: [email protected]t / Phone: 020 7974 4000
• Out of office hours (after 5pm, weekends and bank holidays): 020 7974 4444

If in doubt about whether to make a safeguarding referral speak to MASH or to a manager. See the safeguarding pages on the hub or on the council’s website and review the safeguarding policy.

Referral to MARAC

A MARAC is a multi-agency meeting where information about the highest-risk domestic abuse cases is shared to create a coordinated action plan. The primary focus is on protecting the survivor. If a case has been heard at MARAC it has been assessed that there is a significant risk of domestic homicide and serious harm.

You are obliged to refer to MARAC if the DASH risk assessment score is 14 + or on the basis of professional judgement if you have serious concerns or believe that the risk is higher than disclosed, e.g. you may identify that there are cultural barriers to disclosure or suspect that the abuse is being minimised. In these cases you should use your professional judgement, seek guidance from your line manager and Camden Safety Net and refer the case to the MARAC.

Referrals to Camden MARAC are made by sending the MARAC referral form to: [email protected]. You must copy your line manager into the email and the MARAC representative into the email. To find a MARAC outside of Camden:- Find a Marac | Safelives

Information sharing:

If you have assessed a survivor of abuse to be at a high risk of serious harm or homicide ( i.e. meeting the MARAC threshold) you have lawful grounds for sharing information. This means you do not require consent from the survivor. For transparency, all decision making should be clearly recorded on LWP to set out why we have taken certain actions.

See the safeguarding pages on the hub, or on the council’s website, for information about how to raise a safeguarding alert.