lcs user manual missing child process lcs user guide · 1 to record that the child has been found...

LCS User Manual

People Directorate: Social Care & Education Systems Support Team 19 February 2019

Missing Child Process – LCS User Guide

The missing child process on LCS should be started by the worker who first receives information if the child has an allocated Social Worker. If the child does not have an allocated Social Worker the information should be passed to First Response.

To quickly move to a section click Ctrl and the entry in the Contents section.

Contents Recording Child is Missing or Absent ...................................................................................................... 2

Missing Unborn ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Recording information about the missing episode including Case notes and Documents .................... 4

Child Found – recording on LCS .............................................................................................................. 5

Child Found/Returned – Missing Recording Form .................................................................................. 7

Recording outcome of interviews - action by Social Worker, Missing from Care or Safe Choices ....... 12

Amending the date, time or status of an episode ................................................................................ 12

Missing status changes during missing episode ................................................................................... 14

Child missing or absent multiple times including going missing before the interview. ....................... 15

Owning the Episode, how to re-assign ................................................................................................. 16

Finalising the missing person episode. ................................................................................................. 17

Missing Child Process - key points ........................................................................................................ 18

Date Modified Author Version Page

16 April 2019 CW 9 2

Recording Child is Missing or Absent This action must be taken by First Response for a child who does not have an allocated Social Worker. If they have an allocated Social Worker the information must be forwarded to their team and added to LCS by relevant team members on receipt of information about the child being missing. 1 Check to see the child has a record on LCS. If the child doesn’t have an LCS record, create a new

one. Refer to the ‘Create a New Child Record LCS User Guide’ in the LCS Manual on The Source

for information on how do this.

2 Go to the Personal tab. On the right select Add Missing Person Record, see screen shot below.

3 Select the Missing or Absent Status and add Episode Start Date and time using the format DD:

MM: YYYY and time as HH:MM (Note there is a space between date & time). You may need to

check with carers to see if the Police defined the child as Missing or Absent. Record the time

missing as stated on the initial report from the police.

4 Select the relevant Local Authority from the drop down box.

NB if the person is managed by Bristol Children’s Services the Local Authority field may be left


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blank or select Bristol.

Add any relevant information in the Additional Information box.

5 Update the Missing Person Location section with known information. Complete the

information in:

‘Location missing from’- this is where they normally reside

‘Location when gone missing’ – this is where they were last seen

‘Additional Information;’ – add text as appropriate and to clarify information when Other

Location has been selected from the picklist

‘What to do and who to contact’ – add Instructions in the free text field if information is

available.

6 Risks If information is known complete the risks section as appropriate e.g. possible contact

with person(s) posing a risk.

7 Add text about the Risk Assessment if applicable.

8 Record the type of risks using the drop down lists.


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9 The ‘Notify Roles’ section will be auto populated to show which involved professionals will be alerted. However, note regardless of your selection all the Professionals listed in the Involvements Tab will automatically receive an alert to let them know that the child has been recorded as missing. The Notify Users section can be populated by selecting the blue hyperlink ‘Select another user to be notified…’ Note the person creating the Missing Person Episode will automatically receive an alert to let them know they are the Episode owner. You can select a person or a group.

10 If there are siblings tick against the name of any of the siblings for whom this episode applies

to.

11 Click Create Record button when you have finished. The record will now have a new flag MISP or MISPE(missing person). If the child has already been found go straight to the section ‘Recording Child Found’ section.

Missing child Bristol LA responsibility

Missing Child Other LA responsibility

Missing Unborn First Response record all contacts of missing pregnant people that they receive from wherever in the country. The missing episode will be closed by First Response on a routine basis a few months after EDD if no found notification has been received.

Recording information about the missing episode including Case notes and Documents All information relating to the period when a child is missing is recorded within the episode. This includes case notes and documents relating to the missing episode. 1 To open the episode recording tabs open the Additional tab and click on the episode start

date.


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2 The Missing Episode screen provides additional tabs for recording Forms, Documents, Case

Notes and Audit.

Forms:

The ‘Missing Person Return Interview’ form is started from here and not the Forms Tab in

the main file. See Child Found action below for information. Note the tab only contains

forms which are relevant to the date of the episode.

Documents:

Documents relating to the missing person episode can be added here, you can only select

‘Missing Person’ document type but this will show in the Main Documents tab.

Case notes:

Case notes created here will only use the ‘Missing Person’ case note type but will also show

in the main Case Note tab.

Click on the tabs to the left to the left ‘Update Missing Person Record’ link on the bottom left

of the screen

Child Found – recording on LCS 1 To record that the child has been found or returned go to the Additional tab and click on the

episode start date under the section ‘Missing Person records’.

2 The missing episode screen opens as below. Click on the ‘Update Missing Person Record’

link at the bottom of the screen under Actions.


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3 Then click on the Found tab on the left hand side of the screen

4 Complete the ‘on screen’ form

Episode End Date - remember to add the end date and time in this format DD:MM:YYYY

HH:MM.

End Reason – select reason from the drop down list

Additional Information – Add information about where the child was found and who if

anyone they were with. Add any other relevant information

Outcomes – Use to record any relevant information or leave blank.

Return Interview. Leave this section blank at this stage. This section should only be

completed after the return interview form has been completed.


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6 Click on Update to record the person as found.

7 Notice that the MISP flag is now crossed out indicating this child is no longer missing.

8 For all children who have been missing (not absent without permission) are found/returned

a decision about whether they meet the criteria for a return interview must be made. The

outcome of this decision for all children is recorded in the ‘Missing Recording’ form as

detailed in the next section.

Child Found/Returned – Missing Recording Form When the child has been found, or returned, start a Missing Recording Form.

NB. The Missing Recording Form is only applicable for children who have been missing. It is not used for children who were absent without permission.

Part 1 of the form is used to record whether a return interview is applicable. For more information about the eligibility criteria for a return interview refer to the Bristol Safeguarding Children Board guidance for children missing from Care or Home in the BSCB Procedures Manual http://www.proceduresonline.com/swcpp/bristol/index.html

http://www.proceduresonline.com/swcpp/bristol/index.html


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Arrangements for a return interview should be made within 72 hours of the child being found. It is

therefore important to take the following action as soon as a child has been found/returned.

1 From the Additional tab click on the episode start date under the section ‘Missing Person

records’. Open the Missing Recording Form by clicking on the relevant date.

2 On the left click on the Forms tab.

3 Under the heading ‘Start New Form’ select Missing Recording Form then click on the grey

Start button.


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4 At this screen select the grey button Copy Forward Selected or Start Blank as applicable.

Copy Forward will copy details of previous Missing Recording Forms, this is particular useful

where interview outcomes are similar to previous interviews.

5 Complete Part 1 of the form. All fields in red are mandatory; the remaining fields should be

completed if information is known. Select the Episode to which your form relates.

NB. You can only select one episode per form.


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6 Information about the missing episode from the main LCS record will be pulled through to Part 1.

7 Scroll past the missing information shown in paragraph 2 above to locate the remaining fields

for completion.

8 Now follow one of the routes detailed below as appropriate.

Return interview not applicable.

1 Complete the reason why the return interview is not applicable. Click the grey button Finalise Assessment to complete and finalise the form.


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2 Finalise the missing episode record as detailed in section 2 onwards in the section ‘Finalising the missing person episode’ below.

Return Interview Applicable

1 Select the grey ReAssign button to re-assign the form to the social worker or team who will carry out the interview.

2 In the ‘Assign to’ field record the team or person who will be responsible for the return interview. Currently this will be

Allocated social worker for CIN and CP

Missing From Care for Child in Care

Safe Choices for children without an open referral

There is more information in the ‘Missing Child Business Process document' in the Bristol Children's Services Procedures Manual (Tri-X) about interview responsibility.

3 Click OK-ReAssign in the top right corner.

4 The case coordinator and ‘owner’ of the missing episode will receive a work tray alert when

the return interview form has been finalised as detailed below. After receipt of this alert the

episode can now be closed (finalised) as detailed in the Finalising the Missing Person Episode

section of this guide.


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Recording outcome of interviews - action by Social Worker, Missing from Care or Safe Choices

1 Complete the questions in Part 2 of the form including all the mandatory red fields. Click the

grey button Finalise Assessment to Finalise the Interview Form.

Note – when the form is first opened it appears empty, further questions will open based on

answers.

2 If the practitioner identifies that the child is suspected of or is at risk of CSE the case co-

ordinator will receive an alert, when the form is finalised, to let them know that a CSE

checklist should be completed.

The alert in the case co-ordinator work tray looks like this.

3 LCS sends an alert to the case coordinator and episode owner (the administrator who

recorded the person as missing) to let them know the missing person interview has been

concluded.

Amending the date, time or status of an episode

1 Within the episode click on the Date or Status to change the date, time or status.

Tip

Do not try to use Update Episode Status for this action, it will not change the entry!


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2 Click on Update Missing Status Record


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3 Amend the entries as applicable and select Update to save the changes.

4 Click on View Missing Person Episode to return to the Episode

Missing status changes during missing episode It the status subsequently changes within the episode (e.g. if the child was completely missing, but their whereabouts become known), it is possible to have multiple missing statuses within an episode. 1 To do this, click on Update Episode Status within the unfinalised episode:


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2 Record the change in status and time this occurred. Click Create to save the changes.

3 The various status changes will then be listed on the episode tab:

Child missing or absent multiple times including going missing before the interview.


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If the child is reported missing prior to the return interview you will need to finalise any unfinalised missing person episodes before adding the new record(s). Tip If the status changes this is not a new episode, e.g. the child was missing, but their whereabouts is now known. This is a change of status, refer to the section ‘Missing status changes during missing episode’ To add multiple missing episodes 1 Finalise the missing person episode(s) as detailed in the section ‘Finalising the missing

person episode’.

2 Now that this episode has been finalised you can start a new episode to record that the person has gone missing again. When the person returns complete Part 1 of the Missing Person Interview Form to show all missing episodes to be covered by the interview. Tip At any one time there should only be one open episode. When the child attends a missing person interview the Missing Person Interview form can be used to record all the periods when the child was missing prior to being interviewed.

Owning the Episode, how to re-assign The person who creates the Missing Person Episode is the Episode owner. They will have an alert in their worktray to review the episode. This will remain in the work tray until the episode is either re-assigned to another person or finalised.

To re-assign the episode click into the alert. At the bottom left of the page click on Re-Assign Episode Task and select the person to whom the episode is to be re-assigned to

. To check the episode has been re-assigned look in the Involvements section to see who has the Missing Person Episode.


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Finalising the missing person episode. 1 When the return interview has been completed the case coordinator and the owner of the

missing episode will receive an alert to say that the episode can be finalised. NB The person who records the child as missing will be the owner of the Missing Episode. This person should finalise the episode.

2 Go to the Additional tab. Click on the episode start date under the section ‘Missing Person

records.

.

3 The missing episode screen opens as below. Click the blue hyperlink Finalise Missing Person

Record to finalise the record. Note all recording and documents should be attached to the

episode before finalising it.


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4 Complete all the relevant information including details of the return interview. The date and

time has to be entered for the Episode End Date. Click Update to save and finalise the

episode.

2 From your work tray click on the alert to see the alert details and to clear it using the blue Alert Completed link.


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1. You must be accurate and timely updating the missing child record

2. Missing or Found Reports , from the police, are shared with First Response twice a week

3. FR creates the “missing episode” for the child missing from home who does not have a social worker

4. FR (and any other staff) receiving information about a child missing from home who has a social worker, or a child missing from care, must forward the

information to the relevant team to create the “missing episode” in LCS

5. FR (and any other staff) receiving information about a child missing from care must forward the information to the relevant team to create the “missing

episode” in LCS

6. On receiving information about a “missing” or “found” child, the team with the allocated social worker must update the missing child episode on LCS

7. On being found or returning , the “missing” child must be offered a return interview as required by statutory guidance. Children Absent without

permission do not require a return interview.

8. If a child is missing from home, does not have a social worker and meets the criteria for a Return Interview, the child will be referred to Barnardos Safe

Choices by First Response.

9. If the child is missing from home, has an allocated social worker and meets the criteria for a Return Interview, the social worker must arrange the return

interview and record the return interview on LCS. In exceptional circumstances the Social Worker may ask Barnardo’s Safe Choices to do the interview

e.g. Child is unlikely to engage with social worker.

People Directorate – Care and Support, Children and Families

Missing Child Process - key points


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10. If the child is in care the Missing from Care Team will arrange the return interview. After completing part 1 of the Recording form on LCS, re-assign it

to the Missing from Care Tray.

11. Refer to the LCS User Guide on The Source for help with the recording method

Revised Apr 2019 CW (Missing from Care Re-assignment)

Revised Feb 2019 CW (new recording form)

Revised July 2017 CW (ref BCS deleted)

(original AB & CB, 19th May 2015)