EFFECTIVELY USING

CHRONOLOGIES IN CHILD

PROTECTION

F.A. Watson

Norfolk County Council

flo.watson@norfolk.gov.uk

Principles (1)

• Provides a factual easy to access

record of key events, agency

intervention, and family responses

• Needs to be objective

• Should be multi-agency

• Helps to identify patterns and

recurring issues

Principles (2)

• Balance to be maintained between being comprehensive and the level of detail needed (purposeful information)

• Needs to be kept up to date

• Needs to be available at all key decision points

Common Problems

• Either no chronology or not up to date

• Limited multi-agency information

• Insufficient historical information (i.e. starts

from the date of the latest referral)

• Conflicting information (eg contradictory

statements)

• Too little detail

• Only selecting negative/positive info.

Comments on Chronologies (1)

• “I despair sometimes that there is so much

emphasis on writing reports that say the

same thing over and over for different

meetings, which doesn’t leave the social

workers sufficient time to do the chronology.

It is the single most powerful tool we have in

Court. Give me a good chronology and I can

make a case.”

Local Authority Solicitor

Comments on Chronologies (2)

• “I have taken note of the excellent

chronology which runs to over 100

pages. It is deeply concerning to have

heard that no chronology was prepared

until just before the decision was taken

to place the matter before the Court.”

Judge in recent care proceedings

What about PLO changes?

• Chronologies need to be pithy (don’t just copy/paste records)

• No more than last 2 years (exceptions incl key incidents you depend on)

• Summarise old information rather than give full detail

• Remove all unnecessary detail – consider the purpose!

Consider the audience!

• Court

• Core group meeting

• Child in need planning meeting

• Child

• Parents

• Serious Case Reviews

Consider Accessibility

• People with disabilities – do they

understand the chronology?

• Does it need to be translated?

• Be careful about

abbreviations/jargon

Chronologies Talk!

• A good chronology is one which ‘talks’ to other documents.

• It is best prepared FIRST (not after you have done the report or statement)

Example One:

Patterns (what Mother said)

• The Context: Pre-birth Assessment

in 2012 for a new baby

• Mother’s Statement: I don’t really

have a problem, now, but you’re

right, last year I was drinking too

much for a couple of months, so I

went through a detox.

Example One:

Patterns (the report)

• The problems identified with Ms Doe’s

parenting capacity are related to:

• Ms Doe’s substance misuse

• Ms Doe’s own volatility and emotional

health problems

• The Doe children witnessing domestic

abuse

• Ms Doe’s failure to fully cooperate with

professional services there to assist

Example One:

Patterns (chronology) 1. Children’s Services records indicate in the

past Jenny and John witnessed and were subject to a number of events where Lizzie Doe was highly intoxicated and or under the influence of illegal substances (e.g. 30/08/2002, 03/01/2005, 14/09/2005, 04/12/2006, 25/03/2008, 02/04/2008, 23/04/2008, 13/05/2008, 01/09/2008, 24/09/2008, 01/12/2008, 03/12/2008, 26/02/2009, 25/03/2009, 30/04/2009, 25/06/2009, 30/12/2010, 01/03/2011, 02/03/2011, 07/04/2011, 21/07/2011).

Example Two:

I never got any help! (what

mother said)

• “No one has really listened to me. I’ve been asking for help for years and they haven’t given me the help I need. I love my children; I’ve always been there for them. We’ve had a lot of problems because of Jim and Andy [partners] being violent and I’ve wanted the help but they never gave me any.”

Example Two:

I never got any help! (the report) A review of the chronology indicates a number

of recurring characteristics to family life:

• Ms Blog’s unstable mental health;

• Allegations of domestic abuse;

• Ms Blog’s emotional volatility/violence;

• Ms Blog feeling she is not coping and a chaotic home life

• Ms Blog asking for help but rejecting what is available (or failing to follow through to maximise its use)

Example Two:

I never got any help!

(chronology)

• 20 examples of help offered and not taken up (including free childminding, lifts offered, free nursery places, Sanctuary Scheme, etc)

• 14 examples of financial help accepted (including £900 worth of carpets, paying fuel bills, petrol costs, rent arrears, etc)

Example Three:

The devil is in the (multi-agency)

detail! (what family said)

• She’s good at lies – really good. No

one believes me, when I say it but she’s

got real problems and it’s not good for

the kids. She’s completely turned Dua

against me (Father)

• I think she’s nuts; it’s better at Dad’s. I

don’t care if I never see her again (Uno)

Example Three: The devil is in the (multi-

agency) detail! (Letter to Court)

We were concerned about the high number of referrals to health services for the girls, resulting in unnecessary visits to health professionals, raising a question about possible fabricated illness. Based on the chronology, it is the Consultant Paediatrician’s view there has been overuse of health services related to the mother’s anxiety; but there is no evidence this parent is doing anything deliberately to make either child unwell, and therefore this is not a case of fabricated illness.

Example Three: The devil is in

the (multi-agency) detail!

(chronology)

• 76 pieces of information from Health records

• 5 pieces of information from Education records

• 19 pieces of information from Police records

• 40 pieces of information from Children’s Services records

• 29 pieces of information from Court documents and Cafcass

• 8 pieces of information from Refuges

Example Four:

Chronology ‘saved the day’! • Originated as private law case

• Parents separated amidst allegations of

repeated DV from father – children with

mother

• Mother with substance misuse problem

• Father seeking residence/contact

• Fact finding hearing scheduled

Example Four:

Contemporaneous Evidence • Mother abandoned children to

grandmother

• Care application

• ‘He said/she said’

• Except – chronology detailed incidents

observed by school teachers, and

childminders, and reported by children

A Deficit Model?

Example (House Cleaning and Daily

Routines)

• Since February I have visited the family

every fortnight. On 2 visits I had

concerns about cleaning (Jane’s bed

was dirty because she wet herself the

night before). On all other visits, the

overwhelming majority, I had no

concerns, which shows the family is

now able to maintain improvements.

Summary

• Share chronologies with other agencies and get them to add their information too (eg at core group meetings).

• Use chronologies in case supervision.

• If a chronology is incomplete at transfer, allocate someone to trawl through old files and bring it up to date

• Don’t delay – do your chronology today!