MASH Integrated Front Door Approach to Early Help & Safeguarding Referrals

The MASH brings together Early Help and Safeguarding to ensure children and young people receive the right support at the right time. The Front Door will incorporate the MASH function and includes additional partners based in the MASH Screening Team.

The Front Door will ensure that all enquiries and contacts are triaged upon receipt and directed to the appropriate service to provide a seamless process for children to receive support proportionate to their needs in a timely way.

The Front Door approach will support the early identification of support needs for children and families to focus on ensuring the right support can be put in place in a timely manner.

The MASH aims to ensure that:

• All safeguarding referrals are dealt with in a timely and effective manner;
• Thresholds for services as set out in the Islands Safeguarding Children Partnership Threshold Framework document are consistently applied and understood across agencies;
• Families are referred on to the most appropriate service at the first point of contact;
• Partner agencies are confident they can share information safely and securely where appropriate, to develop an understanding of a family's situation to ensure the right level of support is offered and where necessary, immediate safeguarding actions taken;
• Children's lived experiences are sought to be understood right at the front door and the child's voice is included;
• Parents and carers input is sought and recorded;
• Protective factors and family support networks are identified and considered;
• Repeat referrals are identified and considered cumulatively;
• Previous support and interventions provided are always taken into consideration;
• Decision-making for families is streamlined and transparent and referrers are clear regarding the outcome of the referral;
• The need for compulsory or statutory intervention is identified and actioned at the earliest opportunity;
• Information sharing is lawful and maintains any duty of confidentiality owed to the family by an agency. Information shared by the MASH team members is likely to be sensitive in nature and will have been gathered for different purposes but can only be shared within the MASH to develop an understanding of the needs of a family or to safeguard a child, and no further use can be made of the information;
• Information is only shared with a third party if the person to whom the information relates consents. Information may be shared without consent if it is in the public interest to do so and where there is a risk of significant harm occurring;
• Each employee of the States and all other persons, share information and work together whilst they are working with any child who they believe is in need, or at risk as required by Section 27 of the Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law 2008. 

The previous referral form has been updated to reflect the changes and you can make enquiries to the Multi Agency Support Hub using the Multi Agency Referral Form (MARF) or see the Local Resources.

Once completed please send to MultiAgencySupportHub@gov.gg (please submit in WORD format only - please do not submit in PDF).

The MARF will be screened in the MASH against the Multi-Agency Threshold Guidance and Continuum of Need in Local Resources.

Those referrals meeting Level 1 or 2 of the threshold will be triaged to the Family Support Services via the Early Help Coordinator. Those children where the threshold is not clear from the initial screening, or the concerns are at Level 3 or 4, will be triaged to the Duty Response Team.

The Duty Response Social Worker will undertake additional tasks which could include further agency checks, social work visits, strategy meetings and Child Protection Investigations, dependent on the level of risk and need. 

The MASH Manager or Deputy Manager will review the Duty Response Social Worker's recommendations and where appropriate the child/ren will be prepared for transfer to the Child in Need Team (Level 3) or Children's Safeguarding Team (Level 4) for further assessment.

Following screening of referrals, children and young people meeting Level 2 threshold will be referred to the Early Help Coordinator for processing Early Help Support Services. By having a dedicated triage hub focusing on the enquiries and referrals at first point of contact we can become more effective and efficient with the services we deliver and provide better support to referrers.

The Family Support Services website can be found at Family Support Services - States of Guernsey.

The MASH screening can be concluded in one of more of the following ways dependent on the identified level of need and risk:

• That the child does not appear to meet Level 3 or Level 4 of the Threshold, which will result in one of the following: the provision of information, advice, signposting to Family Support Services via the Early Help Coordinator and/or no further action;
• That the child appears to meet Level 3 of the Threshold with a moderate level of need, in which case, the MASH manager, with the consent of the parent/carer, may authorise a Child and Family Assessment to be considered and reviewed within the Child in Need Team;
• That the child appears to be a Child in Need with a high level of need which meets Level 4 of the Threshold, which must result in a Child and Family Assessment being offered to the family;
• That it is suspected the child is suffering or is likely to suffer from Significant Harm, which will result in a strategy discussion, taking place to decide whether a Child Protection Investigation takes place; and
• That the question of compulsory intervention arises and the MASH manager considers compulsory intervention may be necessary, which will result in one of the following: a Child and Family Assessment with the consent of the parent/carer; or a referral to the Convenor if the parent/carer does not consent to the assessment.

All Initial Contacts and Referrals should be recorded on the electronic database.