[This Guidance Note hopes to lessen the stress of dealing with a child protection system by reducing the mystery of the jargon and acronyms used by its workers.

Awareness of safeguarding and child protection issues is a necessary part of being a Forest School Leader.  Our role as a ‘significant other’ means that a child may disclose their worries to us during sessions.  We should all have policies and procedures for disclosures in our handbooks and have received training on what to do and say.  We should keep, and check that the Central Advice and Duty Team (CADT) number is current to report issues or concerns.

On reporting incidents to an overworked social services duty line, a lot of jargon and abbreviations may be used. These can confuse people, particularly if they are unfamiliar.

Below are some terms that you may hear when referring an issue to social care, when you are involved with safeguarding matters/child welfare or protection matters, or they may appear on your baseline assessment forms in helpful statements like ‘this child is at TAF level’ or ‘this young person has a MAPPA’.

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