SaS Consultancy Group

Thank you to those that hosted this powerful webinar. Whilst it is obviously hugely disappointing that none of the 20 recommendations have been implemented yet, it is reassuring to know that friends, colleagues and campaigners continue the fight for implementation. Those of us that worked at IICSA will never forget the experience, the voices of survivors who stepped forward, spoke out and meant the Inquiry made meaningful recommendations for the protection of children in the future. We call on the government to create a Child Protection Authority, a single agency that holds others to account, creates a learning culture, gets ahead of CSA as technology changes and becomes the gateway for the implementation of the full IICSA recommendations The campaign is asking people to write to their MP - details are on The Survivors Trust Website. After 7 years of evidence gathering we know how to keep children safer in the future. Hold the government to account! Act on IICSA - We Stand With You. #actonIICSA #childprotection #safeguarding #childprotectionauthority

Looking forward to joining this webinar on Wednesday to hear more about the Child Protection Authority that was a recommendation from the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). If you work within the field of child protection, this campaign will be of interest to you.

Child Death Review statutory guidance states that the bereaved should be given a single named point of contact, known as a key worker. Their role is to; 💫 Be a reliable and readily accessible point of contact for the family 💫help co-ordinate meetings between the family and professionals 💫be able to provide information on the child death review process and the course of any investigations pertaining to the child, including liaising with the coroner’s officer and any police family liaison officer 💫represent the ‘voice’ of the parents at professional meetings, ensure that their questions are effectively addressed, and to provide feedback to the family afterwards 💫 signpost to expert bereavement support if required No such role exists for children and families who are involved in Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews in England (where a child has been seriously harmed or died) despite the need for their involvement also being set out in statutory guidance. If safeguarding reviews are truly going to learn from those with lived experience to aid understanding of how to improve the safeguarding system, it’s important children and families are provided with this resource irrespective of the type of review process. #childdeathreviews #lcspr #safeguardingreview #livedexperience

⭐️⭐️We are excited to share that Sabah Kaiser has joined our team as an associate and we are looking forward to working together again. Sabah is a seasoned consultant with over 15 years of expertise in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), community engagement, and legislative compliance across the UK and Northern Ireland. An EDI Fellow at Oxford University Regents College, Sabah assists in initiatives to enhance cultural competency and address challenges faced by ethnic minority groups within academic and institutional settings. She has served as both a specialist consultant and Ethnic Minority Ambassador for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), as well as a consultant for the UK’s COVID-19 Inquiry, where her work has shaped culturally responsive frameworks and inclusive practices across sectors. With a strong focus on safeguarding ethnic minority women and children from sexual and physical violence, Sabah holds numerous certifications in safeguarding, cultural competency, and community engagement. Fluent in multiple languages and recognised for her grassroots insights, she brings a nuanced understanding of ethnic minority barriers, fostering impactful, equitable solutions that build resilience and strengthen community and organisational relations. #equlityanddiversity #inclusion #safeguarding #consultancy

Congratulations to our partner, Cassy Harrison whose paper "A thematic analysis of the involvement of children and families in Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews in England" has been accepted for publication in the Child Abuse Review! Well done Cassy!

Two years ago today we attended the publication day of Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final report. Two years ago we listened to the thousands of stories of child sexual abuse shared by those who attended the Truth Project. Two years ago we heard Alexis Jay outline the recommendations following 7 years of work. Two years ago we were filled with hope for a future where children would be better protected from sexual abuse. Two years on and not a single recommendation has been enacted yet. The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) estimates 500,000 children are sexually abused each year. * As practitioners who have worked in the field of child protection for most of our careers, as well as working at IICSA, it is devastating to us that children continue to be failed by the government and necessary improvements are not being implemented. The #actoniicsa campaign group comprises of members of the IICSA Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel and representatives from The Survivors Trust and their member agencies. They are working to raise awareness of the recommendations. Please check out their website to see how you can use your voice to support the campaign. *Home Office, Police recorded crime and outcomes, 2022/23; Department for Education, Characteristics of Children in Need, 2022/23. #childsexualabuse #publicinquiry

A great day coming together as SaS Consultancy Group partners to review our success in our first 6 months and plan some exciting future business opportunities. Watch this space!

In support of Dyslexia Awareness Month and the #goredfordyslexia campaign, our Partner, Cassy Harrison, shares her experience of dyslexia. “I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 23, having started my degree and asking for an assessment. Although dyslexia was always questioned throughout school, I was never assessed for it. I had extra help with reading and writing, I was sent for a hearing test, there were questions over my suitability to go to main stream high school and concerns about my ability to complete GCSE’s. These experience’s, and many others, have definitely had a long term negative impact on my feelings of self worth and confidence. There is so much shame and stigma with being neurodivergent, I didn’t talk openly about my dyslexia or ask for reasonable adjustments for nearly 20 years after diagnosis. Whilst it’s an ongoing journey, I have come to appreciate that many of my strengths are also as a result of my dyslexia; I am an excellent problem solver; solving complicated problems quickly; a creative thinker; intuitive; curious; resilient; empathetic; can identify patterns and similarities; and I’m good at forming connections with people. If I could give my younger self three pieces of advice it would be this; 💫Become an expert in you and play to your strengths 💫Be your biggest advocate 💫Set your mind to something and you can accomplish anything” Please check out Succeed With Dyslexia for more information and how you can get involved with the campaign. #dyslexia #dyslexiaawareness

Today is World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme, set by the World Federation of Mental Health, is workplace mental health. The theme highlights the importance of addressing mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, for the benefit of people, organisations, and communities. This is something we at SaS Consultancy Group talk regularly about and advocate for within the organisations we work alongside. Please visit Mental Health Foundation to see how you can get involved. #mentalhealth #worldmentalhealthday #itsgoodtotalk #workplacementalhealth

Why do staff working in Inquiries need support? Public Inquiries are convened in response to a particular event or set of events of public concern. By default, the very nature of what public inquiries investigate is traumatic. Therefore, the material that Inquiry staff are exposed to is likely to reflect extreme levels of distress and suffering, over and above what individuals might be used to hearing about in their usual day-to-day lives. Taking the above into account, the risk of secondary traumatic stress (STS) within Inquiry secretariat and legal teams could easily be assessed as high. From a staff wellbeing risk perspective, STS can lead to typical symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and burnout. In the extreme, staff can experience post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (Raovola et al 2019). STS will also likely impact on staff performance in role as the symptoms and empathy distress can contribute to decline in functioning and ability to maintain positive relationships within the workplace (Raovola et al 2019). This can include compassion fatigue, or compassion stress, which can manifest in staff becoming desensitised to trauma and lead to empathy decrements. In an inquiry context this can lead to the perception of a dispassionate workforce and can greatly inhibit the effective implementation of a trauma-informed approach (Rauvola et al 2019). Emerging research, led by one of our partners, supports the development of staff support in relation to embedding trauma-informed systems within public inquiry’s to mitigate against the impact on staff wellbeing and enable public inquiries to achieve their purpose effectively and efficiently (Barker et al 2023). #traumainformed #staffwellbeing #mentalhealth #publicinquiry