Protecting children and young people is everyone’s responsibility.

This section brings together the key policies, procedures, and guidance that support practitioners across Forth Valley to recognise, respond to, and reduce risk of harm. It outlines the shared standards we follow to ensure that every child is safe, nurtured, respected, and supported.

Whether you are a teacher, social worker, health professional, police officer or any other partner agency, these resources will help you apply national child protection guidance in practice and understand local arrangements for inter-agency collaboration, referral, and decision-making.

Please check regularly for updates to reflect new legislation, policy, and best practice.

Forth Valley Resources: 

• • • Forth Valley Inter Agency Child Protection Guidance 2023
    • Forth Valley Inter-Agency Child Protection Guidance Inter-Agency Referral Discussion Procedure, Updated April 2025 – agreed by IRD Steering group, Child Protection Committee ratification expected June 2025.
    • Forth Valley Multi-agency Guidance Female Genital Mutilation
    • Forth Valley Multi-agency Guidance Honour-Based Abuse and Forced Marriage
    • Forth Valley Child Trafficking and Child Criminal Exploitation Guidance
    • Forth Valley CSE Guidance Version 2
    • Forth Valley CSE Vulnerability Checklist and Risk Factors Matrix
    • Joint Assessment Tool for Practitioners to use with Children and Young People
    • Guidelines for Schools – Preventing and Addressing Child Sexual Exploitation in Forth Valley (updated July 2020)
    • Forth Valley Multi Agency Guidance for Escalation
    • Forth Valley Working with Resistance Guidance
    • Forth Valley Transition Guidance
    • Coronavirus supplementary national violence against women guidance
    • Forth Valley Multi-agency Child’s Plan Transfer Guidance
    • Forth Valley Professional Curiosity Guidance 2020
    • Getting Our Priorities Right Guidance 2019 (for Children and Families affected by Parental Alcohol/Drug use)
    • Preventing and Managing Harmful Sexual Behaviour
    • Forth Valley Bruising Guidance for Non-Mobile Infants
    • Forth Valley Multi-Agency Guidance Child Protection and Domestic Abuse
    • Forth Valley Multi-Agency Guidance The Unseen Child
    • Forth Valley Multi-Agency Guidance When Services Find It Hard To Engage
    • Forth Valley Multi-Agency Guidance Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019
    • Forth Valley Child Interview Team Guidance information on Joint Investigative Interviews in accordance with the Scottish Child Interview Model
    • Forth Valley GIRFEC Pre Birth Pathway updated December 2024
    • Transitions for young people with disability to adulthood – Clackmannanshire & Stirling Health & Social Care Partnership

Child Death Reviews:

• Child Death Review Process Map
• Child Death Reviews – Learning from the experience of bereaved families and carers
• National Guidance when a child or young person dies (2021)
• Child Death Reviews – 7 minute briefing
• COPFS parallel process guidance

National Resources:

• • • National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2021, updated 2023)
    • National Guidance Child Protection Scotland 2021 (updated 2023) practice insights
    • Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014
    • Forced Marriage statutory guidance (2024)
    • Scotland’s Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy (2025)
    • National Guidance for Child Protection Committees undertaking Learning Reviews
    • National Reference Mechanism (NRM) – Toolkit for First Responders in Scotland
    • PREVENT duty guidance for Scotland (accessible)
    • PREVENT Overview presentation

Falkirk Council Resources:

• • • Falkirk Council Care and Risk Management Procedure
    • Falkirk Child Protection Committee leaflet
    • Child Protection Planning meeting leaflet
    • Taking care of children – Information for families in Scotland
    • Safe & Together Overview & Practice Example
    • Falkirk Council 2020 Education CP Presentation
    • Falkirk Council Parenting Capacity Assessment Framework Doc.
    • Falkirk Pathway for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children & Young People