Cambs Police Highlight Child Abuse Investigators

19 November 2014, 06:00

Cambridgeshire Police are focusing on the work of the Integrated Access Team this week - as part of their month-long campaign to help the public spot the signs of child abuse.

This week, the blog features the work of Karen Cole - the team manager for the Integrated Access Team (IAT) and Emergency Duty Team (EDT).

Part of their role is to protect vulnerable children in Cambridgeshire.

Here's an excerpt from the blog:

"My team, of 24 including social workers, a specialist nurse and locality advisors, receives up to 3000 contacts/concerns a month.  These all need to be assessed so we can identify those at risk and take the necessary action.

This can involve social workers working with parents, children and professionals involved with the family to get an accurate account of what is happening.

One of the key ways we protect children is by working in with partner agencies to ensure we share information and identify those most at risk as quickly as possible.  As well as working in the same location as partners like the police and Child Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH), we also take part in the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

Child Protection cases are dealt with as a matter of urgency with multi agency face-to-face strategy discussions being held where possible within two hours of receipt of concern.

Through the EDT we provide an out of hours emergency social care and mental health service for the county.

I would rather my team investigate a concern and find nothing wrong than have a child suffer in silence because someone didn’t make that call."

The team say there's a number of ways you can get in touch:

• Contact Centre 0345 045 5302
• Police 101
• Childline
• NSPCC
• Emergency Duty Team 01733 234724