Child Safeguarding
One secure, shared platform for safeguarding partnerships – so each agency shares only what is necessary, decides faster, and stays accountable for every child.
CAREFUL is a secure communication platform that connects teams across organisational boundaries. For child safeguarding, it gives a safeguarding partnership one shared platform: each agency works in its own team, shares only what is necessary to protect the child, and every agreed action has a named owner and a due date.
Child safeguarding is one of the clearest cases for cross-organisation coordination: the work only succeeds when agencies with different systems act on the same information.
Read the transcript
Protecting a child depends on many agencies working together: children's social care, police, GPs, hospitals, health visitors, and schools. But each agency has its own systems, and the information that matters ends up spread across phone calls, emails, and meetings.
CAREFUL gives a safeguarding partnership one secure shared platform. Each agency has its own team, and the multi-agency teams, such as the MASH and the strategy group, can see every child they're working with, where each case has reached, and how long it's been there.
Amelia Rose is seven months old. She was brought to the paediatric emergency department with bruising that couldn't be explained, and a skeletal survey found a healing fracture. The hospital team has recorded what they found and referred her to the MASH.
Grace, the MASH coordinator, triages the referral and records the information-sharing decision. Because there's a risk of significant harm, information is shared without parental consent under the safeguarding duty. Each agency shares only what's necessary to protect the child. She moves Amelia Rose to a strategy discussion and asks the police for their checks. The action has a named owner and a due date, and the whole partnership can see it.
Detective Sergeant Daniel Osei picks this up while on duty. He completes the checks and enters only what can be reasonably shared given ongoing investigations: no previous convictions, no call-outs to the address, and a joint investigation with children's social care. The investigative details stay with the police.
Dr Fiona Marchetti, the consultant paediatrician, completes her report. The bloods and clotting screen are normal, ruling out a bleeding disorder. By the time the strategy discussion starts, everyone is working from the same information.
Where a quick conversation helps, the team uses its secure chat. Grace tags the social work team manager, Marcus Bell, and links Amelia Rose's record. Marcus confirms. And when it's quicker to talk, staff can call each other directly.
The strategy outcome is recorded: a joint Section 47 enquiry, Amelia Rose to go to her maternal aunt on discharge, and an initial child protection conference within 15 working days. Her status moves to Section 47 enquiry. Every agreed action has an owner and a due date, so nothing falls between agencies. The partnership can see every open action, and every step – who did what and when – is recorded in the audit log.
CAREFUL connects safeguarding partners on web and mobile so they can share only what's necessary, decide faster, and stay accountable for every child. Search the web for CAREFUL online.
Transcript edited from automatic captions.
The child, family and staff in this video are fictional.
The problem
Protecting a child depends on many agencies working together: children's social care, police, GPs, hospitals, health visitors and schools. But each agency has its own systems, and the information that matters ends up spread across phone calls, emails and meetings. Spread that thin, it is hard to see where a case has reached, who is waiting on whom, and whether what was agreed has happened.
How CAREFUL supports a safeguarding partnership
Each agency has its own team in CAREFUL. Multi-agency teams – such as the MASH and the strategy group – can see every child they are working with, where each case has reached and how long it has been there.
One platform can bring together every stakeholder in a partnership: GP surgeries, acute trusts, police services, community health trusts, local authorities, mental health trusts, social care providers, children's homes and third sector organisations.
Sharing only what is necessary
When a referral arrives, the coordinator triages it and records the information-sharing decision against the child's record. From then on, each agency contributes only what is necessary to protect the child. The police, for example, can share the outcome of their checks – previous convictions, call-outs to the address, whether a joint investigation is under way – while the investigative detail stays with the police.
CAREFUL records each decision about what is shared, and on what basis, so the partnership can show how information was handled. The decision itself stays with the professionals involved, under your partnership's information-sharing arrangements.
From referral to strategy discussion
The video follows a fictional seven-month-old, brought to a paediatric emergency department with unexplained bruising and found to have a healing fracture:
- The hospital team records its findings and refers the child to the MASH.
- The MASH coordinator triages the referral, records the information-sharing decision and moves the case to a strategy discussion.
- Police checks are requested as an action with a named owner and a due date, visible to the whole partnership. The on-duty detective sergeant completes them and records what can be shared.
- The consultant paediatrician adds their report – here, normal bloods and clotting screen, ruling out a bleeding disorder.
- By the time the strategy discussion starts, everyone is working from the same information. Where a quick conversation helps, the team uses secure chat, tagging colleagues and linking the child's record – or staff call each other directly.
- The outcome is recorded – a joint Section 47 enquiry, a discharge plan and an initial child protection conference within 15 working days – and the child's status moves to Section 47 enquiry.
Accountable for every child
Every agreed action has an owner and a due date, so nothing falls between agencies. The partnership can see every open action, and every step – who did what and when – is recorded in the audit log. CAREFUL works on web and mobile, alongside the record systems each agency already uses.
Security and governance
CAREFUL is NHS-compliant: Cyber Essentials Plus, DSPT registered, DCB0129 compliant, Azure hosting in appropriate zones for data sovereignty. No patient data on personal devices. Full audit trail.
Security & Compliance → · DTAC compliance → · Evidence from live deployments →
Frequently asked questions
What is multi-agency safeguarding software?
Multi-agency safeguarding software gives the agencies in a safeguarding partnership – children's social care, police, health and education – one secure place to share information about a child, agree actions and track them to completion. CAREFUL does this with a team for each agency, multi-agency teams such as the MASH, tracked actions with named owners, and a full audit log.
Can each agency control what it shares?
Yes. Each agency works in its own team and contributes only what is necessary to protect the child. Information-sharing decisions are recorded, and sensitive detail – such as the specifics of an ongoing police investigation – can stay within the agency that holds it.
Does CAREFUL support the MASH and strategy discussions?
Yes. Multi-agency teams such as the MASH and the strategy group see every child they are working with, where each case has reached and how long it has been there. Referrals are triaged, cases move to strategy discussion, and the outcome and every agreed action are recorded with a named owner and a due date.
Is every action and decision recorded?
Yes. Every step – who did what and when – is recorded in the audit log, and the partnership can see every open action, so nothing falls between agencies.
Does CAREFUL replace our case management system?
No. CAREFUL works alongside the record and case management systems each agency already uses. It adds the shared layer between agencies: what has been shared, what has been agreed, and who is responsible for what happens next.