Guidance for Completing Chronologies
Scope of this chapter
This chapter details the purpose and what should be included in a child's chronology in order that it summarises events and incidents of concern to ensure that all episodes are seen in the context of previous episodes. This should be completed for all Children in Need, including children in the Child Protection process and Looked After Children.
For Children in Need, this is a tool to promote safeguarding the child. It can also assist in preparing the required chronology for Care Proceedings. It is to ensure that there is an 'at a glance' chronology of events/incidents of concern on each child's file, so that each new referral, or new incident, can be seen in the context of previous concerns. This will avoid new information being received without knowledge of previous events/concerns and being considered as a 'one-off'. It will also record key events in a child's life.
The Mosaic chronology episode should be used for all Children in Need, including children in the Child Protection process and Looked After Children. It will help to ensure that Looked After Children are responded to appropriately if the number of concerns increases.
The information should be brief, as the chronology is not a substitute for a case note record. If social workers are unsure whether to include an event or concern in the chronology, it is better included than left out. Examples of the contents of the chronology may include: referrals, incidents of reported domestic violence, changes in care arrangements, reported injuries to the child, changes of address. It is a professional judgment as to what should be included based on the impact it has on the safety and quality of care provided in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child or young person.
The chronology will be useful in supervision on individual cases, and will help with the preparation of reports for planning meetings, completing assessments, Child Protection Conferences and court proceedings. It will also be useful for Core Group or other inter-agency meetings, for example, when other agencies may share information that should be included.
A chronology episode should be used in all cases where an Assessment has been started or where an Assessment is being updated.
All open case files should have a chronology open on Mosaic, with a clear reference in case notes as to when it has been updated. The case note entry should be headed 'Chronology updated'.
The events/concerns relating to all children in a family should be included in one chronology, with a copy of it on each child's file. This means that if there is an entry about one child, it also has to be added to the chronology on the other children's files. This helps to identify overall patterns of concern about children in a family.
Concerns about relevant adults should also be included on each child's chronology.
For Looked After Children, the chronology will be specific to the individual child.
Where a chronology is required for Care Proceedings the chronology may require some editing to meet the Court's expectations. However the information recorded should provide a good basis for completing this chronology.
Supervision, Quality Assurance Audits and Service Manager monitoring will be the main mechanisms for ensuring compliance.
Last Updated: June 9, 2023
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