Searching Bedrooms (SIL)
Bedrooms should not be generally entered without the young person's permission. Where it may be necessary to conduct a room search, this should take place after the young person has been informed or permission given.
It may be appropriate to conduct an immediate search of a young person or their belongings, including the searching of a bedroom, if there is reasonable cause to believe that the young person has concealed weapons, illegal drugs other items, which may place the young person or others at risk of injury; this may include mobile phones if they are being used in a way that places the young person or others at risk of Significant harm e.g. as a form of Cyberbullying or places them or others at risk of exploitation.
If there is a suspicion that such items are concealed, staff should try to obtain them with the young person's co-operation.
If the young person does not co-operate, or is unlikely to, it may be appropriate to conduct a search of the child or his/her belongings/room.
Before conducting such a search, staff should consult their own supervisor/manager and the child's social worker. Two staff should be present during the search, one of which should be the same gender as the child, and the child should be present.
The power to search without consent enables a 'personal search', involving removal of outer garments and searching of pockets, but not an intimate search going further than that, which only a person with more extensive powers e.g., a Police Officer, can do.
When conducting searches, reasonable precautions must be taken to protect against possible sharp or dangerous objects that may be concealed.
If weapons or any dangerous or offensive items are found, they must be seized and passed to the Manager, see Section 2, Confiscating Items.
If the young person does not co-operate, or is likely not to, a search may be undertaken without the young person's co-operation or knowledge.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the Manager and social worker must be consulted and come to a decision about the actions that may be taken. It may be appropriate to consult relevant Line Managers.
When coming to a decision on the actions that will be taken, the managers/social worker(s) must take account of the following:
- Two staff must be present;
- If there is a risk that the searching of the young person may escalate the situation e.g. lead to violence or injury to the young person, staff or others, staff should contain the situation as best they can and consult the Manager or a supervisor before proceeding; and consideration given to asking for Police assistance;
- The power to search without consent enables a 'personal search', involving removal of outer garments and searching of pockets, but not an intimate search going further than that; which only a person with more extensive powers e.g. a Police Officer, can do;
- When conducting searches, reasonable precautions must be taken to protect against possible sharp or dangerous objects that may be concealed;
- If weapons or any dangerous or offensive items are found, they must be seized and passed to the Manager, see Section 2, Confiscating Items.
The Home's Manager should record the matter and, if items are confiscated, they must be kept securely until the young person leaves or the Manager considers that they should be returned to the young person e.g. where a young person demonstrates they are able to use a mobile phone safely. The Manager must provide the young person with a receipt for the confiscated item(s).
If the items are thought to be a weapon, they should be passed to the Police. Where staff find controlled drugs, the Home's Manager should consider passing them to the Police; other substances not believed to be controlled drugs e.g. so-called 'legal highs', should be confiscated, passed to the Home's Manager, recorded, and destroyed. If items are thought to be stolen they must be delivered to the police unless there is a good reason not to do so (see below) – in which case the stolen item should be returned to the owner. These stolen items may be retained or disposed of if returning them to their owner is not practicable.
Re passing weapons or other items to the Police: Home's managers should have a good reason not to pass items to the Police and should take account of the following:
- Where the manager is unsure as to the legal status of a substance and has reason to believe it may be a controlled drug they should treat it as such;
- With regard to stolen items, it would not be reasonable or desirable to involve the police in dealing with low value items. However, the manager may judge it appropriate to contact the police if the items are valuable (iPods/laptops) or illegal (alcohol/fireworks);
- Disposing of alcohol does not include returning it to the young person. It should be poured down the sink.
There are different notifications procedures for searches concluded with and without children's co-operation.
Searches undertaken with the young person’s co-operation, where no force is used, must be notified to the Manager at the first opportunity; the manager will decide whether to inform the relevant social worker.
Searches conducted without the young person’s co-operation, where a level of force has been used, is an Incident and must be notified to the Manager and relevant social worker within 24 hours or as soon as practicable thereafter.
Depending on the seriousness of the Incident, other people/agencies may have to be notified, see Notification of Serious Events Procedure.
Searches should be noted in the home's Daily Log, relevant Daily Record, with details as listed below:
- The time and date of the search;
- The reason or suspicions which led to the need to conduct the search;
- Who conducted the search and whether the young person or others were present;
- Whether the young person cooperated;
- What was found, and whether items found were retained/confiscated;
- If items were retained/confiscated, where they were stored.
Last Updated: November 25, 2021
v8
