Decision-making

Professional curiosity is about exploring and understanding what is happening with an adult at risk and their family. This practitioner's guidance has been produced by the three Tayside Adult Protection Committees based on the Perth & Kinross Child Protection Committee (CPC) guidance. 

This practitioner's guidance covers what professional curiosity is, the barriers to using it, courageous and difficult conversations, and effective use of supervision to support curious and authoritative practice.

These are the slides from a 5 Nations webinar held in February 2024. This series of webinars shares adult support and protection / safeguarding knowledge across the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. 

The theme of this webinar is rights, choices and decisions. The sessions are:

These are the slides from a 5 Nations webinar held in October 2025. This series of webinars shares adult support and protection / safeguarding knowledge across the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. 

The theme of this webinar is capacity and decision-making challenges. The sessions are:

This short video explains key concepts relating to professional curiosity. It accompanies the resource pack on the same subject.

Please note that this resource is from an English local authority (Waltham Forest). The context is different but its messages are transferable to Scottish Adult Support and Protection.

This resource pack aims to raise awareness about embedding professional curiosity in practice. It can be used in team meetings, as part of group/individual supervision, or for individual professional development.

It includes several practical tips and practice scenarios. There is an accompanying video explaining key concepts.

This presentation, and accompanying defensible-decision making framework, form the basis of a one-day training session.

Topics covered in the session are:

This resource supports good multi-agency practice in identifying and responding to hoarding. It helps people to identify, understand and respond skillfully to hoarding in a trauma-informed way. The resource also outlines the responsibilities of the key statutory agencies. At the end, the guide has a useful checklist for managerial oversight of hoarding cases and a resource list of links to videos about hoarding, including input from adults who have lived experience of hoarding.

This tool provides a structured way for professionals to consider systematically whether an adult requires a formal assessment of their capacity for decision making. It is designed to support professionals to consider key factors relating to an adult’s capacity at an early point and record that information. This document is featured in the Grampian pathway for capacity assessments for protection-based decisions.