Unit 6: Safeguarding the Welfare of Children and Young People 1.1: Children's Act 1989: This Act states the responsibilities of parents and professionals, who should ensure the safety of the child. Local authorities have the duty to ensure the safety and welfare of children, and have a legal requirement to investigate cases in which they believe a child is suffering from significant harm. They are also required to have services within the area which promotes the safety and welfare of children in need. Education Act 2002: Local Education Authorities (LEAs), governing bodies, head teachers, and those working within schools, have a responsibility to ensure that children are kept safe and free from harm. Children Act 2004: Local authorities and services have a legal right to share information regarding the welfare of the child, underpinning the legal framework for the Every Child Matters outcomes.
This is essential in order to safeguard the children within our setting. We only hold information about the children that is important for us and their personal welfare. For example this can include, medication records, allergies, parents and full names. When information needs to be passed on and shared with other professionals then we need to ensure that we are complying with the data protection act. This act sets out clear guidelines which can be followed effectively in order to make sure that individuals private information does not get obtained by unnecessary people.
Human Rights Act 2000 The human rights act gives all children the right to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect as the same as their parents or guardians do. Every child is entitled to be treated fairly, this policy is put in place to prevent practitioners from treating the children any different to how they should do. Schools must not smack or use physical abuse on a child at any time. Corporal punishment is not allowed; even if their parents deal with the child with this manner at home it is still not acceptable in the setting. The child must feel safe and secure in your care and by smacking them it will harm their trust/respect they have for you.
The idea behind it is that children are best cared for within their own families. However, if this is not possible the Act makes provisions for times when parents and families do not cooperate with statutory bodies. The Education Act 2002 This Act sets out the responsibilities of Local Education Authority [LEAs], governing bodies, head teachers and all others working in schools to ensure that children and young people are safe and free from harm. The aim of this Act is to place the education services for making child protection arrangements on a statutory footing and to further safe-guard against child abuse in any form. These bodies now have a duty to safe-guard and promote the welfare of children in relation to all functions relating to the conduct of a school.
The Education Act (2002). This sets out the responsibilities of the Local Education Authorities governing bodies, head teachers and all those working in schools or childcare settings to ensure that children are safe and free from harm. Children Act (2004). This provides the legal framework for Every Child Matters. It includes the requirements for: services to work more closely, forming an integrated service, a common assessment of children’s needs, a shared database of information which is relevant to the safety and welfare of children and earlier support for parents who are experiencing problems.
All children and their families have a right to have their personal information keep confidential. So always ask your supervisor if you aren’t sure about what information is appropriate to disclose to different people. When in a child care setting all the staff must ensure they are aware of the policies for confidentiality. It is important that anything that is meant to be confidential is either locked away
Hannah McCormack Unit 11 – Safe guarding children and young people Legislations and Guidelines That Affect the safeguarding of children and young People The Children Act - 2004:- Limits the use of defence of reasonable punishment to the point where it can't be used if a person causes bodily harm to a child. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act :– 2006:- A single body is established to make decisions about who should be barred from working with child and maintaining a list of these people to keep children safe. Protection Of Freedoms Act:– 2012:- The Safeguarding Authority and the Criminal Records Bureau,(CRB), formed together to make the Disclosure and Barring Service,(DBS), who choose who should be barred from working with young children. Adoption and Children Act – 2002:- It amends the children act 1989 by expanding the definition of the word 'harm' to include witnessing domestic violence. Children & Family Act:- 2014 Encourages 'fostering for adoption' as well as allows young people to stay with foster family until they are 21, if both are happy to do so.
This means not to treat anyone with a disability different, and to treat them right according to their needs. Data Protection Act 1948 also influences me when working with children because everyone who works with children knows that confidentiality is one of the main priorities when working with children. The Data Protection Act 1948 makes sure that no child’s information is available to anyone, unless it’s to do with the courts. It also means that when working with the children you cannot talk about the children with family and friends. This law is all about making sure
Partnership working and communication between agencies is identified as key in order to identify vulnerable children and to help keep them safe from harm and abuse. The All-Wales Child Protection Procedures were originally written in 2002, and substantially revised in 2008. The children Act 1989 -- was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and were clear about their responsibilities and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made. Parents and professionals must work to ensure the safety of the child. Local Authority has ‘a duty to investigate when there is a reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
It stated that courts should not make an order, unless it was deemed that it would be better for the child than not making an order at all, and that the courts should consider the feelings and wishes of the child and to try to maintain the child’s home and family links. The act also introduced ‘parental responsibility’, it defined the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities that parents have by law in relation to their child. It set out details about what local authorities and courts should do to safeguard children. It states that local authorities have the duty to investigate should they believe that a child who lives in their area is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Local authorities also have a duty to provide services to help children in need and their families.