Understanding How to Safegard the Wellbeing of Children and Young People: Outcome 1

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Unit 025 Outcome 1 1.1 Within our own UK home nation there are two main types of legislation that affect the safeguarding of children. These are The Children Act 1989 and The Children Act 2004. The Children Act 1989 was introduced to shake up changes to legislation in England and Wales and to identify the responsibilities of parents and those who work with children to ensure the safety of each individual child. Its main aims were as follows, • To redefine the concept of parental responsibilities. • To reconstruct the framework of the courts, in particular with regard to family proceedings. • To encourage partnership between statutory authorities and parents. • To achieve a balance between protecting the children and also protecting the rights of parents to challenge any state intervention. In 2004 further amendments were added to The Children Act following the tragic death of Victoria Climbie at the hands of her carers in 2003. An inquiry also highlighted many more child deaths over the years, criticising the approach to child protection in our society. 108 recommendations were made to change child protection and safeguarding in the UK. The main aims of these were as follows, • There should be a closer working relationship between all agencies such as schools, welfare services and health professionals. • There needs to be a central database containing the records of all children and if they are known to different services. • Ofsted will set a framework which will monitor all children’s services. • There should be an independent children’s commissioner for England to protect the rights of children and young people. • There should be a children and families board, chaired by a senior government minister. Due to The Children Act 2004 requiring that these all became part of a legal framework the result was the introduction of the Every Child

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