Safeguarding Children Essay

1938 Words8 Pages
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the responsibility of the local authority, working in partnership with other public organisations, the voluntary sector and children and young people, parents and carers and the wider community. A key objective for local authorities is to ensure children are protected from harm. Every child can be hurt, put at risk of harm or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity.Safeguarding legislation and government guidance says that safeguarding means: * Protecting children from maltreatment * Preventing impairment of children’s health or development * Ensuring children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. And “undertaking that role so as to enable children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully” (working together to safeguard children) The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in each local area will cooperate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do. The scope of the LSCB role falls into three categories: * Activities that safeguard all children and aim to identify and prevent maltreatment, or impairment of health or development, and ensure that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with safe and effective care * Proactive work that aims to target particular groups * Arrangements for responsive work to protect children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering, maltreatment. Membership of the LSCB will be made up of senior managers from different services and agencies in a local area, including the independent and voluntary sector. In addition, the board will receive input from experts. The LSCB’s work to ensure the effectiveness of work by member
Open Document