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.
School If a teacher or member of staff suspect a child is being abused or if a child has told someone they are being abused, they have the responsibility to contact the child protection officer at the school who would then contact social services and/or the police. NSPCC The charity organisation raises awareness of abuse and provides support to families and children. It also provides a helpline for people with concerns about a child or for a child that is being abused. There role is to protect children from
Analysis of how national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day to day with children and young people You must ensure that you are aware of the local and national guideline for safeguarding within your work with children on a day to day basis, many issues occur within a school in spite of this you should always be aware of any safeguarding issues and act accordingly within the correct guidelines. The day to day work entails • Childcare practice • Child
Natalie Ettrick CYP 3.4 – Support children and young people’s health and safety 1.1 There are a number of factors to think about when you are planning for a healthy and safe environment or an activity with children and young people. You must remember everyone is an individual and may have particular needs. If you have a clear understanding of the following then it will become second nature to include safety in your planning. • Every child is an individual – with different needs depending on their age and abilities. You must think about this when planning activities, for example when they involve physical play, or if more consideration must be given to the needs of a child who has just become mobile than to an older child, when planning room layouts.
Unit 202 Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people 1.2 Services which work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children Children’s Social Care Help children who are in need and also if a concern is raised about a child they will decide on the course of action to take. For example carry out and assessment and find out what the child’s needs are and gather all the relevant information that is needed. Police They work with children’s social care to protect children from harm. They have roles and responsibilities which include making a decision on whether a crime has been committed and if it has they will start an investigation and gather evidence from the Children’s social care. Health Professional They will examine children whose injuries they think are non-accidental.
The nominated Health and Safety Officer will, normally carry out, the risk assessment. Once a risk assessment has been carried out and the hazards have been identified, then a method statement can be developed which takes account of the identified hazards. The method statement should be read and understood by all members of staff and volunteers who are directly involved with supervising the children with that activity. Understand how to support children/ young people to assess and manage risk themselves. The most obvious method of supporting children to manage risk is by acting as a role model to the Health and Safety children whereby an adult demonstrates a good approach to risk management by adhering to the policy, and generally displaying best practise techniques that can be understood by the
The main aims of this Act: Legislates to protect children who may be suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm. Provides for support from local authorities, in particular for families whose children are in need. Local and national approaches for safeguarding children and young people would be The Every Child Matters Framework. “The Every Child Matters Framework has brought to the forefront the importance of keeping children safe and healthy and having the awareness of different ways in which as professionals, we should work together to do this.” (The Teaching Assistant Handbook) The Act aims to improve effective local working together to safeguard and promote children’s wellbeing by implementing the every child matters outcomes for children/young people. The main aims to: Stay safe; Make a positive contribution; and achieve economic well-being Be healthy.
This can be summarised as: • protecting children from maltreatment • preventing impairment of children’s health or development • ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, and • Undertaking the role to enable children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully. (www.ofsted.gov.uk) Child protection is to protect children and young people from harm. They need protection because they are already in an insecure or unstable situation. The difference between the two is that child protection looks at recognising abuse and acting on it whereas safeguarding looks at keeping children and young people safe from a range of potential harm. This is a preventative action not just a reaction.
The Education Act 2002 This sets out the responsibilities of Local Education Authorities (LEAs), governing bodies, head teachers and all those working in schools 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 requirement 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 ● earlier support for parents who are experiencing problems. Policies which safeguard Schools must develop a range of policies which ensure the safety, security and well-being of their pupils. These will set out the responsibilities of staff and the procedures that they must follow.
Child care providers need to assess the needs of every child and supervise according to the development of each child. For example, young children will require close monitoring at all times; however, for older