When professionals work together in an integrated way, they put the individual at the centre of all activities to help identify their holistic needs earlier to improve their life outcomes. It is important to see safeguarding as part of a continuum, where prevention and early intervention can help children, vulnerable adults and families get back on track and avoid problems turning into a crisis. Protection is a central part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. It is the process of protecting an individual identified as either suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect. 2.2 1.
* Partnership: professionals and families must work together to ensure the welfare of the children. * Participation: that the childrens wishes and feelings should be taken into account so that they can contribute to any decisions which may affect them. * Protection: Children must be protected from serious harm. The local authorities have a duty to investigate any report that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, from serious harm. * Provision: states that services that are necessary to safeguard children shouls be provided.
Safeguarding Safeguarding is a term for the protection of people with a strong emphasis on prevention. when this refers to children many organisations could be involved within that process such as schools, social workers, GP and other medical or therapeutic services. All these may be needed to ensure the child's well-being and be a long-term help to the whole family. Safeguarding is important as it means all adults working with children have a responsibility to protect children from harm, we should always report our concerns so that the appropriate action can be taken and the right agencies involved to help resolve the issue raised. Dwelling on and ignoring our concerns only increases the risk to the child.
Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. It refers to the activity that is under taken to protect specific children who are suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm. Effective child protection is essential as part of wider work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. However, all agencies and individuals should aim to proactively safeguard and promote the welfare of children so that the need for action to promote children from harm is reduced. 1.2 2.3 Children should be raised in positive circumstances by providing safe and caring environments.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 is an update of safeguarding and how the agencies should work individually and together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Lastly, the E-Safety Policy reflects the importance it places on the safe use of information systems and electronic communications.
It is important to understand a child or young person in the context of their life and the impact of the transitions they may be going through. This is about different services working together in order to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. It is most effective when organisations and agencies are clear about their own role and those of other agencies. Sharing information in a timely and accurate way is an essential part of helping to deliver better services. It is important to understand issues surrounding confidentiality and when to pass on information.
Task 1: Write an explanation of: * what it means to have a duty of care in own work role * How duty of care contributes to the safeguarding or protection of individuals Duty of care is a requirement and obligation that a person in a caring role has to make sure that others are taken care of and not harmed. It includes watching out for potential hazards and trying to prevent mistakes and accidents. It is important because of a duty of care is not met then the responsible person can be held accountable if things go wrong. A carer in early years has a duty of care to protect the children in their care by following the legislation and the policies and procedures that are in place at the workplace. Policies and procedures are put in place so that there are rules and boundaries to make sure that people know how to work in the setting and what is expected of them to prevent harm and danger to others in the work setting.
Within this document, the term safeguarding is defined as follows 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. Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcome The action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm - is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.
H&S at work Act 1974; States our duty to protect everyone’s, including our own, safety, health and welfare. This includes a school’s duty to make sure staff and volunteers have a DBS check. Children Act 1989; Children should be protected from harm 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 that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. * taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcome” http://www.safenetwork.org.uk/getting_started/Pages/Why_does_safeguarding_matter.aspx “The action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm - is everyone’s responsibility.
We are committed to ensuring that all children with additional needs are identified early, referred to appropriate services and monitored through effective information sharing between agencies and professionals. It’s important that referrals are made in order for the child and young person to get the best possible outcomes and by practitioners doing observations and recording evidence, that help refer child to the appropriate professionals and services. A referral can be made by professionals, practitioners, parents and carers, child or young person by themselves. As a practitioners we have to remember to obtain the informed consent either from the parent, carer or young person to the provision of the service. It’s very important to use clear and sensitive language, remember about cultural differences and ideas about behavioural and mental health issues.