More handpicked essays just for you.
Current policies and procedures in relation to child protection
Current policies and procedures in relation to child protection
Policies and procedures of the Children Act
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Throughout this essay, the health, safety and welfare policy and practise that came about after the Victoria Climbie case will be reviewed and evaluated. After arriving in England in November 1991 from the Ivory Coast, eight-year old Victoria Climbie suffered abuse from her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and her great-aunts partner. The anguish and eventual murder of Victoria in 2000 from hypothermia, caused by malnourishment and damp conditions, provoked ‘the most extensive investigation into the child protection system in British history’ as described by Batty (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004). The high media profiled incident exposed a clear lack of precision and communication between all professionals and agencies involved. This is shown by the fact that the mistreatment Victoria was suffering had gone unnoticed by the social services, police and NHS staff, who failed to make each other aware of the clear danger signs. Within the Lord Laming Inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s death (2003), it can be seen that some features recur time after time in child abuse cases; inadequate resources to meet demands, inexperience and lack of skill of individual social workers. In addition, it can also be seen that crucial procedures were evidently not being followed. The procedure that was established after this case included the recommendations made by Lord Laming such as the Green Paper of Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003) and the Children Act (DfES, 2004). These ensure that all children have the fundamental right to be protected from harm and abuse. In addition to this, it also certifies all adults who come into contact with children and families have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Subsequent to this horrific case, an of...
... middle of paper ...
...is shown in the Ian Wathey and Craig Faunch case of 2006 where social workers believed that it was wrong to probe the couple about their family histories and Judge Sarah Cahill (2006) explained how she was appalled that the police were not involved at an earlier date. In addition to this, the case of baby Peter Connelly illustrates how some practitioners can get too emotionally involved and compassionate towards clients. The NSPCC’s Ten Pit Downfalls (2010) suggests that this specific case illustrates how unfamiliar society is culturally with the idea that mothers can be perpetrators of physical abuse. Therefore, it can be seen that compassion was shown towards Peter’s mother during in depth questioning when practitioners decided she merely needed support, as explained by the Independent (2010) where Tracey Connelly seemed fairly caring but inadequate as a mother.
No matter what age an individual is, society automatically deems a person to be an adult once they have a child. Unfortunately, Renee dealt with a lot of isolation, neglect, lack of emotional, physical, psychological support that would have helped her successfully transition into a new chapter in her life. Renee was treated like an independent and competent adult when in reality, she was in serious need of many support systems to educate and support her. As a social worker, Angie Martin’s actions within her practice created an ethical dilemma when she failed to maintain the best interest of her client, Jordan. Angie was expected to fulfill her role as a social worker by playing a vital role in coaching and educating Renee on how to care for Jordan. If there were frequent scheduled appointment in place, there would be enough evidence from Angie’s file on Jordan and Renee alone to decipher who should have been responsible for the death of Jordan. Frequent visits to the young mother and her child would have given Angie the opportunity to provide the courts with enough documentation to understand the case thoroughly to make a conviction, in needed, without dropping charges and dismissing the
Wilson, K. and Adrian J. L. (2007) The Child Protection Handbook: The Practitioner's Guide to Safeguarding Children. Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall
The tragic story of Veronica Climbie is an unfortunate example that highlights the impact that not only unprofessional practice but what miscommunication amongst disciplines can have on the life of a client, in this case, a young and innocent little girl. The Veronica Climbie Inquiry (lord lamming, 2003) was established after the tragic and preventable death of a young abuse victim in the UK caused an understandable amount of outrage and consequent reassessment of the functioning and protocol of many multi-disciplinary domains related to her untimely death. In the report, Lamming makes numerous recommendations to improve the child protection sector and prevent unnecessary deaths like Veronicas from happening again, one of these such recommendations is the need to enhance communication between the many disciplines involved with the complex issue of child abuse and protection, and the need for agencies to take accountability of their workers, their decisions and their actions within this context. It is unfortunate that the death of an innocent child had to be the catalyst for positive change and development within multi-disciplinary practice, nonetheless , we can see that a push in policy to create a greater structure for accountability and communication in complex social issues that require interprofessional collaboration can help us overcome these negligent and potentially detrimental barriers of
First of all, it is necessary to be familiarized with the code of ethics and values to guide one’s practice and give guidance for decision-making. While the textbook does not mention laws specific to BC, it gives a good overview on the baseline of what social workers follow across the country. From what I have found, the relevant legislation is the Child, Family, and Community Service Act. First of all, the first relevant legislation is the duty to report, which was relevant to Raisa’s childcare worker and the neighbour. After, child protection workers are required to respond to child abuse immediately with a family based investigation to ensure the safety of the child and the parent’s ability to protect the child from harm. Because child protection workers work in the best interest of the chid, the law says that action must be taken to protect them from danger with a standardized risk assessment. In the case of Raisa, her protection must come first, preferably by maintaining the family home by reducing risk by removing Barry from the home or worse, by apprehending Raisa if her safety could not be
In this essay I am assuming the role of the social worker. In this case Peter and Jane have a baby son called David, who is about four months old. It says in section 2 (1), that where the child’s parents have been married before the conception of the child, they shall each have parental responsibility for the child, the meaning of parental responsibility is discussed in section 3. In this case, both Peter and Jane were married at David’s birth. Jane bought David in to hospital with a severe head injury. Upon examination by the hospital staff he is found to also have suffered previous injury to some of his ribs. This has caused grave concern and given rise to the hospital notifying the police. They in turn have gone on to notify the local authority, which has appointed me as David’s social worker. Under section 47 I have a duty to investigate the allegations and also a duty to contact all other agencies who might be involved...
...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.
This essay will first address the statute used and interpretation of the threshold test by the courts, and then focus on cases involving vulnerable children to assess whether the statute in The Children Act 1989 is sufficient in protecting these children from harm. I will look at the argument in favour of the current approach taken by the courts, and the counter-argument in favour of changing the current approach. The arguments are delicately balanced and the law is always developing, so it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court resolves this issue in future.
The main points of the children’s act 1989 are parental responsibility and the welfare of the child. Children are best cared for within their own families. The act states that the mental and physical wellbeing of the child is important. Professionals and parents/carers must work together to ensure the safety of the child. Local authorities have a duty to look into situations where they suspect a child or young person to be suffering from significant harm. Duties get allocated to local authorities, and other agencies to ensure that all children are safeguarded. The children’s act 2004 reinforces that all organisations that work with children and young people must help to safeguard
Children’s Social Care work with parents and other agencies to assess the stages of child protection procedures, record information and make decisions on taking further action. The police work closely with this agency to act on decisions made such as removing a child or the person responsible for the abuse while gathering evidence and carrying out investigations regarding the matter. Health professionals have a duty to report suspected non-accidental injuries to Children’s Social Care and examine children to give evidence of abuse. The Children Act 2004 requires every local area to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board to oversee the work of agencies involved in child protection, place policies and procedures for people who work with children and conduct serious case reviews when children die as a result of abuse. The NSPCC is the only charitable organisation that has the statutory power to take action when children are at risk of abuse. They provide services to support families and children and two helplines for children in danger and adults who are concerned for a child’s safety. They also raise awareness of abuse, share their expertise with other professionals and work to influence the law and social policy protect children more efficiently. There are also acts in place to protect children such as the Children Act 1989, the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Children Act 2004. Legal framework from such acts are provided for Every Child Matters which requires early years practitioners to demonstrate that they provide activities that help children protect themselves. This may be through books and group talks known as “Stranger
During the court case the judge said that lead social worker Gunn Wahlstrom was “naïve beyond belief”. This report brought over 68 recommendations to make sure cases like this did not happen again. The recommendations included putting the child first and the parent’s second. “Jasmines’ fate illustrates all too clearly the disastrous consequences of the misguides attitude of the social workers having treated Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington as the clients first and foremost” (London Borough of Brent, 1985,p295). The social workers in Jasmine’s c...
As a Child Protective worker, my responsibilities are to assess safety (immediate), risk (future harm), abuse and maltreatment, and make a determination as to whether a child is safe or at risk of future harm and assess the need for services. The child welfare worker assigned to investigate the case failed to ensure the above. Works Cited Downs-Whitelaw, S., Moore, E., & McFadden, E. J. (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
By defining abuse, it is reasonable to be wide to include varied possible cases of child abuse. Otherwise, if it was narrow, it may weaken the protection to children. Child abuse is divided into physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Sophie was observed to be neglected, meanwhile, she was attending the nursery without any breakfast. She was not playing and interacting with the other children which is part of an emotional condition. Similarly, Sophie observed to be physically abused as she has bruises. Therefore, CA gives specific circumstances in which LA must investigate child’s well-being and direct them to investigate. The court has no jurisdiction to prevent LA working on investigation duties, and not to contrast LA’s investigation. Conclusively, Melanie has the right to investigate Vicky’s house and identify whether Sophie is a child in need. If an investigation is successful, then she is allowed to apply to one of the possible short-term orders, which are Child Assessment Order (“CAO”), Emergency Protection Order (“EPO”), and Interim Care Order (“ICO”) for Sophie’s best
Children are a special group population that has experienced enormous challenges. Child abuse has remained a significant problem yet to be conquered in the efforts to promote and protect their welfare. The non-governmental organizations have been at the forefront of safeguarding the children across the globe to offer equal opportunities to enhance their development. Such firms have written numerous reports regarding the abuse, promotion, and the legislation that ensures the wellbeing of the minors. The paper examines a case of Nixmary Brown, a seven-year-girl child that suffered immensely in the hands of her stepmother.
By listening to what families, children and young people perceive their needs to be and working to adapt their services in order to cater or counteract some of the problems that arise when the wellbeing of the individual is being affected is what practitioners aim to achieve. Several agencies in UK worked together to improve children and young adults welfare such as Teachers, Social workers, Foster carers, Children safeguarding team, etc…Using Activity 2.9 ( Open University 2014 ) as an illustration, the narrator explained about Connors story, a young boy who has been place into foster caring. As a young child, Connor had probably experienced ambivalent, avoidant and disorganised patterns of attachments before his current placement which might have an impact on his behaviour. The foster family had concern that if Connor had to leave them, this could lead to further problems. Agencies working within Connors welfare such as Children social workers should adapt the fact of Connors relationship with the foster family does not impact on his wellbeing. Practitioners need to work in accordance of children and youth people diversity as well. Diversity can help to begin to overcome inequalities in society, which be might be a positive outcome or a negative outcome. Practitioners must firstly identify the assumptions they make about people so that they can make sure that they treat everyone with respect.
The following essay will discuss the affects reflexivity and critical reflection have on the case study and the ethical dilemma; whether or not to implement the supervisor’s interventions. The value tension in this dilemma are between, on the one hand, respecting the inherent dignity and worth of their clients and, on the other hand, not respecting their right to self-determination in order to prevent the parents from causing further harm to others. The Canadian Association of Social Work (CASW) value associated with supervisor’s intervention is Integrity in Professional Practice (CASW, 2005), and the value associated with a less coercive intervention is Respect for the Inherent Dignity and Worth of Persons (CASW,