Summarise The Policies And Procedures For Safeguarding Essay

A brief outline of current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Safeguarding means to protect and promote what is best for the welfare of the child and ensuring that there are sufficient measures in place to prevent the child coming into contact with abuse or an abusive situation. Child protection is protecting a child where there is reasonable belief that the child may have suffered or may be at high risk of suffering as a result of abuse.

As a teaching assistant, you have to be aware of signs of possible abuse, neglect and bullying; to whom you should report any concerns or suspicions; the school’s child protection policy and procedures; the school’s

anti-bullying policy, the school’s procedures for actively preventing all forms of bullying among pupils and the school’s procedures to be followed if a staff member is accused of abuse.
Schools must develop a range of policies to reflect the key principles of safeguarding children which ensure the overall safety, everyday security and general well-being of their pupils but they must cover the topics of:
• Ensuring the school and its staff are safeguarding and adequately protecting children and young people, and the correct procedures to follow for reporting any potential or suspicious cases of abuse.

• E-safety and the ways to ensure that the potential for abuse is removed

• Bullying of any child or young person, including cyber-bullying

A wide variety of legislation, statutory guidance, policies and procedures support the safety and welfare of children and young people. This includes policies relating to health and wellbeing, safety and security, personal care and individual rights. The legislation and guidance has been developed over a number of years in response to:

• The recognition of rights of children as individuals with their own entitlements.

• An increased focus on the need to protect vulnerable children and young people.

• Independent enquiries into the tragic deaths of children, most notably the Laming Report on the death of Victoria Climbié in

2003.
• The failure of multi-agency teams to work together, share information and provide comprehensive support services for children, young people and their families.
There are many legislations and guidelines that currently apply within the UK Home Nations but for the purpose of safeguarding the main ones that are used are:
• Children Act (1989) - It outlines the duties and responsibilities of local authorities, other agencies throughout the UK, the courts and the child’s parents to ensure that children and young people are” safeguarded and their welfare is promoted”, that the child or young person is allowed to be a part of any decisions that will affect them personally and that they are asked about their feelings and wishes.
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (1989) - It covers the topics of protecting their rights as an individual and way of promoting their general welfare. It says that all children should be treated equally no matter what their capabilities. It also includes their rights in regards to confidentiality, information that can help them, to have their say and their rights to privacy.
• The Education Act (2002) - this Act set out the roles and responsibilities of the LEAs, school governing bodies, the head teachers and all those working in schools to ensure that children are safe and free from harm. They should create and maintain a secure environment conducive to learning for children and young people, and identify where there are concerns about a child’s welfare and ensure that action is taken to address them, in partnership with other organisations where appropriate.
• Children Act (2004) - The Act amended the Children Act (1989) and introduced Local Safeguarding Children Boards to review all child deaths in an area and introduced the concept of integrated working for child services, forcing them to start working together, introducing them to concepts including revised arrangements for sharing information. The duty was now placed on the Local Authority, and as a result of “Every Child Matters” (2003) every child needed to:
o “Stay Safe.
o Be Healthy.
o Enjoy and achieve.
o Make a positive contribution.
o Achieve economic well-being.”
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006)- was a revised document providing an update on safeguarding and the national framework. It outlines the legal requirements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and the roles and responsibilities of professionals, organisations and individuals in regards to working together to keep children safe from harm. It was originally written in 2006 but revised in 2010, 2013 and 2015. It also applies to those working in the fields of education, health and social services as well as the police and probation services. The vetting and Barring Scheme was introduced in October 2009. It meant that anyone working with children and young people has to be registered with the ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority).
• Childcare Act (2006) - This introduced the Early Years Foundation Stage and set out guidelines to improve the outcomes and reduce inequalities for children from birth to five years old.
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) - this established a single body to make discretionary barring decisions about individuals, which prevents unsuitable individuals from working with children. This body maintain the lists and make them available as necessary.
• The Common Assessment Framework for children and Young People (2009) - This was designed to help with the early identification of children and young people’s additional needs and promote information sharing and co-ordinated service provision.
• The Equality Act (2010) - This forms the basis of anti-discrimination legislation in the UK and promotes the welfare of children and young people by protecting their rights to fair treatment.
• The Munro Review of Child Protection: Moving towards a child-centred system (2012) - outlines a more child-focused system in safeguarding children’s welfare and explores how the rights, wishes, feelings and experiences of children and young people inform and shape the provision of services.
• The Children and Families Act (2014) - This introduced a number of reforms including “fostering for adoption” allowing adopters to foster children whilst waiting for approval to adopt; a 26 week time limit for courts to decide if a child should be taken into care; a “staying put” arrangement allowing children in care to stay with their foster parents until the age of 21years; and introduced a single assessment process and an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan to support children, young people and their families from birth to 25 years. The EHC plan replaced statements of educational needs.
• The Safeguarding and Welfare requirements of the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2014) - this outlines the responsibilities of registered providers for children 0-5 years to safeguard children, promote good health, ensure the suitability of adults who have contact with children and maintain records, policies and procedures.
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities code of practice (2014)provides statutory guidance on policies and procedures relating to the welfare of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities from 0-25 years of age.
Explain child protection within the wider field of safeguarding children and young people.
Safeguarding are all the things that are done and all the policies and procedures that are in place that are used to keep children safe. Safeguarding a child or young person is “ensuring that they have the opportunity to achieve their true potential and have the right to be protected from abuse (physical, emotional or sexual), neglect or exploitation from anyone including family, friends and any professionals working with them”. Safeguarding requires that all the relevant agencies working with children and young people and their families take reasonable measure to ensure that the risks of harm to children’s welfare is minimised. This is much more of a holistic approach and is centred about the child’s needs, it is contrived to prevent harm from happening in the first place rather than just reacting to it once it has occurred.
The term “child protection” is more and more being replaced by the term “safeguarding children”. Child protection is specifically about abuse when it comes under the umbrella term of safeguarding. Child protection in England and Wales is the overall responsibility of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and they offer both non and statutory guidance to Local Authorities. Child protection refers to the action that is utilised to protect those children who are or may possibly be suffering from any form of abuse or neglect. It also involves protecting children and young people from being ill-treated and preventing impairment of a child’s health and development by ensuring children are raised in a positive setting and under favourable circumstances by providing safe and caring environments.
There are many different factors that come under the wider umbrella of safeguarding, some being:
 Family Circumstances - The physical and mental health of parent/carers is vital to the well-being of the child. If a parent is struggling with their own health (be it physical or mental) they may not be in a position to ensure that safety of the child or ensure that the child’s needs are met. It is a parent/carer responsibility to ensure the basic needs of the child are met and that the child is provided with good nutrition, a safe environment and access to health care. Parents or carers who fail to protect or care for the children they are looking after could be taken to court and the child may then be removed from the home and placed into care.
 Environmental factors – With the world such a busy place now there are some children that are at risk just by the area that they live in. For example areas of high traffic, neighbourhoods were violence or alcohol/substance abuse is prolific. This can lead to children and young people being exposed to greater risks from accidents, violence, crime and dangerous behaviours.
 Poverty – A child that grows up in poverty i.e. going hungry, being cold and not being able to afford to or have access to activities with friends, will find that it has an effect on their health and wellbeing
 Internet Safety - Another huge threat to a child’s safety is the internet. If not correctly monitored and administered a child can be exposed to a whole array of unsuitable material, potentially harmful sites and internet grooming, and as technology becomes more compact and advanced then the risk to children increases as accessibility becomes more of an every-day feature.
 Cultural practices – some cultural practices around the world are considered by others to be a form of child exploitation or child abuse, such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. It is not uncommon in poorer countries for child labour, prostitution, drug dealing and armed conflict to be a common profession for children and young people.

There are a variety of legislations about that help protect children, some of the main ones are:
• Sex Offenders Act 1997 – better known as the sex offenders register. Anyone on it has to notify the police if they change their name or address.
• The Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 – amends the Children Act 1989 to include “harm” associated with witnessing domestic violence.
• The Sexual Offences Act 2003 – undated to include grooming, abuse or position of trust, trafficking and it covers offences committed by the UK citizens whilst abroad.
• Every Child Matters (2003) – “be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, achieve economic well-being.”
• The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 – states it is an offence to cause or allow the death of a child or vulnerable adult.
• Children Act 2004 – made it a criminal offence to hit a child if it causes mental harm or leaves lasting marks on the skin.
• The Criminal Justice and Immigrations Act 2008 – allows prosecution in the UK of those people who commit sex offences against a child whilst abroad.
• The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 set up the framework for UK-wide child exploitation and online centre to be created.
• The Boarders, Citizenship and Immigration Act of 2009 places a duty of the UK border Agency to safeguard and promote child welfare.
• The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child 1989 ensures a child has the “rights of protection from abuse, to express their views and be heard.”
• Human Rights Act 1989 which, although does not specifically mention children’s rights, covers them in the eyes of the law. Some of the main points are:
o Right to an education
o The right to life
o Freedom from torture
o Freedom from slavery
o The right to liberty
• The Data Protection Act means that any organisation that has a need to have personal information on record can only use it if needed, it must be kept secure, accurate and up to date at all times.
• The Education Act of 2002 requires all school governing bodies, LEA’s and places of further education to arrange safeguarding and promote child welfare.
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 allows staff to be vetted and unsuitable people barred from working with children across the UK.
• The Forced Marriage Act 2007 protects victims and helps remove them from forced marriage situations, although it is not actually a crime to force someone into marriage.
The safeguarding of children is an integral part of our everyday activities: simple things such as the wearing of an ID badge to identify ourselves, not putting ourselves at risk to possible allegations when dealing with children in intimate situations; signing in/out of a work place, having an enhance CBR check in place. Safeguarding children from accidents, completing risk assessments to ensure the environment and equipment is all safe and fit for purpose. It is also about teaching children that crime is wrong and bullying is unacceptable on any level, it is ultimately down to the adults to actively promote the welfare and safety of the child.
An analysis of how national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day-to-day work with children and young people.
National legislation and local guidelines influence the development of local policies and procedures and have an effect of the day-to-day work of adults working with children and young people. By day-to-day work we can mean many things but may include things like;
• Childcare practice.
• Child protection.
• Risk Assessments.
• Ensuring a child or young person can speak out and be listened to without fear (e.g. promoting a listening friendly environment).
• Offering support to children and young people and others who may be expressing concerns.
• Ensuring that all working practices are in place to protect practitioners and children/young people.
A policy is a statement of beliefs that has been agreed by all parties. It is usually in document form and will ensure that all settings comply with their legal obligations and demonstrated the general ethos and way of working.
A procedure is a course of action to be taken should a specific circumstance arise, advised by the corresponding policy in the setting environment. Safeguarding procedures within a setting will outline the specific actions to be taken in order to maintain the safety of the children and promote their welfare.
As well as a setting having a safeguarding policy of their own, each setting has to be compliant with the conditions of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) and establish multi-agency working as required by “Children Act (2004)”, “Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)” and the “Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2014)”. The LSCB is a legal body and is responsible for ensuring that all departments/agencies and professionals bodies or individuals that work with children and young people work in unison with each other to support the welfare and safety of children in that area. The LSCB usually work in line with the guidelines of” Every Child Matters”
Although a school setting will invariably have its own policies and procedures for safeguarding, all settings have to cover off certain common themes for their policies and procedures:
• Admissions, Arrivals and Departures: A register of attendance, arrangements for the departure and collection of children, details to be recorded on the registration form, including emergency contacts details for parent/carer , monitoring the arrival and departure of all visitors.
• Health, Safety and Security: Conducting regular risk assessments, health/hygiene and controlling the spread of infection, security measures, supervision of children at the setting and on off-site visits.
• Intimate care and Toileting: Managing personal care , assisting with toileting and washing intimate body parts, administering medicine to children, appropriate physical contact.
• Safeguarding and Child Protection: Recognising and responding to concerns about abuse, action to be taken in the event of allegation being made against a member of staff , staff roles and responsibilities, Staff recruitment and training, Multi-Agency working , the use of mobile phones and cameras whilst in the setting , E-safety , dealing with
• Information Sharing and Confidentiality: Data protection, information handling and , confidentiality with paper based and electronic information , communication with parents, carers and other professionals, Liaison with the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board , The importance of observation and record keeping
• Empowering Children and Young People: Activities to empower and educate children and young people, build confidence about themselves and their bodies and or having high self-esteem and being assertive in their decision making. Ensuring the children are involved in making. Listening to children and young people and respecting their views.
The above list give an idea of the impact that these guidelines have on a vast variety of everyday aspects that will affect the way a school or staff member needs to act in order to comply.
When and why inquiries and serious care reviews are required and how the sharing of the findings informs practice.
Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulation 2006 requires LSCB’s to undertake reviews of serious cases.

In England these reviews are called serious case reviews (SCRs). In Wales they are called child practice reviews, in Northern Ireland they are known as case management reviews and in Scotland, significant case reviews.

SCRs are undertaken when a child or young person dies (this will include if the death is a suspected suicide), and there is the suspicion or knowledge that abuse or neglect is known to be a factor in the death. Under chapter 8 of the paper Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006), the objective of the SCR is to:

• “Establish what lessons are to be learned from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children of children and young people.

• Identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between the agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result.

• Improve intra- and inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. ”

SCR’s will also be conducted if any of the following is the

case:
• A child or young person receives a potentially life-threatening injury or is the recipient something that will cause a serious and permanent impairment of their physical and/or their mental health or impairment of their overall development as a result of the abuse or neglect.
• A child or young person has been seriously hurt as a result of being subjected to sexual abuse.
• A parent or carer has been murdered and there is an ongoing domestic homicide review being conducted as per the Domestic Violence Act 2004.
• A child or young person has been seriously harmed following a violent assault perpetrated by another child, young person or adult.
The decisions to conduct an SCR should be made within one month of notification of the incident and the LSCB must inform the “National Panel of Independent Experts (NPIE)” and Ofsted of their decision. One or more reviewers should be appointed to lead the SCR by the LSCB; however, the lead reviewer must be independent of the LSCB and any of organisations who are connected with the case. The LSCB must pass on the names of these reviewers to the NPIE.
The final SCR Report, and the LSCB’s response to the finding, must be published on the LSCB website for a minimum of twelve months and should be available upon request. This is important to ensure the sharing of lessons learnt and forms good practices in writing and subsequent publishing of SCRs.
The SCR report should be written in such a way that publication will not be likely to harm the welfare of any children involved in the case. A copy of the final SCR needs to be sent by the LSCB to the NPIE a minimum of one week before publication.
LSBCs are expected to maintain a “local learning and improvement framework”. These frameworks suggest regular case reviews (including SCRs) to identify useful insights into the way that organisations are working together. Reviews aim to look at what happened in cases and why and to identify actions required to push forward improvements in the how we prevent the death, serious injury or harm to children.
How the process used by own work setting or service comply with legislation that covers data protection, information handling and sharing.
Information sharing between professionals is vital to safeguarding and promoting welfare. It enables accurate identification, efficient assessment and comprehensive service provision for children, young people and their families. School settings must have clear processes for sharing information, including policies about confidentiality and data protection with both paper based and electronic records. A clear and explicit confidentiality policy that staff, children, young people and parents can all understand should ensure effective practice throughout the setting. Practitioners have a legal duty of confidence with regards to personal information they hold about children, young people and their families. Any information received about a child/young person/their families should only be shared within appropriate professional contexts.
In a school setting, some of the issues relating to data protection, information handling and sharing might include:
Sharing Information
When sharing information there are several points a setting should ensure their staff take into consideration:
• Be Open and Honest with the person involved about why, what, how and with whom information will, or could be shared, and make sure to seek their agreement, unless it is thought to be unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
• Seek advice if the staff member is doubtful in any way.
• Share any information with consent, where appropriate.
• Consider safety and well-being.
• Information is necessary, in proportion, relevant to the case, accurate, timely and secure: Staff members should make sure they are familiar with their setting’s policy for sharing electronic information (e.g. emails, digital portfolios, electronic reporting)
• Location: staff should always discuss sensitive issues in a private place
• Keep a record.
Recording and Maintaining Records
Staff members should ensure they know the settings policy and procedures on how, why and where information should be recorded. They need to make sure that children’s names are not identified on documents that might be shared with the public. Records are confidential, which means that, when not in use, they are to be stored in a lockable filing cabinet or, if electronic, a password protected file and available only to the appropriate people.

Storage of Records
Staff members should ensure they know the settings policy and procedures on how information should be stored; that electronic information on computers and mobile devices are password protected; that they always log off and shut down computers after accessing electronic records and that memory sticks containing confidential information are kept secure. All documents, both paper and electronic must be stored safely until the expiry date of statutory time limits (usually no longer than 6 years)
In deciding what action to take when there are concerns about data protection, information handling and sharing, you should always:
• Act in the best interests of the child or young person.
• Abide by the legal requirements of the Data Protection Act or other relevant legislation.
• Never promise confidentiality, but always reassure that information will only be shared if strictly necessary.
• Follow the policies and procedures of the setting.
• Consult with a senior colleague, manager or supervisor.
The importance of safeguarding children and young people.
Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people is extremely important. It involves more than just protecting children from abuse – it also includes promoting their interests, keeping them safe and protecting their rights. Through their child protection policies and procedures for safeguarding children, schools have an important role in the detection and prevention of child abuse and neglect. This also includes helping children and young people to protect themselves from abuse and dealing with bullying.
Abuse is when something happens to the child which is in breach of their rights and which has an affect on their health and development. It is also classed as abuse if someone fails to do something that would protect the rights of a child, their health and development. The impact of abuse can have long-lasting effects into adulthood, impairing a child’s capacity to enjoy life and maximise their full potential. No-one deserves to be abused, be that physically, emotionally or sexually and the same rules apply that no child or young person should be subjected to neglect. It is every child’s right to live without fear of harm or abuse.
• Physical abuse – involves causing deliberate physical harm to a child and may include burning, drowning, hitting, poisoning, scalding, shaking, suffocating or throwing. Physical abuse also includes deliberately causing, or fabricating the symptoms of, ill health in a child.
• Emotional abuse – involves the persistent psychological mistreatment of a child and may include making the child feel inadequate, unloved or worthless, imposing inappropriate developmental expectations on a child, threatening, taunting or humiliating the child or exploiting or corrupting the child.
• Sexual abuse – involves coercing or encouraging a child to engage in sexual activities to which the child does not or cannot consent because of their age or level of understanding. These sexual activities may involve physical contact such as penetrative and/or oral sex or encouraging the child to watch the adult masturbate or to look at pornographic material.
• Neglect – involves the persistent failure to meet a child’s essential basic needs food, clothing, shelter, loving care or medical attention. Neglect may also include when a child is put at risk by being left alone without appropriate adult supervision.
• Bullying is also recognised as a type of abuse. Bullying can take place inside and outside of the setting. Bullying happens when individual or group show hostility towards an individual and this can be emotional, physical, racist, sexual or cyber-bullying.
As well as protecting them from abuse, all involved have a legal and professional responsibility to safeguard children’s welfare and promote their wellbeing. This is what is known legally as a ‘duty of care’, referring to the responsibilities of adults to support the wellbeing of others, particularly important in the cases of children who are too young to protect themselves. The specific responsibilities involved in a duty of care include:
• Upholding children’s rights
• Meeting children’s needs and promoting their interests
• Protecting children’s health, safety and wellbeing
• Ensuring safe practice
The importance of a child or young person-centred approach.
Effective safeguarding systems are child and young person centred. For a child-centred approach to work effectively it requires a clear understanding of the needs and views of the child or young person. All legislation, guidance and codes of practice in recent decades make it clear that the child’s interests must come first. All professionals must work together to promote the child’s welfare before anything else.
Legislation that covers the specific area of a child-centred approach and a childs needs/wishs are:
• The Children Act 1989 & 2004 (sections 17,20,46 and 47 of The Children Act 1989)
• The Equality Act 2010
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC
• The Munro Review of Child Protection: Moving Towards a Child-Centred System (2012)
• The SEND code of practice, (DfE 2014
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)
In any safeguarding situation it is very important for professionals to work closely with the child or young person and their family. This helps to make sure that children, parents and carers fully understand and are involved in any decision-making and that consideration is given to the needs and wishes of the individuals con