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The importance of child protection policy
Importance of child protection policy
Thesis on prevention of child sexual abuse
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Safe guarding is defined by the government as the process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they grow up in safe effective care enabling them to have 'optimum life chances.'
There are several pieces of legislation that cover the safeguarding of children and young people. Children Act 1989.
Within this Act Local Authorities, courts, parents and other agencies are required to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It sets out how important the welfare of children is, and the required and expected duties everyone has to care for children.
Children Act 2004.
The Children Act 2004 strengthens the 1989 Children Act. It places expectations on the Local Authorities to cooperate with other agencies to promote and arrange safeguarding and welfare of children. It also created a children's commissioner for England and placed a duty on Local
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A school must comply with legislation and statutory guidance. A Safeguarding and Child Protection policy sets out how the school will comply with the legislation and statutory guidance. For example practicing safer recruitment, having a designated senior person and deputy for child protection, and ensuring all staff are alert to the signs of abuse and what to do if they encounter it. An Anti Bullying policy safeguards children from abuse within the school. It outlines the types of bullying that may occur, verbal, physical, psychological, or cyber, and how staff and pupil can best deal with it. A Social Networking policy is guidance to protect staff from inappropriate use of social media. It sets out a framework for good practice in a duty to safeguard children, young adults and the vulnerable. An E Safety policy is guidance on how to guard against the misuse of ICT devices and in doing so safeguard and protect children within the
If the local authority establishes that the child is a child in need or at risk of harm, it has a duty under section 47 of the Children Act (1989) to make a care plan or child protection plan to provide support which involves adequate supervision and checks to ensure that the child is no longer at risk. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) promotes empowerment for children as they can exercise their right to express their views and be heard and their best interest would be at the centre of the intervention and social workers need to ensure that decisions made are not affected by the influence from family or professionals they work with (Lee & Hudson,
Wilson, K. and Adrian J. L. (2007) The Child Protection Handbook: The Practitioner's Guide to Safeguarding Children. Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall
Legislations are laws derived from current government policies and outlines rules and principles that everybody must follow. (Peteiro et al, 2017) There are multiple, current, legalisation that have been created in regards to the safeguarding of children and adults. The Data Protection Act of 1998, for instance, was created as a way to control how organisations use personal information. In a health and social care setting, the Data protection act ensures that personal information about individuals will be kept confidential and not misused. The act gives service users the right to determine how their personal data is used and who it is used by to prevent the risk of the information not being private and being put at risk for abuse. (Peteiro et al, 2017) This includes things such as date of birth, national insurance number and medical history. If certain personal information is not protected, then it puts the individual at risk of harm, or abuse. The Data Protection Act safeguards individuals against this. Similarly, The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 safeguards against children and adults by ensuring that only appropriate persons are allowed to work with certain groups. This act created the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) who deal with criminal record checks and overlooks the Barred Children’s and Barred Adult’s Lists of unsuitable
When working practitioners must not only protect the children they work with when in the school setting and off site, but also themselves. Whether in school or off-site the school safeguarding policy should be referred to, to give guidance and adhered to at all times.
C. Cobley & N. Lowe, ‘The stautory “threshold” under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 – time to take stock’ (2011) Law Quarterly Review 396
Department of Children and Youth Affairs. (1999). Children First-National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children. Available:http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/Children_First_A4.pdf. Last accessed 23/01/14.
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
While at university I developed knowledge of the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and how to apply them in practice along-side other legislation required children and family social worker. The Children Act 1989 allocates duties to local authorities, courts, parents and other agencies to ensure that children's welfare is paramount and are safeguarded. This legislation supports children being brought up by their families and making provisions for families that are experiencing challenges and when families cannot co-operate with statutory bodies.
Parton, N., Thorpe, D. and Wattam, C. (1997) Child Protection Risk and Moral Order, London: Macmillan
A brief outline of current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.
Ofsted uses the definition of safeguarding in light of the ‘Children Act 2004, and the Department for Education and Skills guidance document Working together to safe guard children, which illustrates the emphasis on the welfare of children and learners.’ This is overall concluded as preventing children from any mistreatment, impairment of health and development and allowing children to prosper in a safe and effective care. When inspectors are evaluating the significance of the schools safeguarding system and whether they are successfully following it, they analyse key factors such as the impact and outcomes of the students academically and the level of positivity through their development and well-being. Furthermore, it will be recorded how
Mainly this act creates the post of Children's Commissioner for England, and it places a duty on local authorities to appoint a director of children’s and
LSCB, (2013), SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND VULNERABLE ADULTS POLICY, (www.safechildren-cios.co.uk), [Assessed 1 November 2013].
Commission for Social Care Inspection (2005) Making Every Child Matter, Commission for Social Care Inspection
The issue of school safety has become a controversial topic in the United States, due to tragic acts of violence occurring on a daily basis. American citizens should never have to cope with the negative impact of school violence, no matter how often they hear about the tragedies (Jones, "Parents" 1). In the past, schools were viewed as a safe place for children to get an education. Recently, the concern over violence in schools has taken a toll on many parents, school administrators, and legislatures (Eckland 1). Studies have shown that there are over 3 million acts of violence in American public schools each year. Not all occurrences are serious and deadly, but they occur on a daily basis throughout our country (Jones, “School” 6). This has caused many parents to worry about the well-being of their children while they are in class. This has also led to an increase in questions and concerns by parents and guardians. Many people have asked, “What are you doing about safety and security on my child’s campus” (Schimke 2). School violence is the cause of elevated worry and fear for their children, and school districts should enforce better security.