6 Examples of Current Legislation in Relation to Safeguarding

Safeguarding the Welfare of Children and Young People

Assessment Criteria

Identify the current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety. School Child Protection Policy A sample policy is included in the “Policies” section of this student’s binder; it is called “XYZ SCHOOL CHILD PROTECTION POLICY”. At the end of it other of the school’s policies are cited which can also be referenced. Further, within this policy, documents such as “Children Act 1989” and “Working Together” are referred to.

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The policy states, “[t]he procedures have been developed in co-operation with the North Yorkshire Area Child Protection Committee (NYACPAC) and the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB). ” I was not able to locate my local school’s “E-Safety Policy”, however I did locate a “School E-Safety Policy Template” by the Southwest Grid for Learning Trust, which is to work in conjunction with other school policies like the Anti-Bullying Policy, and which covers items such as those in the following lists. It embraces the use of ICT as learning changes with technological advancements but works for best practices to ensure safety.

Policy Statements

 “There is no single piece of legislation that covers child protection in the UK, but rather a myriad of laws and guidance that are continually being amended, updated and revoked. Laws are amended by new legislation passed by Westminster, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. This is known as statutory law, but laws also have to be interpreted by the courts.

The way in which courts interpret laws is known as case law, and this can also have the effect of amending statutory law. ” Some of the pertinent pieces of legislation are as follows. The material is quoted from an NSPCC factsheet called “An introduction to child protection legislation in the UK” unless otherwise cited. The Children Act 1989 The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989, which was introduced in an effort to reform and clarify the existing plethora of laws affecting children. [I]t enshrined a number of principles.

The paramountcy principle means that a child’s welfare is paramount when making any decisions about a child’s upbringing. The court must also ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child and shall not make an Order unless this is “better for the child than making no Order at all” (section 1). Every effort should be made to preserve the child’s home and family links. It introduced the concept of parental responsibility which is defined as “the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property” (section 3).

The Children Act 1989 … charges local authorities with the “duty to investigate … if they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm” (section 47). Local authorities are also charged with a duty to provide “services for children in need, their families and others” (section 17). It is section 31 of the Children Act 1989 that sets out the NSPCC’s “authorised person status” which means the NSPCC has the power to apply directly for a court order if it believes a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

Two key guidance documents exist to help professionals to identify children at risk and to work together to protect them: Guidance on interagency cooperation under the Children Act 1989 was first published in 1991. The current guidance, Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (HM Government, 2010), is currently under review. The Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families (DH, 2000) is non-statutory guidance that provides professionals with a systematic way of identifying children in need and ascertaining the best way of helping those children and their families. A simple guide for anyone working with children, What to do if you're worried a child is being abused. (HM Government, 2006), outlines the child protection processes and systems contained in the Working Together and Framework for Assessment documents.

Whilst local authorities have a mandatory duty to investigate if they are informed a child may be at risk, there are no specific mandatory child abuse reporting laws in the UK that require professionals to report their suspicions to the authorities. However in Northern Ireland, it is an offence not to report an arrestable crime to the police. Since the Children Act 1989, many new laws have been passed to strengthen the ways children are protected. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UN, 1989) … includes the right to protection from abuse, the right to express their iews and have them listened to and the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away from home. The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. … [C]hildren are covered by this legislation as they are persons in the eyes of the law, just as adults are (Bainham, 2005 p82). The Act makes it unlawful for public authorities to act in a manner which is incompatible with the rights and freedoms contained in the Act. It also requires the Government and the courts to ensure that court rulings and new Bills are compatible with the Act wherever possible.

These rights include the right to respect for private and family life. The Education Act 2002 includes a provision (section 175 [“Protecting and involving young people”) requiring school governing bodies, local education authorities and further education institutions to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Children Act 2004 Following the death of eight-year old Victoria Climbie in 2000, the Government asked Lord Laming to conduct an inquiry to help decide whether it needed to introduce new legislation and guidance to improve the child protection system in England.

The … Victoria Climbie Inquiry report (Laming, 2003) [resulted in] the Keeping children safe report (DfES, 2003) and the Every child matters green paper (DfES, 2003), which in turn led to the Children Act 2004. Although much of this legislation still applies, the election of a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in May 2010 has led to a shift in thinking on child protection, and a number of changes in approach are currently under discussion.

In June 2010 the new government invited Professor Eileen Munro to conduct an independent review of children’s social work and child protection practice in England. Children and Families Minister, Tim Loughton said that it would provide an opportunity to counteract a culture in child protection, “which places too much emphasis on bureaucratic box ticking above close personal attention to the circumstances of individual children”.

The Munro review of child protection: final report (Munro, May 2011) called for a more child-focused system and a reduction in prescriptive timescales and targets from central government. A child centred system: the government’s response to the Munro review (DfE, July 2011) accepted all but one of Munro’s recommendations, and laid out a programme of proposed changes over the following years. Pending alterations have been noted throughout this briefing.

The Children Act 2004 does not replace or even amend much of the Children Act 1989. Instead it sets out the process for integrating services to children [emphasis by person quoting this material]. It covers England and Wales in separate sections. Besides creating the post of Children's Commissioner for England, the Children Act 2004 places a duty on local authorities to appoint a director of children’s services and an elected lead member for children’s services, who is ultimately accountable for the delivery of services.

The coalition government published revised statutory guidance relating to the two posts in April 2012 (DfE, 2012). The Act places a duty on local authorities and their partners (including the police, health service providers and the youth justice system) to co-operate in promoting the wellbeing of children and young people and to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The Act also puts Local Safeguarding Children Boards on a statutory footing (replacing the non-statutory Area Child Protection Committees) and gives them functions of investigation and review (section 14), which they use to review all child deaths in their area. Section 58 of the Children Act 2004 updates the legislation on physical punishment. It limits the use of the defence of reasonable punishment so that it can no longer be used when people are charged with the offences against a child of wounding, actual or grievous bodily harm or cruelty … (DCSF, 2007).

After the Children Act 2004 … The Education Act 2011 makes changes to provisions on school discipline and will place restrictions on the public reporting of allegations made against teachers. The intention is for most of the sections of the Act to have commenced by the start of the 2012 academic year.

Assessment Criteria 1. 2Describe the roles of different agencies involved in safeguarding the welfare of children and young people. On the website safeguardingchildren. co. k, in the Section entitled “Agency Roles and Responsibilities”, the following information is provided re Children's Social Care, an Emergency Duty Team, Schools and Governing Bodies, Senior Members of Staff with Designated Responsibility for Child Protection and Further Education Institutions and Governing Bodies (the later for children under eighteen years of age). Children's Social Care The agency with lead responsibility for child protection within North Yorkshire is the Local Authority Children and Young People's Service, Children's Social Care.

Children's Social Care has the following responsibilities:

Assess, plan and provide support to children in need, particularly those suffering or likely to suffer significant harm;

• Make enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 wherever there is reason to suspect that a child in its area is at risk of significant harm;
• Convene and chair Child Protection Conferences under LSCB procedures;
• Maintain the Electronic Social Care Record (ESCR) known as ICS;
• Provide a Key Worker for every child subject to a Child Protection Plan;
• Ensure that the agencies who are party to the protection plan coordinate their activities to protect the child;
• Undertake a Core Assessment where required ensuring they comply with the standards set out in LSCB Procedures, Appendix 4;
• Convene regular reviews of the progress of any child subject to a Child Protection Plan through both Core Group and Child Protection Conference Review meetings;
• Instigate legal proceedings where required.

Additionally Children's Social Care are a responsible authority in North Yorkshire within the Licensing Act (2003) and Gambling Act (2005) for the protection of children criterion. The primary duty of all staff, whatever their nominated role, is to protect children from significant harm. Emergency Duty Team (EDT) Staff working in EDTs must distinguish carefully, often on the basis of inadequate and/or incomplete information:

• What immediate action may be required to ensure the immediate and longer term safety of a child; and
• What further responses may be best left to day time services.

EDT staff should ensure that all relevant information obtained and actions taken out of office hours are transmitted without delay to the relevant sections within Adult & Community Services and Children's Social Care and other agencies as appropriate. Children and Young People's Service: Education The duty of local authorities, schools of all kinds and FE colleges to have arrangements for carrying out their functions with a view to safeguarding & promoting the welfare of children is under sections 175 & 157 of the Education Act 2002. Education staff have a crucial role to play in helping identify welfare concerns and indicators of possible abuse or neglect at an early stage. The local authority has a nominated a lead officer with responsibly for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children at three levels.

These responsibilities are:

• Strategic - coordinating and planning service delivery;
• Support - ensuring schools are aware of their responsibilities, monitoring their performance and ensuring training, model policies and procedures and advice and support is available;
• Operational - taking responsibility for safeguarding children who are excluded from school or who have not obtained a school place, for example children and pupil referral units or being educated by the authority's home tutor service; involvement in dealing with allegations against staff and volunteers; and ensuring arrangements are in place to prevent unsuitable staff and volunteers from working with children.

Schools and Governing Bodies Governing Body should ensure that:

• the school has a child protection policy and procedures in place that are in accordance with local authority guidance and locally agreed inter-agency procedures, and the policy is made available to parents on request;
• the school operates safe recruitment procedures and makes sure that all appropriate checks are carried out on staff and volunteers who ork with children;
• the school has procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against staff and volunteers that comply with guidance from the local authority and locally agreed inter-agency procedures;
• a senior member of the school's leadership team is designated to take lead responsibility for child protection (and deputy); • staff undertake appropriate child protection training;
• they remedy, without delay, any deficiencies or weaknesses regarding child protection arrangements;
• a governor is nominated to be responsible for liaising with the local authority and /or partner agencies in the event of allegations of abuse being made against the head teacher;
• where services or activities are provided on the school premises by another body, the body concerned has appropriate policies and procedures in place in regard to safeguarding children and child protection and liaises with the school on these matters where appropriate;
• they review their policies and procedures annually and provide information to the local authority about them and about how the above duties have been discharged The Headteacher should ensure that: the policies and procedures adopted by the Governing Body or Proprietor are fully implemented, and followed by all staff;
• sufficient resources and time are allocated to enable the designated person and other staff to discharge their responsibilities; and
• all staff and volunteers feel able to raise concerns about poor or unsafe practice in regard to children, and such concerns are addressed sensitively and effectively in a timely manner in accordance with agreed whistle blowing policies.

Senior Members of Staff with Designated Responsibility for Child Protection should ensure the following:

Referrals

• Refer cases of suspected abuse or allegations to the relevant investigating agencies;
• Act as a source of support, advice and expertise within the educational establishment;
• Liaise with head teacher to inform him/her of any issues and ongoing investigations and ensure there is always cover for this role. Training
• To recognise how to identify signs of abuse and when it is appropriate to make a referral;
• Have a working knowledge of how LSCBs operate, the onduct of a child protection case conference and be able to attend and contribute to these;
• Ensure that all staff have access to and understand the school's child protection policy;
• Ensure that all staff have induction training;
• Keep detailed accurate secure written records and/or concerns;
• Obtain access to resources and attend any relevant or refresher training courses at least every two years.
• Raising Awareness.

All staff and volunteers

• fully comply with the school's policies and procedures;
• attend appropriate training;
• inform the designated person of any concerns.

Further Education Institutions and Governing Bodies See arrangements above for schools. [iii] Police There is a National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) document entitled, “Guidance on Investigating Child Abuse and Safeguarding Children, Second Edition”.

In it the priorities and responsibilities of the Police Service in protecting child welfare are described as:

• protect the lives of children and ensure that in the policing of child abuse the welfare of all children is paramount;
• investigate all reports of child abuse and neglect and protect the rights of child victims of crime;
• establish the investigation of child abuse and safeguarding of children as a mainstream policing activity; and
• adopt a proactive multi-agency approach to preventing and reducing child abuse and neglect and safeguarding children.

Health service roles and responsibilities in child protection “Within the health services every member of staff has a responsibility for ensuring that children are protected as much as possible. ” Different specializations have unique observations [e. g.

Mid-Wives for pre-born children and their parent(s)] but in summary each staff member, leader, and volunteer is to be trained to recognize and intervene according to agency policies; some identified leaders will have roles in leading interagency meetings and some specialists will be given opportunity to make recommendations regarding child, young person and/or parent(s). For children seen in A&E there is a check system to verify if a child has been flagged for another concern.

Health Care Providers:

Health care providers specialist knowledge may also be very helpful with conditions or situations such as the following:

• Children and young people with severe behavioural difficulties;
• Emotional disturbance;
• Eating disorders;
• Self-harming behaviour; Families where there is a perceived high risk of danger;
• Very young children;
• Abused child or abuser has severe communication problems;
• Situations where parent and carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes ill-health to a child;
• Where multiple victims are involved.

Office for standard in education (Ofsted) Children's Directorate Registered childminders and group day care providers must satisfy explicit criteria in order to meet the national standard with respect to child protection (Standard 13, of Day Care Standards issued by Ofsted). Ensuring that they do so is the responsibility of the Children's Directorate of Ofsted. Ofsted requires that:

All childminders and group day care staff have knowledge of child protection, including the signs and symptoms of abuse and what to do if abuse or neglect is suspected;

Those who are entrusted with the day care of children or who child mind have the personal capacity and skills to ensure children are looked after in a nurturing and safe manner.

Ofsted will seek to ensure that day care providers:

• Ensure the environment in which children are cared for is safe;
• Have child safeguarding children policies and procedures in place, which are consistent with these procedures;
• Be able to demonstrate that their procedures have been followed when an allegation is made.

Ofsted must contact Children's Social Care about any child protection issues and, in consultation with them, consider whether any action needs to be taken to protect children attending the provision.

Ofsted must be informed when a child protection referral is made to Children's Social Care about:

• A person who works as a child minder; or
• A person who works in day care for children; or
• Allegations regarding any person residing in the home of a registered childminder; or
• Any service regulated by Ofsted's Children's Directorate.

Ofsted must be invited to any Strategy Meeting where an allegation might have implications for other users of the day care service and/or the registration of the provider. Ofsted must seek to cancel registration if children are at risk of significant harm by being looked after in childminding or group day care settings.

Where warranted, Ofsted will bring civil proceedings or criminal proceedings against registered or unregistered day care providers. Additionally, Ofsted's Children's Directorate:

• Registers private and voluntary care services which are required to meet national standards;
• Inspects, assesses and reviews all care services;
• Inspects boarding schools, residential special schools and further education colleges with residential students under 18 years;
• Publishes an inspection report;
• Provides details of the number and quality or private and voluntary care services;
• Deals with complaints about care service providers;
• Takes enforcement action when services do not meet minimum standards.

Providers will also be expected to have knowledge of child protection, including signs and symptoms and what to do if abuse or neglect is suspected and an up to date child protection policy. [vii] NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a charity with a duty to protect children from abuse and neglect and has the statutory power to bring care proceedings in its own right. The NSPCC operates a national 24 hour child protection line (see Appendix 2), which accepts referrals and passes the information to the relevant Children's Services. Children's Social Care may commission the NSPCC to undertake specific child protection related work, including Section 47 Enquiries and ‘special investigations'. [viii]

Also, per The Department for Children, Schools and Families’ “Working Together to Safeguard Children--A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”, The Purpose of multi-agency working at both strategic and operational levels is to achieve better outcomes for children and young people by fostering: a shared understanding of the tasks, processes, principles, roles and responsibilities outlined in national guidance and local arrangements for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare; more effective and integrated services at both the strategic and individual case level; improved communication and information sharing between professionals, including a common understanding of key terms, definitions and thresholds for action; effective working relationships, including an ability to work in multi-disciplinary groups or teams; sound child focused assessments and decision-making; and learning from Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) and reviews of child deaths.

Identify the Signs and Symptoms of Common Childhood Diseases. And Assessment Criteria

Describe the actions to take when children or young people are ill or injured. and Assessment Criteria

Identify circumstances when children and young people might require urgent medical attention.

Note to: Wendy -- I had already done this grid, per brief instructions on Moodle the week when class was cancelled due to snow and ice. So this may not be quite what you were looking for but I learned some things and thought I could use this as a resource in the future so I did not delete content, even though it is quite lengthy. In general, responses at school include the following for when a child is injured or becomes ill: Have a First Aider accessible during times of outside play and during all school hours. Reassure the child;

Have child assessed by First Aider; If okay to move the child take the child to a quiet area; Other wise clear the area and leave child in place; Reassure other children who are concerned; If unable to self-ambulate and/or child appears to need help moving and First Aider recommends, then call an ambulance; Minor cuts/bruises: apply cold, wet paper towel; Document anything witnesses, often this is done in the School Accident Book; If bump to head then send home a letter to notify parents; If any bodily fluids are involved, wear gloves; Keep child cool or warm, depending on situation. Contact parents if anything other than minor health/illness/accident arises.

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