Unit 025

Unit 025 understand how to safeguard the well-being of children and young people

Analyse how national and local guidelines, policies and procedure for safeguarding affect day to day work with children. It is very important that anyone working with children should be able to recognise if a child is at risk of harm or in need because of their vulnerability. The earlier this is recognised the better the outcome for the child involved.

Clear lines of responsibility exist to ensure children are protected

department for education- overall responsibility for safeguarding and child protection in England issue statutory and non-statutory guidance to local authorities local authorities- use guidance to produce procedures for services and practitioners services use as basis for their policies and procedures

All the guidelines are intended to make sure that all the services and agencies involved with the children and young people work together to improve safeguarding.

Any childcare setting should have clear policies and procedures that cover all aspects of safeguarding. I have attached the policies and procedures we follow in our setting these include; health and safety child protection contact with children and performing personal care outings visitors to the setting risk assessment

Risk assessments should be carried out to make sure that there are no safeguarding threats to the children in a setting. For example are the entrances to the building that an unauthorised person could use? Could a child leave the building without anyone noticing? I have attached a completed risk assemetn carried out in my setting.

Explain when and why inquaries and sereous case reviews are required and how sharing of the findings informspractice To often children die or are sereously injured because of abuse or aviodable accidents. Society has a duty to protect children, we have a network of professional organisations supported by legislation, policies and procedures to do this. When the policies and procedures do not work, society fails in this duty and it is vital that the causes of failure are known and dealt with.
1.4

sereous case reviews are called by the local safeguarding childrens board (LSCB) when a child dies and abuse or neglect are known or suspected to be a factor in the death. They involve the local authorities childrens services and the police, as well as health, education and other agencies as needed.

Each service involved conducts an individual management review of its practice to identify any charges that should be made. The LSCB also commisions an overveiw report from an indipentdant person, which analyses the findings of the individual management reports and make reccomendations. Local authorities are required to notify Ofsted of all incidents involving children that are grave enough that they may lead to a sereous case review, including where a child has died or suffered significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect, or where concerns are raised about professional practice or have attracted national media attention

Lessons learned from sereous case reviews usally include the importance of; sharing information and communication keeping an acurate timeline of events clear planning and roles overcoming the problems of hard-to-reach families good assessment of the childs situation early recognition of children in need of protection by mainstream services such as schools or health services partnership working with agencies that parents may be receiving services from – for example mental health services. A public inquiry is sometimes held after a sereous incident. Members of the public and different organisations may give evidence and also listen to oral evidence given by others. The findings of the inquiry are produced as a written report, given first to the government and soon after published to the public. The report usally makes reccomendations to improve the the management of public organisations in the future.

Example

BICHARD INQUIRY

This inquiry resulted from the murders of two young girls in Suffolk by a school caretaker, who was known as a danger to children by one police authority. The information had not been identified when he had a CRB check in Suffolk. It led, among other things, to the formation of the indipendant safeguarding authority.

Describe the roles and responsibilities of the different organisations that may be involved when a child or young person has been abused or harmed.

Social services have statuary responsibilities to provide support to vulnerable children and families in need. This may be a death or when families are finding every day life difficult. Most social workers are employed by social services. NSPCC is a voluntary organisation- a national charity working to eradicate child abuse, it provides direct services for children,educational resources and campaigns to stop child abuse and works in partnership with other child-related agencies. Health visitors have responsibility for the health of babies and young children under 5. they provide support and guidance to the parents of young children and carry out assessments of a child’s development. General practitioners (GP) work in the community- usually from health centres- and are the gateway to our health services. G P’s are often the first people to identify possible abuse when a child attends surgery. Probation services support people convicted of some offences to be rehabilitated into the community. They have a key role in monitoring people convicted of offences against children and should ensure they do not pose a threat to local children. Police are involved in the criminal proceedings that may result from safeguarding issues. Schools and training organisations are key to identifying and supporting children when they are in need of help. All staff working with children and young people should be trained in safeguarding and child protection. Child psychology services will often be needed to support children who have experienced abuse or harm. 3.2 Policies and procedures in place to protect children and young people and adults who work with themselves power and positions of trust- if you are involved in the care of children, you are working in a position of trust. You have authority over the children and parents have placed their trust in you to look after them, this brings responsibilities . People who wish to occupy positions of trust with children, young people and vulnerable adults have to have enhanced CRB checks. Physical contact- all settings should have a clear policy on how to manage physical contact with children. Young children need physical contact. If they have fallen over, a cuddle can help them to recover and get back to playing. However too much psychical contact can be easily misunderstood. A number of people working with children have lost their jobs and reputations through inappropriate contact. Taking a child to the toilet, changing a nappy or helping a child change out of soiled clothes are all everyday tasks but by not doing these tasks in a room with the door closed or out of sight of other members of staff. Remembering this protects the child and myself. Evaluate ways in which concerns about poor practice can be reported whilst ensuring that whistle-blowers and those whose practice or behaviour is being questioned are protected
3.2
At some stage in your work with children you may be faced with a problem of what to do about someone whose practice is unacceptable. You must not ignore poor practice- no matter who it is being carried out by. It can be very difficult to report someone you work with- or even your manager. If in doubt, just think about the effect of the poor practice or behaviour on the children in your care.

Reporting concerns about poor practice

Think about exactly what is worrying you and why approach your supervisor, manager or safeguarding named person tell someone about your concerns as soon as you feel you can put your concerns in writing, outlining the background and history, giving names, dates and places where you can make sure something happens

whistle blowing does take courage there is a risk of being harassed or bullied as a result. But anyone who can whistle blow has the right to protection from the person they have raised concerns about. Your manager should provide you with support. If you loose your job or suffer as a result of a whistle blowing incident he UK public interest disclosure act offers legal protection.

The best way to protect yourself from accusations or suspicion of abuse or inappropriate behaviour is simple always make sure that you fully understand the policies and procedures about working on-site, off site or performing intimate tasks for children. Follow the policies and procedures at all time avoid being alone in a closed room the a child-related if in doubt check with manager