Assignment 26 Safeguarding

15 ASSIGNMENT 26 UNDERSTAND HOW TO SAFEGUARD THE WELLBEING OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE TASK A BREIFING NOTES FOR NEW WORKERS HOW TO SAFEGUARD THE WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN Every child or young person has the undeniable right to grow and develop in a safe environment that safeguards them from abuse and maltreatment, to enable them to have the best available life chances to develop into young adults. There is no single piece of legislation for safeguarding children in the UK but lots of laws and guidelines which are changing all the time with new legislation.This is passed by Westminster, the Welsh Assembly Government, Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament this is Statutory Law. The way courts interpret laws is known as Case Law which can have an effect on changing Statutory Law. Child Protection legislation is in 2 categories Civil law and Criminal law. 16. Civil Law is in 2 areas Public Law which puts systems and processes to reduce the risk of children coming to harm a nd says what action should happen if they are at risk. Private Law sorts out family contact and divorce. Accompanying material: Promoting Wellbeing and ResilienceCriminal Law deals with people who have offended or are at risk of offending against children. The Children and young Persons Act 1933 is the oldest piece of legislation with only parts of it still in force today, it gives a list of offences against children known as Schedule One Offences. These include sexual assault, different forms of abuse and maltreatment ranging from murder to neglect. Anyone found guilty of one or more of these offences becomes a Schedule One Offender regardless of their age or sentence and this status will stay with them for life.They will be monitored by the local authorities who keep a record of where they live and who with, they need to go to the police station to sign a register on very regular bases to prove that they are and still living where logged Sex offenders Act 1997. Children Act 1989 is the bases of the current child protection system. It has a number of principles The Paramountcy Principl e that means a child’s welfare is paramount when making decisions about their upbringing, a court needs to know the child’s feelings and what they want and only make an order if it’s better for the hild than not making one, where possible retaining family links and the child’s home. Parental Responsibility was introduced which is â€Å"the rights, responsibilities and duties by law a parent of a child has regarding the child and their property†. It also states the local authority has a duty to investigate 17. and protect if they have reasonable cause to think a child is suffering or likely to suffer any sort of harm. Likewise has a duty to provide â€Å"services for children in need and their families†.England and Wales have a separate document working together to Safe guard Children 2006 which emphasises the responsibilities of Professionals towards children at risk and to work together with other agency’s/authorities. The Welsh Asse mbly Government 2006 working together under the Children Act 2004, The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 all share the same principles but have their own guidance, as Children Act 1989.The death of Victoria Climbie by her carers, led to an inquiry into how she and others over the years died, the Lambing Report made by Lord Laming criticised the approach to protecting children in society thus led to EVERY CHILD MATTERS GREEN PAPER which in turn led to the Children Act 2004 as services for children were still not working together to protect and identify vulnerable children. This brought in children’s directors who have the responsibility for education, Local authority and children’s social services. Lead Councillors who have political responsibility for child welfare.A Common Assessment Framework to help notice welfare needs for agencies. 18. Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards who have statuary powers to make sure all se rvices (education, police, NHS Social Services youth justice system) work together promoting the wellbeing and make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and investigate all child deaths in their area. Bichard Inquiry where a caretaker who was known to be a danger to children by one police authority, who’s vetting CRB check didn’t flag this up by another authority.This brought in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 which made a centralized vetting and barring scheme for people working with children. Working with Northern Irelands safeguarding vulnerable groups (NI) order 2007 and Scotland’s protection of vulnerable groups (Scotland) Act 2007 makes a robust system for vetting staff and barring people who are unsuitable to work with children across the whole of the UK. The Children Act 2004 made it illegal to hit a child if it causes mental harm or a lasting mark on the skin.Sexual Offences Act 2003 updated the legislation relating to offences against children to include grooming, abuse of a position of trust, child trafficking; this also covers offences committed whilst abroad by a UK citizen. 19. Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 made it a criminal offence for Uk nationals or permanent UK residents to take or help take a girl abroad to carry out genital mutilation. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 says people who commit child sex offences abroad, even if it’s not illegal in the country they committed it will still face prosecution in the UK.Data Protection Act Organisations holding personal data to keep it secure, use it only when needed and accurate and kept up to date. Child protection with in a wider concept of safeguarding All agencies, services and authorities not only have a duty to safeguarding children from neglect or abuse but to have a Staying Safe Action Plan enabling every child to enjoy safe environment wherever they spend their time. It’s vital that carers/staff have a good understanding of the risks to children’s safety.By having an up to date Safety representative making risk assessments on the venue and activities under taken, keeping them safe from accidents and promoting their welfare in a safe and healthy environment. An action Plan to safeguard from bulling, crime and in some beliefs forced marriages need to be in place. This affects the day to day child care working place by; All employees’ to be CRB checked and a duty to inform the Safeguarding Authorities if any staff or volunteer poses a threat to the children. 20.Staff must sign a confidentiality agreement, stating not to discuss or post any details of the children by word or internet to anyone except staff or local authorities if needed. Health and Safety with risk assessment made on the venue and activities taking place there. Have all windows and doors locked/secure so the children can’t get out and strangers can’t get in. Visitors to the venue can onl y be allowed in, if they are known/expected to staff and/or identification is shown. Visitors need to be signed in the visitor’s book and signed out again when they leave the building.Have a policy for the protection of children and arrangements to liaise with local safeguarding authorities Log all comments or incidents you observe and deem to be potentially harmful to establish a file, and contacting Social Services or Child Protection if a case is proving likely. Staff to be Qualified and appropriate training kept up to date i. e. First Aid, Health and Safety, Food Hygiene and Child Protection. All outings to be risked assessed, children to wear high visible jackets, the correct ratio of staff to children and a list of all children with contact details of their carer and consent for them to go on the outing.To hold all parent contact details and medical needs of all children. 21. To have a senior adequately trained member of staff to undertake all of the above. Inquiries an d Serious Case Reviews processes are required when a child dies and neglect or abuse is suspected or known to be a factor of the death and they are called in by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) they involve all local Authority Children’s Services, Police, Health, School or any other agency felt needed. All involved services make a management review of its practices to see if any changes need to be made.An independent overview report is done which looks at the management reports and they make recommendations, they are commissioned by the LSCB. Ofsted are notified by the Local Authorities of all cases that lead to a Serious Case Review whether it a death or suffered harm as a result of abuse/neglect or there are concern/media coverage raised about a professional practice. The process used by my work setting regarding data information, information handling and sharing is they hold information on children in order to support their development, progress and pr ovide pastoral care and to assess how we are doing as a whole.The information consists of contact details, attendance, ethnic groups, relevant medical needs and any special educational needs. Sometime we are required to pass on data to Local Authorities; they will make an assessment of any special educational needs. Dept. Education and skills use the data for research and statistical purposes to allocate funds and improve education policy and agencies such as Ofsted they use data about progress, performance of children to help inspectors to evaluate the Early Learning settings and part of Ofsted’s assessment of effectiveness of 22.Education initiatives and policy and Qualification and curriculum Authority use information about children to administer national assessments such as the Foundation Stage Profile. At 5yrs assessment are made on all children and passed onto Local Authority. We hold information including, contact details, progress reports, relevant medical information , attendance and accident/injury records and records of observation and assessment of children’s achievement and development. Attached is a copy of our confidentiality policy and procedure.TASK B 1. Safeguarding children is important because far too many children experience abuse and/or neglect by their parents/carers. This is very sadly rising from 25,700 in 2003 to 26,400 in 2006 in England alone. 2. A person-centred approach is important as Every Child Matters so they can be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and enjoy economic well-being, having a national framework to aid the joining of all the services, to plan and meet the needs of individuals rather than a group.All children have the right to have their voices heard regarding plans and events in their lives as stated by the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. 3. What is meant by a partnership working in the context of safeguarding children is people and agencies who ar e involved with the welfare of a child working with professionals such as Child minders, Health visitor’s, police, GP, Social Workers, School and local community. 23. 4. Organisation Role of organisationResponsibility Social Services Assessing children’s needs in the community.The wellbeing, protection and health . of the child NSPCC Identify and prevent child crueltyChild protection, ensuring an appropriate and speedy response Health VisitorAssess child development Health of the young child and work with . S/Services and Police and agencies GPHealth care to the communityGet the appropriate agencies involved and work alongside themProbation Support convicted people rehabilitate Supervise offender to reduce reoffending Protecting the public Police Criminal proceedings in Safeguardingto investigate any criminal offences. 24. School Educate young peopleMonitor the child and work with S/Service . and Child Protection Psychology Service CounsellingWork with the child and s upport them with issues regarding to the abuse Leisure groups i. e. (Scouts) Teach life skills/sportsWork with the Agencies involved and . o be trained in Child Protection. Child MinderTake care and look after young people To be trained in Child Protection so they can . Identify early abuse and work with other agencies Task C It is important to keep children protected in the work setting, as parent/carers intrust their children into your care to keep them from harm and they need to be confidant that their child is safe, failure to do so is a breach of professional values.There are policies that protect the child and adult who works with them. 25. Physical contact: Have clear policies on how to manage it. Young children need physical contact sometimes when they hurt themselves, fallen over etc. where a cuddle can help them to recover back to play, as well as medical help if needed. Too much can be easily mistaken and people have lost their jobs and reputations, you must always make sure you are clear at what is acceptable and have a clear open play area for all to see.With very young children and babies, intermit contact is used, such as nappy changing or wet clothes. Policies are there to safeguard you and the child, never do this with a door closed or out of sight of your colleagues. Photos: written consent from the parents for photos to be taken and used within the setting and their journals or publications/newsletters. Always get parents to sign to say they will only use photos/videos of the children i. e. concert and nativity for their own personal use and not to be put on the internet or social networking sites.CRB Checks: Are made on all staff to safeguard the children. Staff are in a position of trust by the parent/carer and the child. Children look up to and respect people in positions of trust, so think very carefully about your own behaviour and example you set. Listening to children can give you a lot of information and sometimes things of concern, if that is the case try not to agree to keep it a secret, tell them you will share it with your manager. Make sure you record all details and report it if you are concerned about their welfare. 26.Whistle blowing: If you have any idea of poor practice, whether it’s a colleague or manager you must report it and not ignore it. Approach another member of staff or managers tell them and put your concerns in writing with all the facts, make sure something is done. You have the right to be protected from the person you have raised concerns about (UK Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998) Outings: need to be risk assessed, outlining traffic danger, equipment, buildings and parks you’re visiting and the weather too and minimise or delete the hazard using control measures. I. e. walking in the street.Hazard: traffic and the child wondering off, so make sure you have the correct ratio of adults to children on an outing and to wear hi vis wear. The weather, a child getting wet or cold, so make sure you have the correct clothes. Steps can be difficult for young children so make sure they have adult help. Task D In the context of safeguarding children there are recognisable signs that can indicate abuse, neglect are taking place. Not all signs actually mean it is, for instance some African/Asian children can have dark blue like areas on their lower back and buttocks known as Mongolian Blue Spot.Darkened skin or birthmarks can be mistaken for bruising. One of the first signs is Emotional and behaviour rather than physical marks. Emotional Abuse is where love, acceptance and approval is not given and constantly been blamed or criticized. Signs of this can include low self-esteem, neurotic behaviour, hair twisting, continual rocking, self-harm, development delay or sudden change or problem with speech such as stammering, extreme 27. withdrawal or aggression. Emotional abuse is usually linked with neglect.Physical abuse is where a child is harmed or hurt by hittin g, beating with objects, kicked, shaken or thrown and can cause bruising, cuts, injury’s (broken bones) or even death. Signs of this can be wearing too much clothing trying to cover up, refusal to change for PE or take clothes off in the warm weather. Burns and injuries that are unexplained and reoccur, bald patch in their hair, frightened to be touched and shying or dodging back if approached and aggressive behaviour towards others and themselves. Look out for grasp marks on the body i. e.Arms, neck, chest, knees and shoulder’s, finger marks on their cheeks and outline of objects like belt buckle on their buttocks. Neglect is where a parent/carer doesn’t provide shelter, warmth, food that is nourishing, clothes and protection. Possible signs of this could include constantly hungry or stealing food the lack of normal body weight, poor personal hygiene and dress, untreated medical issues, poor or if any social relationships, constant tiredness and destructive ten dencies. Sexual abuse is when a child is persuaded or forced into taking part in sexual acts/situations.This ranges from being shown sexual images, being touch inappropriately, harassed by sexual comments and suggestions and forced to have sex. Signs of this can be sexual knowledge/behaviour far more ahead of their age, don’t like being touch or close to people or removing clothing for examination or PE at school, start to bed wet and soil day and night, withdrawn and not being able to concentrate, regressing to younger behaviour such as thumb sucking, become insecure, loss of appetite, trying to be over perfect, a sudden dislike to be left with someone (uncle, friend, babysitter etc. and drawing sexual images. 28. D2 Action Description 1. ListenListen carefully to what they say. 2. ReactionDon’t look shocked or ask leading questions. 3. CommunicateTalk at the child’s pace without pressure. 4. BelieveAccept what the child is saying. 5. AssuranceTell them they ar e right to tell someone. 6. Never PromiseNever promise to keep it a secret. 7. Never JudgeNever put the perpetrator down as they could still love them. 8. ReportReport it to your manager. 9. Log Write all the facts down. 10. AlertAlert the appropriate authorities.D3 Example of the rights children and their carer’s has in cases of harm/abuse. 1. The child has the right not to be subjected to repeated medical examination and questioning after an allegation of abuse be it physical or sexual in nature. 29. 2. Members of the family have the right to know what is being said about them and have an input to important discussions about theirs and the children’s lives. 3. Children have the right to have their views taken into account about their future and to be kept fully informed in processes involving them and dealt with sensitively.Task E Bulling: there are different types of bulling homophobic because of gender differences, racist due to different ethnic/religious backgroun d, disabilities where they might be in a wheelchair/callipers, special educational needs such as Autism etc. and electronic bulled via the internet/texting. This can be done physically by hitting, kicking, pinching and any violent threats. Verbally name calling, persistent teasing, spreading of rumours and insults/sarcasm. Emotional bulling is when someone is isolating by excluding and not talking to them, torment and humiliation.Cyber bulling is when information is used to cause upset and hurt to somebody by the use of the internet, mobile and technology. Any type of bulling can make a child or young person feel depressed, isolated, sad with a low self-esteem, shy, run away and even suicidal. Policies and Procedure Management have the duty to implement an Anti-Bulling Policy and ensure all staff is aware of it and how to deal with bullying. The manager ensures that all children begin to learn that bulling is wrong and unacceptable behaviour and monitor that it is being implemented. 30. The manager will ensure all staff is sufficiently trained to deal with incidents.Staffs take all forms of bulling very seriously and intervene to prevent incidents happening. A record of any incidents is kept on file and the manager notified. If staff witness an act of bulling they will do all they can to support the person or persons being bullied, if a child is bullied over a period of time after discussion with the manager, the parent will be informed. The pre-school will do all they can to help the child improve their behaviour and make them aware their actions are not acceptable. If the bulling persists the parent will be asked in to discuss this with the manager.Parents who might be concerned that their child is being bullied or suspect them being bullied, should contact the Pre-school manager immediately. Parents have a responsibility to support the Pre-school’s anti bullying policy and actively encourage their child to be a positive member of school life. Parents are also expected to help develop their child’s social skills, in support of the Pre-schools ethos. Story of Bulling A young teenage girl, who had buck teeth and a personal odour problem, enjoyed the internet and social network site as she didn’t have many friends and was a bit of a loner.Her family thought she was a computer whiz as she was very good at ICT so didn’t keep too much of an eye on her, as this was her only 31. Social thing she did. It was during the summer holidays she got a friends request from a boy at school, she accepted the request and started chatting. Over the next 6 weeks, he asked her to be his girlfriend as he had always fancied her, she accepted. They chatted for hours sharing some very intermit things and experiences, she was totally in love with him and he told her he loved her too. She was really looking forward to meeting up with him at school when they went back.On the first day of school they had arranged to meet by the water foun tain in the playground, when she got there she saw him standing waiting along with a large group of girls and boys laughing, calling her names and repeating some of the intermit things she had told him, she realised it was a horrible prank and she was devastated. Over the next few weeks she was so upset and got more and more depressed, not eating and totally shutting herself away and refusing to go to school some days saying she didn’t feel well, as the rumours spread and comments on the internet got worse.Her parents tried talking to her but she just said â€Å"she was fine† and they put it down to teenage and her period pains until one morning when they found her dead, she had taken an overdose and in her hand was a note to her parent saying â€Å"I’m sorry†. Looking back over this story the girl could still be alive if her computer access was monitored in an area open for the family to see. Her teeth could have been seen by an Orthodontic and she could have been taught about personal hygiene at home. School could have discussed this with her and if need be the parents as well.Encouraging her to join after school clubs could also have helped. The school should have noticed the signs of bullying and acted 32. upon it giving the girl support and reassurance whilst dealing with the bullies and explaining that their actions were unacceptable and how it affects people and how they would feel if it was done to them. School should have liaised with the family about their concerns. Task F 1. Giving young people/children praise and encouragement will help with their self-confidence.Teaching them to be more assertive while still respecting others needs and encouraging tolerance and cooperation between their peers and others will help boost children’s self-esteem. 2. It’s important to support resilience when working with children/young people because it helps them deal and cope with different situations, whether they are good o r bad as they get older and develop into young adults. 3. This can be achieved by the family giving the child love and stability, having a good and secure early attachment, a good sense of self identity. In the work place you could o this by helping them to act independently and to encourage them to try new and different things. 4. Children/young people need to develop strategies to protect themselves and make decision about being safe, as this teaches them what is acceptable behaviour and what isn’t. It’s very important they are comfy 33. with whom they are with, what they are doing and what is being done to them. You can support them with this by being approachable to talk too about their concerns and to be caring and reassuring as possible. Children need to learn how to behave in activities and the danger some behaviour has and the consequence it could cause.Road safety is also very important to teach children to keep safe. Educating children about the dangers that some adults pose and how to minimise them, including how to keep safe while they are using the internet/social network sites. Making them aware of the dangers of substance abuse and provide them with age related sex/relationship education including sexual health and safe sex advise and where they can also seek help if they cannot talk to you. 5. Ways of how to empower children/young people to make positive choices. 1 Teach young children about their bodies and how it works.As they get older explaining puberty and how their bodies are changing into young adults and to give them sex/relationship education including contraception/safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases and aware of other agencies that can help them if they need it. 2 Road safety you start when they are very young by holding their hands to cross the road telling them the Green cross code (copy of the code attached) teaching them to cross safely, then moving onto crossing with you without holding your hand, working to being able to cross on their own with supervision, until they can do it without adult supervision. 4. 3. The internet. When young children are using the internet they should have parental supervision and parental security put into place on the computer reducing the risk of assessing inappropriate sites. The computer should be in an open downstairs place where it can be seen (not hidden away in the child bedroom). Ensure you child isn’t using social network sites under age i. e. Facebook has a minimum age of 13yrs. and when they do use these sites, teach them to put their security settings on so only friends can view their age. Never to befriend someone they don’t know or give out personal details/photos even if they say they are the same age, as this could be a much older person grooming or trying to exploit them. These sites can also have the danger of cyber bulling, so give the child the effective advice of what to do if any of this happens. Always check what your c hild is assessing and who they are communicating to, even when they are older teenagers. Task G IssueRiskPossible consequences Being online 1Gambling sites flood the network.Addiction and crime to support their habit. 2 Exposure to violent material. They could imitate the violence seen. 35. 3Grooming/PaedophilesPhysical harm and psychological impact. Mobile phones RiskPossible consequences 1Bulling via textlow self-esteem, depression, self-harm, health if not eating well. 2Health It’s 5 times more likely of children developing cancer due to excessive useof mobile phone as children’s skulls are thinner so the radiation penetrates deeper. 3Pornography Exposure to sexually explicit material, become sexually active under age. AREAWAYS OF REDUCING RISK Social networking1. Safe security settings. 2. Only befriend/chat to people you know. Internet use1. Computer to be in an open area for all to see. 2. Parental controls 36. Buying online1. Make sure it’s a safe padlock ed site. 2. Buy from reputable companies; look for contact details and returns/delivery policies. Using a mobile phone1. Only talk and text to people you know. 2. Restrict the time children use mobile phones to reduce the amount of radiation penetrating.