Safeguarding_the_Welare_of_Children_and_Young_People

Unit 202 Safeguarding the Welfare of children and young people Outcome 1 Know about the legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures of safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety 1.1 The term safeguarding children has replaced the term child protection. Its purpose is to promote children’s safety, welfare and to protect children when abuse happens. Child protection has been developing over time and especially in the last 50 years or so. As a result of two well-known cases in 1973 and 2000 a greater to protect children has become more apparent. As like the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which was introduced to give more protection to vulnerable adults and to ensure that their rights and freedoms of choice are protected, children are protected by the following legislation. · The United Nations Convention of Rights of the Child (1989) (UNCRC 1989) There are a total of 54 articles in this act and probably the most important article is article 19, which states to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse by those responsibly for looking after them. There are also two further Sections which are important in this act and which highlights the responsibility of parents and professionals working with children to ensure children’s safety. Section 47 states that the local authority has a duty to investigate when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child, who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. The definition of significant harm is the seriousness or impact of harm through a single action or actions that have occurred over a period of time. This could be a social services health visitor who visits a family on numerous occasions and on each occasion the child or children are seen to have bruising to the bodies, or even appear to be substantially under weight and malnourished. Another section under this act that needs to be considered is Section 17, which states that services must be put in place by local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. The definition of in need is children who are unlikely to maintain, or be given the opportunity to maintain, a reasonable standard of health or development, or whose health could be impaired without the support of local services. It also includes children with disabilities. · Education Act 2002 The Education Act is aimed towards head teachers and all those working in a teaching environment to ensure that children are safe and free from harm. · Children Act 2004 Lord Laming following an enquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie in February 2000 introduced the Children Act. Lord Laming said that the services responsible for the protection of children had not been working together. His recommendations that resulted in the introduction of the Act identify the different services, which may work closely with schools to safeguard children. To summarise the Act includes requirements for the following: Services to work more closely together, forming an integrated service; A ‘common’ assessment framework to help the early identification of need; A cross over of shared information, which is relevant to the safety and welfare of children; Recognition and early support for parents who are struggling with their own responsibilities for their children. e-safety – This is in relation to the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, which was launch in 2008. Its role is to safeguard children in relation to Internet issues. It is a programme to increase awareness of internet security, set out measures to protect children from unsuitable sites and to establish codes of practice. The Department of Education provides schools and local authorities with guidance and schools use these to develop their own policies and procedures, which must be followed. Two of the guidance’s are indicated below. · Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) As you can tell from the date, this is a relatively new piece of legislation that provides guidance and duties of organisations and how organisations should work together to safeguard children and young people within their care. · What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused (2006) This is guidance is for adults who are working with children, and who feel that they have identified evidence of a child who is being abused in one form or another. · Policies Schools must develop their own range of policies to ensure the security, well-being and safety of all pupils. This is an important policy to set up as it sets out the responsibility of staff and the procedures that they must follow. The school must include sections within their policies that cover the following issues: Bullying, including bullying that takes place on the internet through sites such as facebook, e-mails and also or via mobile phone either through texting or phone calls. Safeguarding, protecting, and procedures for reporting. It is important that schools keep good records of all reports of bullying that take place within the school grounds either during or outside of school hours. 1.2 Although some may think that it is simply the schools responsibility to identify to safeguard the welfare of children and young people, it is in fact the roles of a number of agencies who must work together as outlined in the Children Act 2004 to provide services to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. For example, when assessing the needs of individual children there may be a meeting between the child and their family, health services, social services and the school. Below is a description of the agencies and how their role is important to safeguarding children Children’s Social Care (CSC) CSC plays a key role in safeguarding children who are in need. CSC has a particular responsibility to decide on the course of action that needs to be taken when a child is found to be at risk to harm or abuse. CSC must work together with other agencies and parents in order to achieve their goals. The staff working for CSC, known as Social workers will carry out the services of CSC in the following manner. · An initial assessment of children who are thought to be at risk investigating family and environmental factors, child’s needs and their parents to ability to meet those needs; · Meetings with the family and children; · Collate information about the children from other agencies; · Intervene when a child is believed to be in immediate danger. Health Professionals GP’s and Doctors in emergency departments of hospitals have a duty to alert CSC when they see a child who has injuries, which they suspect, have not been caused by an accident. They may also carry out the following: · Provide evidence in court if it is felt that a crime has been committed against the child; · Provide a written report to b included with a child’s social care report; · Conduct a medical examination if a child is thought to have suffered abuse. Police All Police forces have a Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU). The role of this unit includes the following: · Establishing if a crime has been committed; · Gathering information from other agencies such as the CSC; · Taking action if a child is seen to be in immediate danger, this may involve removing the child to a safe environment or removing the suspect; · As with the role of a Health professional, a police officer may also be required to attend court to give evidence should it be proven that a crime has been committed. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Probably the one society that is involved in the protection of child welfare that people will recognise. It is also the only society involved in the protection of children that is a registered charity and the only charity that has been given powers by law to take action when children are at risk. The services provided by the NSPCC include the following: · Provide support for families and children; · Provide direct contact for children who feel that they are in danger through means such as the telephone; · Raise awareness of abuse through advertising and the media; · Provide contact facilities to the charity for people who are concerned that a child is at risk to abuse; · Contributes to law to protect children better; · Sharing their expertise with other professionals such as the police and CSC or other charities that support similar issues. The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) The role of the LSCB is responsible for overseeing the work of the other agencies. Any serious cases will be investigated by LSCB and also if any of the agencies are believed to have failed in their services the LSCB will investigate and report on their findings. E-Safety I have already covered the role of the UKCCIS in point 1.1 and can just reiterate that it is responsible increase awareness of internet safety and sets out measures to protect children from unsuitable sites. OUTCOME 2 Know what to do when children or young people are ill or injured, including emergency procedures 2.1 I think that it is important to first point out that it is not the ole of a teacher or teaching assistant to be able to act as a doctor or nurse. It is the role of the teacher to recognise that a child is not their usual self; if a child displays signs of illness then it is their role to bring it to the attention so that the parents can then take the necessary action by contacting their GP. It is important to also remember that not all children are able to express how they feel. I have shown on the next page the common illness and their signs and symptoms. As a result of any illness there are guidelines published by the Health Protection Agency, which suggest how long a pupil should be off from school before returning. There are also illnesses, such as measles and mumps which must be reported to the local authority if found. This is how it has been established recently that there has been an increase in recent years of the number of children suffering from these illness as there had been scares about the side effects of the injection that babies received from such vaccinations. There are other serious illnesses, which must be reported for medical attention immediately, such as meningitis. Meningitis is a difficult illness to spot in the early stages and you can see from the previous page what the symptoms are. 2.2 Each school will have its own procedures in place for dealing with injured children. Injuries can take the form of minor injuries such as cuts and bruises or more major injuries such as broken bones. If a child is seen to have a minor injury, such as a cut on the knee, (let’s face it, probably the most common injury in any school), then a simple visit by a qualified first aider will be sufficient. Each school requires at least one qualified first aider to deal with such issues and every individual member of staff will be aware of the name(s) of the qualified First Aiders. Once the incident has been dealt with, the first aider will then make a report of the incident, (as soon after the event as possible s always advised). The same person will then be required to prepare a report of what has happened which can then be passed onto a child’s parents or guardians. Each report that is recorded in the school incident and accident book must be signed by a member of staff who is qualified so must sign off the reports. Serious injuries have to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive by law. Reporting to a parent or guardian is important so that they can look for further signs of illness. This may be important when a child suffers a head injury for example. If a child is believed to have a broken bone, such as a break to a collarbone, then medical attention at a hospital is necessary. It is in these instances that the school will contact a parent so that the child can be taken to hospital. On these occasions it is still important that the report book is signed. 2.3 As explained in section 2.2, they are circumstances when children suffer minor injuries and need basic assistance from a qualified First Aider. There is no need to attend a hospital on these occasions or leave school and go home to make a full recovery. Let’s face it, if a cut on a knee was something which a child should be sent home for, most of the infant and junior schools will be at least half empty from Monday to Friday. In all seriousness though, there are a number of conditions, which will require immediate medical attention, which a first Aider will not be able to deal with. Below is a list of the majority of incidents, which will result in a first aider dialling 999. Disorientation, suspected drug or solvent abuse, fractures, epileptic fit, head injury, difficulties with breathing, choking, unconsciousness and severe bleeding. There are one or two incidents which are listed above when a first aider may feel that dialling 999 is not necessary, such as a fracture or head injury, however, it will still be necessary for the child to have an examination at a local hospital. Accidents I have qualified as a First Aider within the workplace, this as a qualification that I achieved outside of the school as it was for an office environment. The procedures for dealing with accidents are, however, exactly the same. · The First thing a first aider should do is check for any risks to their own or their patients safety. It is not very helpful if a first aider enters into a dangerous environment to help a child and ends up being injured themselves; · If the child is found to be conscious then reassurance that everything is going to be alright needs to be given to the child. You may be in a situation where there will be other children around you and who may have witnessed the accident. These may also need reassurance that everything is going to be alright; · Once a first aider has established that the area is safe and the child is conscious, then they need to establish the extent of the child’s injury. If the child is found to be unconscious then they need to place the child in the recovery position. In these incidents it will be necessary for the first aider to instruct someone standing by to call 999 and ask for ambulance. The first aider must not leave the patient unless no outside help can be found; · If a child is conscious then they must be made as comfortable as possible, no food or drink should be given as liquids can put a body into shock and the child can soon become unconscious. · If it is necessary then the child should be covered up to keep the body warm by using blankets or coats until medical assistance arrives; · When the child has been taken to hospital the incident report book must be completed and another thing, which is important, the first aid box must be replenished of stock. Asthma Is a condition, which is becoming more and more common place. Whether this is because it is a condition, which can be ‘labelled’ easily nowadays or because of the environment that we now live in, ie. a warmer, drier climate. The fact is that in some schools Asthma suffers may be as many as one in four. The symptoms of Asthma are wheezing and coughing. Most children with the condition carry inhalers which they can self medicate with although it is always good to know where hey are kept. If a child with Asthma has an attack then a trained first aider should seek medical advice immediately. Epilepsy This is a condition which does not affect as many children as Asthma. Unfortunately though, an epileptic fit can occur at any time, and therefore, anywhere. The main aim as a first aider or adult on site is to ensure that the area around the child having the fit, is clear, and that the child is not in danger of harming themselves or others around them. It must be remembered that the child will not have any knowledge of the attack and will need reassurance on recovery.