Safeguarding Children and Child Abuse

This article discusses the definition of child abuse and the importance of safeguarding children. It also covers sexual abuse, its types, and its consequences. The policies and legislation in place to protect children are also discussed, along with the role of teachers in safeguarding children.

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SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
By (Student’s Name)
Course Title
Tutor’s name
University’s Name
Date

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Safeguarding Children
Introduction
Child abuse is perpetrating any form of action to a child that may lead to significant
harm (Straus, 2017). It could also involve failure of taking certain actions where the child
suffers as a result of the failure. Historically, most communities were predominantly
patriarchal and the child was considered as belonging to the father (Chamberlain 2017). The
teacher as a professional could play an important role in safeguarding children. This could ne
through teaching children about their rights, ensuring that they are protected when in school,
providing support (having a listening ear to the children) and also through identifying
children who may be abused (through signs and symptoms). A child may be defined
differently by various people groups, religions, nations etc. However, in most nations, the
term child is used to refer to an individual who is below the age of 18 years. Safeguarding
children is a broad term that encompasses a set of actions all carried out with the aim of
ensuring that the rights of children are observed. There are various forms of sexual abuse
including physical, emotional and sexual. Sexual abuse refers to situations where children are
either forced or lured in to sexual activities. The two main categories of sexual abuse are
contact and non-contact abuse. Sexually abused children exhibit characteristics such as
avoiding certain people, knowing too much information about sex and becoming pregnant or
contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
There are several laws and policies put in place to ensure that children are
safeguarded. For instance, there is the national convention of the rights of a child. The UN
convention has been adopted by many countries including the UK. There is also Working
Together to Safeguard Children which is a guide for inter-sectoral working to safeguard the
welfare and wellbeing of children. The teacher as a professional has a key role in ensuring

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safety and wellbeing of children. There are factors that inhibit partnership in safeguarding
children. For instance, the perpetrators of abuse (who are almost always someone close to the
child) work very hard to conceal the evidence. This is through such factors as selling fear to
the child or moving from place to another. The teacher could play an important role in
overcoming this challenge. They could empower children by making them know their rights
and the frameworks put in place to ensure their wellbeing. Multisectoral collaboration is
important ensuring the safety of children.
Safeguarding Children and Child Abuse
In the contemporary days, child abuse is a broad term that defined in different ways in
different places. In the modern days, child abuse can be defined as any action (by an adult or
another child) whose perpetration poses/causes significant harm to a child. The definition
also encompasses the failure to carry out an action and the omission pose significant harm to
a child. This harm/abuse could be sexual, physical, emotional etc. It is important to
emphasize that the modern definition is a very important one and has led to better protection
of children.
Historically, there wasn’t a definition for child abuse. This is mainly because children
were treated as properties of their parents. The traditional society (in most places) was
predominantly patriarchal. The father of the child was supposed to decide on behalf of the
family, and the household were his property. There were even no laws/legislation protecting
children and their rights (Read, Harper, Tucker and Kennedy 2018). It follows that children
were at a relatively high risk of being abused with nothing being done about it. With time,
children were appreciated s important members of the society who should be protected and

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taken care of. Due to the increased cases of abuse, most states intervened, defined child abuse
and developed legislation, rights and freedoms for children.
Safeguarding children is a very important endeavour and every law-abiding citizen
should be sure to embrace the role (Grath-Lone, Woodman and Gilbert 2015). The
professional role chosen is that of a teacher. A teacher has great role in safeguarding children.
This could be achieved through several ways. One is through identifying children who may
present signs of abuse and organize how they will be helped. The teacher also
teaches/educates children about their rights and to know when they are being mistreated. It is
very important for teachers to ensure that children are safeguarded. This is because they
usually deal with a group of children and therefore have an opportunity to interact with
several children. this is a perfect opportunity to ensure that safeguarding is done. In addition,
it is the role of the teacher to teach. Therefore, they should take the opportunity to ensure that
children become aware of their rights, freedoms and legislation revolving around them. Each
of us in their roles have a responsibility of ensuring that children are treated well and not
abused. They are human beings and their lives should be treated with great dignity.
The definition of a child may vary from place to place and depending on factors such
as culture and religion. In many countries and states, the term child is defined as a young
human being who has not yet attained the age 18. It follows that any person who has reached
their 18th birthday is considered an adult. The assumption made by most states in determining
the age cut off, is the age at which one can earn and make decisions on their own. It is
assumed that most people under the age of 18 years are still under the care of their parents/
caregivers. Certain people groups consider anyone a child if they have not yet undergone
puberty. Others use cultural rituals such circumcision (for boys) and special education
programs (for girls) to transform the young human beings from childhood to adulthood.
Anyone who has not yet undergone the ceremonies mentioned is considered a child. In most

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places in the contemporary society, the states take the primary role in defining who is a child.
As seen, most of these states define a child as an individual who is less than 18 years.
Safeguarding children is a term that is used to cover all those aspects that revolve
around ensuring that children’s welfare is kept at optimum. This means that both the actions
towards ensuring their well being as well as protecting them from abuse is covered in the
definition. There are four main aspects of safeguarding children. one is ensuring that a child
is prevented from anything that is likely to cause them harm. Secondly, it alludes to ensuring
that the child’s health is well taken care of. Thirdly, the term safeguarding means that the
child receives parenting/care that is both safe and effective. Lastly, it also revolves around
ensuring that the rights of children are observed and that every child has equal opportunities
in life. The difference between safeguarding and other terms such as child protection is
usually the scope. The scope of the term safeguarding is wider than child protection for
instance. Here is how. Child protection covers a single aspect of ensuring that children are
protected from forms of abuse. It is therefore a subset of safeguarding children. As seen
earlier a child is any young human being who is below the age of 18 years. The safeguarding
discussed here therefore revolves around this group of individuals.
Sexual Abuse
There are four main categories of child abuse. These are physical, sexual, emotional
and neglect. Sexual abuse is going to be discussed in this section. Sexual abuse refers to
situations where children are either forced to take part in sexual activities or lured in to the
same (Kempadoo and Ghuma 2017). This suggests that it is wrong to have sex with a minor
whether forced or persuaded. The assumption is that a child cannot make rational decisions
concerning sexual activity and therefore engaging in sexual activity with them is deemed

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sexual exploitation. Sexual abuse does not necessarily mean physical contact. It could also
happen online. Most of the times, the child is never aware that what is happening to them is
abuse. They may not even be aware that what is happening is wrong. In addition, most
children who undergo sexual abuse are often too afraid to talk about it. Sometimes this fear
could be caused by threats given by the perpetrators of the heinous act. As discussed in the
earlier section, every individual has a role to play in ensuring that children are safeguarded. If
this were to happen, the sad statistics of sexual abuse could probably decline. For instance, it
is estimated that 1 in every 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused.
As seen above, sexual abuse is a broad term. There have been several definitions of
the term. The definitions will be broken down in to two main components in this assignment.
One of these components is contact abuse. Extensive research has discovered four main types
of contact abuse. First, is any kind of sexual touching whether the child is having any wear or
not. Secondly, is rape or penetration. Third, is luring or making the child engage in sexual
activity through force. The fourth type of contact abuse is carrying out actions such as
making the child to take off their clothes, touch the genitals or someone else or masturbate.
The second main component of sexual abuse is non-contact abuse. There are seven main
types of this form of abuse. One is luring or encouraging a child to watch or listen to sexual
content. The second is reluctance to take necessary actions to prevent a child from being
sexually exploited. Thirdly, abusing a child online (this includes making or distributing
images that have child abuse content). The fourth way is exploiting a child sexually in
exchange of certain favours such as money. The fifth type of non-contact abuse is
presenting/showing pornographic material to a child.
Children who are being sexually abused portray certain characteristics. One of these is
that they may be avoiding certain people (Van 2017). Such children could seem not to enjoy
the company of certain individuals who could even be family members. They may also seem

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scared or frightened when they see a certain person. The second main characteristic possess
by these children is that they may be portraying sexual behaviour that is unusual for their age.
These include a child who becomes sexually active very early in life and a child who appears
to know great information about sex, especially information that one would never expect
them to have (Steinberg 2016). There are also several physical symptoms associated with
child sexual abuse. These include discharges that are quite unusual, bruises and pain in the
anus or vagina (there could also be bleeding), a child who contracts an infection that is
transmitted sexually and a child may become pregnant.
Sexual abuse has detrimental consequences on the child. These consequences could
be either short term or long-term. Extensive research has revealed that sexual abuse greatly
affects the nervous system. Depression is one of the conditions observed in children who are
sexually abused (Marshall 2014). They may also develop eating disorder such as anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In addition, children who are sexually abused may have a hard
time coping with stress and emotions when compared to their counterparts who have not been
abused. This usually due to damage to the brain and it may take a lengthy process to
overcome these complications. Another consequence is usually suicide. This could be in the
short term or in the long term. The main reason why sexually abused children contemplate
about taking their life away is because of self -blame. They blame themselves and may even
hate themselves. These factors work together to contribute to a low self-worth and self-
esteem. The result may be suicide or living a miserable life. Studies have shown that people
who were sexually abused when they were children are twice as likely to commit suicide that
their counterparts who were not abused. Another consequence is that of sexual health.
Children who were abused may hate engaging in sexual activities even later in life (Mathews
and Collin-Vézina 2017). In addition, children may become pregnant or contract sexually
transmitted diseases. Some long-term effects include having great emotional difficulties later

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in life, abusing drugs such as alcohol, experiencing problems with parenting or love
relationships and portraying antisocial behaviour (such as committing crimes).
Policies and Legislation
This section will discuss some of the policies and legislation that are in place
concerning children and preventing them from abuse. In addition, the role of a teacher in
ensuring that children are safeguarded will be explained. This will be done in through
considering the national and local policies that revolve around the same. it is worth noting
that it is important for individuals (especially those who work with children) to be aware of
the policies and legislation surrounding children and their wellbeing. Having noted that, it is
very important to look at the rights and freedoms of children. The United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an internationally binding document. Therefore, it
could be defined as international law that contains the rights of every child. The main aim of
the convention was to ensure that all children anywhere in the world are protected by an
internationally binding law (Jones and Sumner 2018). One of the rights that every child is
entitled to is that of life and survival. Every child has a right to give their views and to have
those views respected. In addition, any decision made concerning a child should be in the
best interest of the child. A child is also entitled to a name and a nationality. Every child has a
right to the highest attainable level of health care and social security. This applies to all
children including those with disabilities. Every child also has a right to education. In
addition, any child who is in a refugee is entitled to special protection. These are some of the
rights and freedoms contained in the convention. It is very important for an individual who
works with children to be aware of these rights and freedoms for optimal care of the children
(Dishion and Patterson 2015).

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The Working Together to safeguard Children statutory guidance document provides
guidance to institutions in England on how to ensure that children are safeguarded. This is
through provision of roles and responsibilities that the organisations should play to ensure
that children are safeguarded. Some of the requirements laid out by the statutory are going to
be discussed in this section. One of the sections relates to persons who are in positions of
trust. It outlines that organisations must have some policies in place to guide how to go about
allegations against people who work with children. Another section is early years and child
care. The requirement here is that all those who provide care to children in their early years
must implement some policy that is intended to guard and protect those children. It is
required that such a policy must explain the actions that will be taken in the event that a
safeguarding concern arises. Another section deals with whistle blowing. The section requires
that institutions and organisations must have an internal whistle blowing policy in place. Such
a policy should ensure that all the employees are adequately trained on safeguarding children
and made aware of the guidelines (working together to safeguard children). These are just
some of the sections outlined within the statutory. Working Together to Safeguard Children is
comprehensive document whose main aim is to ensure that institutions and organizations are
safeguarding children.
The teacher as a professional has a great role to play in ensuring that children are
safeguarded. The policies and legislation discussed above, in conjunction with others apply to
the role of a professional teacher. As a teacher the application of the policies and legislation
is done in several ways. One is through informing the children about their rights and
freedoms. It is the role of the teacher to educate the children on issues that revolve around
them (Osler and Starkey 2017). Another way that the teacher safeguards children is through
identification of the potentially abused children and helping them receive professional care.
For instance, a teacher could report to the appropriate authorities. The teacher also has the

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role of serving by example in ensuring that they safeguard children. The school environment
should be designed in such a way that children cannot easily go out of school and that
strangers/outsiders do not gain access to the school compound. The teacher should also
encourage children to speak out concerning any form of abuse that they may be experiencing,
so that they can receive professional care. In a nutshell, there are legislation and policies
revolving around children and their protection.
Factors that Inhibit and Assist Partnership When Safeguarding Children
Most of the perpetrators of child abuse are usually people who are close to the child.
It is sad that sometimes the person could be the parent or even a sibling. For a perpetrator of
child abuse to be charged with abuse, there must be evidence that abuse took place. The
process usually involves investigation at a health facility. The most important person in
providing witness of the abuse is the child (in cases where the child has the ability to do so).
The perpetrators of the heinous acts of child abuse have the habit of ensuring that they
destroy the evidence. Without the appropriate evidence, it is very hard to prosecute. Some
family members even side with the person who committed the crime in order to protect the
name of the family. While this may sound like a silly idea in the 21st century, it still happens.
The police and other interested parties therefore find it very hard to gather the appropriate
evidence. It is sad that the very people who should be protecting the child team up to trample
on the rights of the child. Another mechanism that the perpetrators use is to sell fear to the
child. The child is warned that saying anything about what happened may result in serious
consequences. Due to this, the child is too frightened to say anything to anyone. These factors
make it very difficult to serve justice in such instances. The families may also be consistently
moving from place to place in order to hide evidence. If an individual (a family member) is

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suspected by members of the society (in the neighbourhood for example) of abusing a child,
they may move to another place where no one knows about them. This may end up creating a
vicious cycle where the child is continually abused without any legal action being taken.
As it has been identified in the previous sections, child abuse could have detrimental
effects in health and wellbeing of the affected children. These could be both in the short term
and the long term. A child is a human being and like anyone else they are entitled to a
dignified life that is free of all forms of harm. It follows that the above mechanisms of
concealing evidence are highly uncalled for and should be dealt with in way that administers
justice. There are various actions that could be carried out to ensure that such cases of
inhibiting proper partnerships are reduced to none or negligible cases. One of the ways would
be developing harsh punitive measures for any person involved in concealing of evidence or
aiding the same. It has long been known that one of the ways of eradicating a behaviour is
punishing it. Punishing the behaviour harshly would probably lead to an eradication of the
same.
The teacher as a professional could also play a very important role in assisting
partnerships. The teacher occupies a special place in the life of a child since they are with the
at school most of the days in a week. The teacher could focus on building a strong helping
relationship with every child that they are teaching. Studies revolving around the psychology
of children indicate that this is a very possible endeavour (Roberts 2017). After establishing
such a relationship, the teacher earns the trust of the child. In instances where the child had
been warned never to say anything, the teacher can convince the child to say it all by assuring
them of their safety and wellbeing. In this way, the teacher influences the child to testify
about the tribulations they are going through making the process of persecution easier and
faster.

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The teacher could also play another important role of educating the child on their
rights and informing them of places where they could get help in case they are abused in any
way. The good thing about this is that the child becomes aware that is wrong to be abused in
any way. Secondly, they get to know that there are institutions or mechanisms put in place by
the government and other stakeholders to ensure their safety. It has been argued for a long
time that knowledge is power. A person who has attained knowledge is empowered and they
act from a point of understanding. In the same way, a child who understands their rights and
knows that they can get help is more likely to seek help in case they are abused in any way
(Walker 2018). It is also important to note that for child abuse to be eradicated or greatly
reduced, there is need for a multi-sectoral approach to be adopted (Albert 2017). An example
will be provided here to illustrate this. Consider a child who is working (child labour)
because they hail from background of extreme poverty. In such a case, multisectoral
approach would be aimed at ensuring that factors are favourable such that there will no
situation that will make the child work for basic needs such as food. The government could
for instance provide feeding programs in schools to ensure that such children do not miss
school due to hunger. Non-governmental organisations such as United Nations Children Fund
(UNICEF) could also intervene by ensuring that cases of malnutrition are managed. In this
way children will be in good health and their right to health is observed. The community
could also work together to ensure that no child is abused in any way and unanimously agree
to report anyone noted doing so. In such a case (example given above) they could come
together to ensure that no child suffers from hunger due to poverty by contributing to taking
care of the vulnerable children.

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Conclusion
Child abuse relates to any action or omission that poses significant harm to children.
It is a relatively new term since long ago children were treated as properties of the parent(s).
A teacher has a very important role in safeguarding a child. They could do so through such
factors as educating the children about their rights and offering support (e.g. emotional
support). The definition of a child varies due to factors such as religions and ethnic groups.
However, many nations around the world define a child as anyone who is not yet 18 years of
age. Safeguarding children refers to the summation of the factors that are put in place to
ensure that a child is safe and well. There are various laws and policies that are in place to
ensure that children are safeguarded. These include the International Convention on the
Rights of the Child and Working Together to Safeguard Children. Certain factors may inhibit
partnership in safeguarding children. These include concealing of evidence by the
perpetrators through such ways as moving from one place to another. The teacher could
greatly intervene here by educating the child on their rights and offering appropriate support.

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