Safeguarding in Practice

Safeguarding in
Practice

Vulnerable adults and children face the risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation as they are
unable to protect themselves. Safeguarding deals with providing protection to the human rights
of adults who are at risk (Pritchard-Jones, 2018). This enables the people to lead a safe life which
is free from abuse and neglect. Safeguarding includes team working between people and
organizations with an aim to check, prevent and reduce the incidence of neglect or abuse
(Keeling and Davies, 2020). The present essay is based on a scenario of an elderly couple,
Florence and Errol, whose neighbor contacted social services when he found them distressed. In
the essay, two safeguarding interventions, suitable for the scenario, have been described.
Following this, justification has been provided for the reasons behind use of these intervention.
Lastly, the interventions have been applied to the scenario.
Out of the four safeguarding interventions prvided, the two interventions identified for the care
of Florence and Errol are advocacy and Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP).
According to the Advocacy charter, advocacy concerns with providing help to people to
communicate about their needs and rights. This is a safeguarding intervention which is used
empowering people for better representation of their interests and to obtain the services needed
by them. There is a partnership working between the advocates and the advocacy providers who
work together with the people they are aimed to support. in this way, the aim of advocacy is
promotion of not only social inclusion, but also social justice and equality (Making safeguarding
personal, 2017).
Advocacy is a useful intervention for preventing abuse. This is because it enables the
adults who are at risk to be more aware. In this way, they are able to exercise their rights in a
better way. It also empowers them to express their concerns (Romeo and et.al., 2017). As per the
Care Act, the role of an advocate is to bring about the facilitation of involvement of the person
concerned. Advocacy is not limited to merely consulting the person in need and making
decisions on his behalf.
According to the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, advocacy is defined as provision
of support to a person in order to enable him to develop a better understanding of the information
and for improved expression of needs and wishes. This is required for providing security to their
rights as well as the necessary care and support (Cooper and Bruin, 2017).
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Making safeguarding personal is an intervention that concerns with safeguarding an adult
by adopting a person- led and outcome – focused approach which not only engages the person in
need but also helps in enhancing the involvement, choice and control. In this way, this
intervention brings improvement in the quality of life by ensuring wellbeing and safety of the
vulnerable adults. Therefore, Making Safeguarding Personal consist of the whole spectrum of
safeguarding activity. In this regard, The Care Act 2014 lays emphasis on a personalized
approach to be utilized for safeguarding adults (Braye and Preston-Shoot, 2019). As per this Act,
he approach should be led by the Individual rather than the process. The adult who is being
safeguarded should not only feel that they are the focus of the approach but they should also
have control over the process. The Act describes MSP as an intervention which should also be
concerned about listening to the views of the people regarding the outcome they want to achieve.
MSP is concerned with developing effective communication with the people to obtain
views about the way in which safeguarding situations can be made to enhance their involvement
and control. This intervention views people as being experts of their life (Preston-Shoot, 2020).
The government policy sets out the core principles for this. These include prevention, protection,
accountability, empowerment, proportionality and partnership. Empowerment entails supporting
and encouraging people for making their own decisions (Briggs and Cooper, 2018). It also
includes informed consent. Prevention requires the action to be taken before the harm is caused.
The principle of proportionality comprises of taking least intrusive response in proportion to the
risk identified. Partnership involves working with communities for prevention, detection and
reporting of abuse. The principle of accountability ensures transparency in the practice of
safeguarding. Protection encompasses provision of support to those who are in need.
The intervention of advocacy is suitable to be used for handling the case of Florence and
Errol due to various reasons. Advocacy deals with promotion of social justice and human rights.
The aim of this intervention is to bring things into action for safeguarding those in need in the
ways which are direct and empowering. Moreover, the ultimate aim of tis intervention is self-
advocacy whereby people are enabled to speak as well as act on their own behalf. These aspects
make this intervention suitable to the given scenario. In the given scenario, Florence and Errol,
an elderly couple face neglect from the children. Errol suffers from dementia and has also
suffered mini stroke. This has made him anxious and totally dependent on Florence, who herself
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