Develop and Implement Policies and Procedures for Safeguarding Children and Young People

This document discusses the impact of current legislation on safeguarding children and young people, the importance of reviewing and improving policies and procedures, and the role of resilience in supporting children's wellbeing. It also provides resources for further information.

UNIT 8 – DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO SUPPORT
THE SAFEGUARDING OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE.
1 – Understand the impact of current legislation that underpins the safeguarding of children
and young people –
The key pieces of current legislation that underpins the safeguarding of children and young
people are the Children’s Act 1989 which set out principles which guide the work of local
authorities and courts and also defined “significant harm” and a child” in need “of
intervention. The children’s act 2004 provides the legal basis for children’s services set out in
every Child Matters change for children document it also features in the united nations
convention on the rights of a child which sets out the right of a child to be free from abuse.
The childcare act 2006 is the first piece of legislation that is primarily concerned with early
years and childcare and introduces the early years foundation stage (EYFS) which supports
settings in delivering high quality integrated early education.
The national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding affect day to day
work with children the Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCB) on the
brentsafeguardingpartnerships.uk/children website state they are responsible for all
agencies working together with children together they state the points below –
 All staff to be up to date with current legislations.
 All staff are CRB / DBS checked
 ID to be worn at all times.
 Visitors sign in and out policy
 Arrangements to lease with local safeguarding children's board.
 Contact details for parent/carer of all children under the age of 18.
 Anti-bullying strategies in place.
 Every child is entitled to an education.
 School attendance policy.
 Every setting has a nominated child protection office.
 All childcare environments must train all staff to recognize abuse and although being
aware of confidentiality know how to report allegations.
 Effective risk assessments to take place regularly.
To comply with the legislation at Stonelake The Data Protection Act 1998 is one of the
legislations that promotes children’s rights, it gives everyone the right to know what
information is held about them and provides a framework to ensure that personal information
is handled correctly.
Within our workplace we have a data protection policy which includes the data protection
and information sharing and handling as a company we follow statutory obligations with
regard to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2009 and working together to safeguard children
2010 we notify the information commissioner’s office (ICO) of doing so.
The policy covers records held and processed by the company and is responsible for its own
records under the terms of the DPA.

Our data protection document covers all aspects of information within the organisation,
including but not limited to –
 Funders/staff/client/service user information.
 Personal information.
 Organisational information.
 Structured and unstructured record systems. paper and electronic
 Transmission of information, fax, email, post and telephone
 Information systems managed by or used by the company.
 Provision is made under DPA 1998 for processing sensitive data.
No compliance of the data protection policy within the company will face disciplinary and be
dealt with accordingly.
All staff are aware of the necessity for confidentiality and we follow all policies and
procedures regarding confidentiality. All our client’s personal information is locked away, we
have monthly team meeting which staff, parents and other health professional attend in a
confidential environment ensuring there is no one around who can hear any information
discussed this is in accordance with the government guidance Working Together To
Safeguard Children 2013. Following the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) all
staff when applying for positions within the workplace have a CRB we also have a signing in
and out policy and all staff wear ID badges.
2 – Be able to support the review of policies and procedures for safeguarding children and
young people –
The purpose of serious case reviews and injuries are to establish what lessons can be
learned from the case about the way in which the local professional and organisations work
individually and together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Once identified
clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what
timescale they will be acted on and what is expected to change as a result. Through this we
can improve inta and inter-working agencies and better safeguard and promote children
wellbeing. Serious case reviews are matters for coroners and criminal courts respectively to
determine.
Sharing the findings of a serious case review are essential for us to learn from in the recent
case of Daniel Pelka the SCR identified that there were three key points where intervention
could have made a difference these where –
 When Daniel had a broken arm in 2011 the medical assessment was inconclusive
but there concerning features to his injury and its presentation. The recommendation
was for a core assessment. This was undertaken but did not focus on the injury and
its background and the long history of domestic violence. The assessment did not
lead to intervention with the family.
 Daniels’s presentation in school of which Daniel started in September 2011 was as
always hungry. Daniel was observed scavenging for food and stealing other children
food. His mother said he had health problems and school sought help from the family
GP and the school nurse referred Daniel to the community paediatrician. In addition,
school staff noticed a number of injuries to Daniel on his head and neck which were
not explained. These were not linked to his eating problem and did not lead to any
onward referral or other intervention.

 An appointment was made with a community paediatrician in February 2012.This
examination linked his low weight and eating problems to a likely medicinal condition
and did not consider emotional abuse and neglect as a possible cause of Daniels
weight loss.
Daniel died in March 2012 aged 4 years and 8 months. He died from a blow to the head but
had suffered months of serious neglect and abuse prior to his death. He had been
systematically deprived of food, fed salt, locked in a room and physically abused. He had
numerous injuries at the time of death as well as the head injury which was the cause of
death. Daniel’s mother and her partner were convicted of his murder. Daniel had an older
and younger sibling. The family were Polish. Full case review can be read on Tri-X-
Childcare Limited.
The case review showed that during key points intervention would have made a difference.
The points to be taken from this review to help inform policy development are -
The SCR identified weaknesses in recording practice across the agencies and in the schools
which reinforces the need for detailed and accurate record keeping as the basis for good
information sharing and accurate assessment.
 Ensuring that the domestic violence screening process is effective.
 Referral and assessment in children’s social care and in particular that this engages
other agencies and provides feedback to them.
 Training in identifying neglect and emotional neglect.
 Assurance that school systems for recording and considering injuries to children are
in place.
 Monitoring of the implementation of the development of health visiting and the
implementation of the healthy.
 Medical staff considering child abuse as a differential diagnosis where there are
unclear concerns.
 Use of interpreters.
Our workplace responsibilities is the welfare and wellbeing of our client in order to comply
with the local protection procedures approved by LSCB we ensure all staff follow the
procedures and put them into practice. As the manager I liaise regularly with other childcare
agencies such as social workers, health visitor and social services in her role as our Child
Protection Liaison Officer (CPLO). Any concerns will be treated with absolute confidentiality
and sensitivity staff can also report concerns to a confidential hotline [phone] or
directly to the website www.whistleblower.co.uk. We have a safeguarding policy in place. All
staff must be CRB checked and all staff must be up to date with all relevant training and all
relevant legislations. Risk assessments must be completed. The client must be protected at
all times from:
 Physical abuse
 Sexual abuse
 Emotional abuse
 Neglect
 Exploitation
It is important to use a centred approach when safeguarding children. As this will give you
the first-hand opinion and facts from the child including feelings and wishes about their

current situation and their future. This will make the organisations response more accurate
and appropriate to meet the specific needs of the child or young person. It is important
therefore to develop a trusting relationship with the child or young person as this will make it
easier to discuss their wishes and concerns, which will give the professionals the opportunity
to involve the child or young person where possible in decision making about current
intervention if necessary and any future action, as ‘the unknown’ will undoubtedly be a worry
to the child so hopefully making them aware step by step will make the process less
daunting.
As my client has many different needs our team of carers and outside agencies all work
together to achieve the same goal and this is why a young person’s centred approach is
necessary to safeguard our client as stated in the Children’s Act 2004 provides the legal
basis for children’s services set out in Every Child Matters change for children document and
the united nations convention on the rights of a child which sets out the right of a child to be
free from abuse.
3 – Be able to implement policies and procedures for safeguarding children and young
people –
All of our safeguarding policies and procedure documents are kept within the clients home
our staff are made aware of where the policies are kept and they are available to staff at all
times. All staff are kept up to date with relevant training under the LSCB guidance. When
new staff start with our client they are given relevant training and are given support to be
aware of indicators by working together with parents and other agencies involved with the
client and are made aware of best practice by following policies and procedures within the
setting. Documents are updated in line with national or local changes to legislation or
guidance from the LSCB.
4 – Be able to lead practice in supporting children and young people’s wellbeing and
resilience -
Resilience is normal development under difficult circumstances and this is the human’s
ability to face, overcome and ultimately be strengthened by life’s adversities and challenges
this is the heart of resilience. My client on daily basis displays this as he has a very rare
genetic disorder and a variety of severe complex health needs. Harnessing the everyday
magic of our bodies, mind, brains of children and providing a model of resilience for children
provides a solid foundation for improving children emotional wellbeing and provides a solid
foundation. Resilience plays a part in the safeguarding of children as a child will be more
able to cope with life’s ups and downs, be stronger and more confident and will grow into a
more confident adult and will lead a more fulfilled life. The child will be less likely to be
bullied or anxious or depressed.
Resources
https://brentsafeguardingpartnerships.uk/children/