Child Protection: Application of Legislation and RN's Responsibilities

This report focuses on child protection, specifically addressing the role and responsibilities of a Registered Nurse (RN) in cases of potential child abuse and neglect, using a case study of a 3-year-old girl named Fiona. It examines the application of child protection legislation and policies, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding children and supporting families. The report details the ethical and legal obligations of the RN, including mandatory reporting, providing appropriate care, and maintaining patient confidentiality. It highlights the significance of recognizing signs of abuse or neglect, understanding the impact of such situations, and the importance of collaboration with other healthcare professionals and agencies. The report references relevant legislation and standards of practice to guide RNs in their actions, ensuring the best interests and safety of children are prioritized. The case study underscores the critical role of RNs in identifying and responding to situations where a child's well-being is at risk, emphasizing the need for diligence, ethical conduct, and adherence to legal requirements in the healthcare setting. The report also provides an overview of child protection procedures and the significance of adhering to them.

Running head: CHILD PROTECTION
Child Protection
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion of child protection.........................................................................................................2
Discussion of obligations of the RN................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Child protection means protecting the children from abuse, violence, neglect and
exploitation. Child security schemes are a series of typically government-run programs aimed at
protecting underage children and teenagers and fostering family unity (Featherstone et al., 2014).
This report is about Fiona, who has presented to the emergency department of the hospital with
her mother and two brothers. Because of the maltreatment of Fiona, she was feeling pain from
her initial injury and her burn got worsened because of neglect and maltreatment. Hence, this
report aims to discuss the application of child protection legislation and policies for helping in
safeguarding the children and support their families, which will help the other children like
Fiona. This study also discusses the ethical and legal obligations of the registered nurse in the
context of child care and protection.
Discussion of child protection
Children have rights to be protected and safeguarded from any harm. There was much
lack of her protection. Therefore, responding to the concerns of child protection is very essential.
The policy and practices on safeguarding the child are a vital aspect of protecting children and
their families. They must be supported by the good administration, health and safety, revenue
control, administrative monitoring and control tend to help them (New South Wales Department
of Health, 2013)
The aim of the children protection policies is to protect the children from being abused
and being victim of neglect.
The purpose of the children protection policies is to:

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 Provide the management strategy for preventing the child abuse and to protect the
children.
 Protect the staffs and other nurses of the hospital from the unfair or unethical processes
and practices.
 Provide the staffs and other nurses with the proper and clear guidelines on what should
they do in any suspected children abuse case.
Child Protection Procedures
Procedures for safeguarding and protecting Fiona as well as her families are
comprehensive guidance and directions to support the overall policy statement. This
study clarifies the actions the company should take to keep Fiona and her family safe and what to
do with Fiona’s health or well-being issues (Fargion, 2014). The safeguarding policies will
address topics such as how the registered nurse will respond to Fiona and the problems of their
family, and how the hospital management can ensure that they hire the best registered nurse to
interact with her and her families. The medical officer needs to make sure that registered
nurses know what to do if they are upset with something that happens in the life of Fiona
whether that occurs within the hospital or not.
Child protection regulations from federal or state legislatures empower the government
department or organization to offer care in the region and to interfere in homes where child
neglect or other problems are reported (Parton, 2014). As mentioned in the case study that Fiona
and her brother were not wearing shoes. Fiona was already suffering from the injury and she was
not wearing shoe, which could cause the injury more worsened. Therefore, safeguarding requires
making the requisite safety precautions for the healthy use of any product by the child, shoes,

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general hygiene and so on. Failure by the individual responsible is an offense of child abuse for
failure to protect the child in situations compatible with the provision of efficient and safe
treatment of the children.
Child protection legislation
The key values of the Child Protection Act are:
 Child security and best interests are essential in ensuring child safety by promoting the
family
 Involvement of the child is not to reach the extent required to secure the children and
their family (van Bijleveld, Dedding & Bunders Aelen, 2015‐ )
 The participation of the child’s family in the decision-making and planning
 Children and their families have the access to communication systems to organize,
 Communicate and collaborate with relatives, key stakeholders, organizations and the
department’s group
 Comply with the information exchange and collaborate with the integrity partners for
promoting safety and wellbeing of the children.
 Meet the needs for the mandatory reporting of the children at any suspected risk of any
significant harm.
Discussion of obligations of the RN
The legal and the ethical responsibilities of the RN are for promoting the safety, health,
well-being and welfare of the children by working collaboratively with the other nurses in the

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shared system of the child protection in the healthcare system. The responsibilities or the
obligations apply whether the health workers are providing the care to the children directly.
Fiona and one of her brothers were not wearing shoes and she was in very bad condition
and she was crying. This reflects that, there condition was very bad and they must be treated
properly in the hospital. In order to match Fiona and her family’s best interests, the registered
nurse must always behave according to ethical standards. A registered nurse is authorized for
inspecting the welfare program of the children and the medical officers are there for counselling
the children. The report must be on the reasonable grounds, which the children has experienced
any non-accidental physical injury and this though arises from the information that is gained by
Fiona during her treatment (Child Story Reporter, 2018). Therefore, the report of the burn of
Fiona must be done very carefully as she was having extreme pain because of the burn which get
worsened and because of severe fluid deprivation and fluid changes, Fiona, who suffers burns
injuries are at elevated risk of circulatory failure, she must be carefully watched for:
 Symptoms and signs of hypovolemia
 Symptoms and signs of hypothermia
 Symptoms and signs of tachycard
 Symptoms and signs of tachypoenic
Ethical Obligations of RN
The key aim of the registered nurse will be to assist and support in preparing and
providing treatment to burn-injured children that is Fiona in all divisions including: emergency
services, paediatric intensive care unit and medical facilities, theaters. The key ethical obligation
of the registered nurse is to collaborate alongside Fiona and her family for delivering the proper

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treatment, which increases the physical, mental, as well as social well-being of Fiona and her
family. The registered nurse must have the obligations for promoting and protecting the health of
Fiona and other children by maintaining the highest expectations of confidentiality of her family
in compliance with the law (Cashin et al., 2017).
The registered nurse does have the ethical duty for being truthful with Fiona and the
Medical Officer, and to uphold self-integrity as well as high personal moral values (Borhani et
al., 2014). In the same manner, RNs must have a moral obligation to retain clinical integrity and
work for personal as well as professional development so as to give the best quality treatment to
Fiona.
Because of the neglect issues, Fiona suffered lot more, which might not happen if she got
the proper treatment on time. Therefore, the registered nurse must be careful about her health and
her condition and the nurse must be responsible to Fiona and she must not neglect her condition.
Legal Obligations of RN
The RN will also give care for the children he or she is monitoring. If the child
patient wants support with certain concerns, such as sanitation, the RN has the moral duty to help
the patient (Snelling, 2016). When a nurse refuses to monitor and care for the patient, this may
be viewed as immoral and criminal negligence of the patient.
Burn injuries are also associated with severe pain and irritation caused by skin damage or
loss combined with extensive oedema. A thorough pain assessment must be performed upon
arrival at the hospital and then continued during the Fiona’s regular at routine intervals, prior to
or after the treatment procedures, as well as during the outpatient visits.

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Burn injuries reaching 10 percent of TBSA and involving the dermis result in secondary
circulatory vulnerability of fluid failure by compromised skin, extensive vasodilation, and
decreased capillary permeability and fluid changes. This can lead to the hypovolemia due to
shock from the burns. It is also vital that Fiona is provided sufficient medication in combination
with the continuing evaluation of circulatory and medication balance.
Conclusion
The child protection program, in turn, depends on the government to contribute to
ensuring a successful solution to abused and neglected children. The society’s assumption of the
child protection program is that it will shield children from serious harm and adequately resolve
all reasonable societal worries regarding Fiona’s health. Unfortunately, the existing program and
services do not fulfill this criterion, and it is the norm against which every newly developed,
community-based child protection program will be measured. For this case scenario, the RN
must be accountable for the policies and obligations by taking which, he or she can be potential
in the protection and safeguarding Fiona because of the wound and pain with her family. As in
the case study, Fiona and her family are in the critical situation; they RN must be careful about
this so that the RN never neglect or maltreat her or abuse her family members. In this way, the
child protection can be enhanced in the hospital by being responsible to the obligations and
responsibilities to them.

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References
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sheet]
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and practitioners cultures 1. Child & Family Social Work, 19(1), 24-33.
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https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/australian-legal-definitions-when-child-need-protection

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New South Wales Department of Health. (2013). Child wellbeing and child protection policies
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