Safeguarding Young People in Youth Work Setting: Level 3 Report

This report, prepared for a Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work Practice, focuses on the critical aspects of safeguarding young people within a youth work setting. The assignment addresses key learning outcomes, including understanding the importance of safeguarding policies and procedures, defining child protection and safeguarding, and outlining relevant legislation and organizational policies. It explores risk assessment processes, emphasizing health and safety management and the evaluation of behavior within a youth work context. The report also identifies child protection support agencies, describes various forms of abuse, and outlines the roles and responsibilities of safeguarding officers. Furthermore, it examines the use of contemporary technologies, emphasizing e-safety policies and practices to protect young people from online harm. The report includes practical examples, risk assessments, and reflective practice to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of safeguarding principles and their application in youth work.

Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work Practice
Unit 2
J/505/9226 : Credits 3
Safeguarding young people
in a youth work setting
Assessment Tasks
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THIS UNIT OUTLINES THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS RELATING TO THE
SAFEGUARDING OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN A YOUTH WORK SETTING.
PLEASE ASK FOR HELP –
YOUR TUTOR AND ASSESSOR ARE THERE TO SUPPORT YOU!!
When writing about an example from your practice you need to
remember:
WHAT
WHEN
WHERE
WHO
WHY
HOW
Learning Outcome 1 Know about the importance of safeguarding policies and procedures in
providing a safe environment for young people
1.1 Define the term “child protection” and “safeguarding”
According to the Lang & Hartill (2014), child protection and safeguarding is the act of
protecting children from abuse, identifying an already happening abuse, putting to end and
ensuring that it never happens in the future. Child protection and safeguarding are, therefore, the
act of identifying a deliberate ill action or ill-treatment which can harm a person under the age of
18 years and putting it to a stop. Child protection and safeguarding, therefore, encompass three
key actions, identifying an abuse, protecting a child from abuse and stop the chance from
happening again.
Assessed by Signed Date
1.2 Outline safeguarding legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures relevant to your
own organization
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(Covered in unite1)
1.3 Outline own organization's child protection policies and procedures that
create a safe, but challenging environment that benefits young people
Child protection policies at SWAN are well established to provide effective protection.
In much as they benefit children in school, some of these policies create a challenging
environment that benefits the young ones. These policies include:
The age of activity involvement: Swan has age policy which provide for the ages that
learners are allowed to engage in different activities. This policies there ensures that only
learners with the right age are involved in risky activities.
Health qualification policy: safeguarding team at Swan have set regulations which
ensures that only learners who are healthy are involved in risky activities such as swimming.
This policy also provides for a nurse to be involved when learners are engaged in such activities.
Also, the responsible team must ensure that all learners involved in risky activities such
as climbing and swimming have suitable gears and those without are barred from participation
for their own safety.
Gift and Hospitality policy: this policy bars children and other individuals form
receiving and giving out gifts respectively. In as much as this policy is challenging since gifts
are necessary motivation instruments, the policy bars children within the school from
enticement and involvement in illegal activities like sexual abuses (Brennan and Phippen 2019).
Assessed by Signed Date
1.4 Describe how your own organization's child protection policies and
procedures influence your practice
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Assessed by Signed Date

The set organization policies and procedures regarding the protection of children
within the school and residence influence my practice in a positive manner. Through the
policies, I have learned a lot in my practice relating to children's protection and safeguarding.
As a social worker, have learnt about policy formulation and implementation. I have also learnt
to be aware of what is right for children and how their interests can be safeguarded. Moreover,
I have gained knowledge on the process of reporting and handling cases related to children
welfare. Nonetheless, The set policies and procedure has also enabled me to handle children and
can be able to fight for children rights as a social worker. I have also become aware of every
detail regarding child abuse and as a social worker and For this reason, working at the
organization and having vivid knowledge of rules which are necessary for children protection
provides me the necessary skills in building my career.
Assessed by Signed Date
1.5 Describe the boundaries of confidentiality when working with young people
and how this could affect your own rights
There are specific boundaries that cannot be breached when working with children.
These boundaries when not observed can lead to termination of a social worker (England, and
Wales 2015). These boundaries include:
In a situation where a child confides into you a social worker, it is important to ask the
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child the appropriate person you can share with the information given. The information should
therefore not shared with the third party unless it is justified and compelling to do so in the
child's interest and that the disclosure is justified (Garratt, Piper and Taylor 2013).
In the case where the child is too young or lacks the capacity to give the consent, it is,
therefore, necessary to seek the consent of the closest adult (Rogowski 2015). Also when the
disclosed information is related to crime, there is no restriction and there is a need to inform
relevant authorities through a well-established framework (Rogowski 2015).
Learning Outcome 2 Be able to assess risk in a youth work setting
2.1 Describe a health and safety risk management process used in your youth
work setting, including assessing the behavior and needs of an individual young person
or group of young people
a) Explain how who, where and when risk assessments are carried out
Risk assessment is the process of the assessing employee environment to ensure
that each and every individual is safe from environmental hazards. The main reason
for risk analysis is to enable the concerned parties to ensure that safety and health
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Assessed by Signed Date

measures are observed. Health and safety assessment is done before workers arrive for
work, this is done so to ensure that workers are healthy and safety is protected. The
risk assessment is conducted by the authorized personnel or team leaders to ensure
every individual is safe at work. Health and safety risk assessment is done in a process
whereby health hazards are identified, the various types of risks are evaluated, and
measures a put I place, checked if adequate and appropriate actions taken (Tuck 2013).
b) Provide evidence of how you assess behavior in your practice
Assess behavior is my practice through psychological assessment and tests. I
ask questions and as well apply psychological analysis to assess individuals' behavior.
For example, I will as psychological questions to identify whether a child is violent.
Evidence, I gave a packet of sweets to one of the children in Swan school and
evaluated how he would share with his friends.
c) Undertake a piece of work with young people to identify their
needs and attach as evidence
Below is part of the multiple choices I did with the learners to assess their
psychological behavior. The first question of the test is attached below.
d)
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2.2 Develop health of safety risk assessment of work areas and including off-site
visits
a) Undertake a risk assessment in your workplace and attach as
evidence
b) Explain how this differs from an offsite risk assessment
The assessment conducted within the organization involves me personally going
through various facilities to assess various safety and health risks that may affect, residents and
pupils within the school compound. This type of risk assessment is a different form of off-site
risk assessment because it doesn't move out (fieldwork) and asking questions (Peckover 2013).
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Assessed by Signed Date

On the other hand, it involves me assessing the existence of health and safety risks within the
premises.
Learning Outcome 3 Know about the roles and responsibilities in relation to keeping young
people, vulnerable adults, self and colleagues safe within a youth work setting.
3.1 identify a range of child protection and safeguarding support agencies.
There following are some of the key agencies with a legal mandate for sharing
information regarding possible child abuse and dealing with the abuses (Parton 2014).
a. Local authorities: which follow complaints and get involved with family
where the possible child is suspected.
b. The police: the police is another agency that follows up concerns with child
abuse, police also report the children's concern to the local authorities.
c. Local safeguarding children boards; this agency is also known as LSCBs and
is composed of several agencies.
d. Another agency is the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children;
NSPCC only works under charter to conduct child abuse follow-ups and in
most cases act on the behalf of local authorities.
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e. Other agencies:
 Healthcare professionals
 Play, youth and community workers
 Nursery school workers
 Educational welfare officer
 Probationer officer
 And educational psychologist
Assessed by Signed Date
3.2 Describe forms of abuse and their characteristics
There is various form of abuses legally recognized. These forms of abuse include,
Emotional abuse; this form of abuse is characterized by its psychological effect on
the victim. It is also known as psychological abuse and it encompasses yelling, shaming as
well as humiliation. This type of abuse is not physical but most effects and individual's
mental state. This is normally characterised by withdrawal, fear, stress and isolation.
Sexual abuse; this is a form of which is normally being perceived to be oriented
only to female, however sexual abuse can also affect male children. Sexual abuse occurs
when an individual has been forced by another person is to unwanted sexual actions. It
involves forced sexual touch, sexual intercourse as well as forced sexual body contact.
Sexual abuse is mostly characterized by rape and sexual assaults, physical injuries in case of
actual assault. It is also of the common abuses and has various effects both psychological,
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physical as well as health-wise (Parton 2014).
Physical abuse; this is is a violent act designed to harm another person and also
include threats to physically harm another person. Physical abuse is characterised by
violence and injuries with outward signs such as bruises on the victim's body.
Verbal abuse; this another form of abuse that is characterized by name-calling,
unrealistic criticism towards and individual as well as put-downs. For this reason, verbal
abuse can also be argued to be a form of psychological abuse.
Financial abuse; is also a form of abuse that occurs when an individual's right to
access funds has been restricted. Financial abuse to therefore include denial of financial
information, restriction to bank account access as well as being prevented from work. The
characteristic of financial abuse is that it occurs together with other forms of abuse and in
most cases the victims are depressed and stressed (Featherstone et.al 2014).
Assessed by Signed Date
3.3 identify own organization's safeguarding officer in relation to Child
Protection issues
Children safeguarding officers at Swan housing are as follows:
Name: Mrs. Nikki Emery
Contact: [e-mail]
01483 474 986
Mrs. Nikki Emery is the nominated governor, as well as the headteacher responsible
for the children's protection and safeguarding.
Name: Mrs. Emily Ferris
Contact details: [e-mail]
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01483 474 986
V Mrs. Emily Ferris is the lead safeguarding officer within the organization. She has
two deputies
Mrs. Debbie Harrison and Mrs. Hannah Piper
Contact details: [e-mail]
and [e-mail]
01483 474 986
Assessed by Signed Date
Learning Outcome 4. Understand how to protect young people when using contemporary
technologies.
4.1 Describe how e-safety policies and practices help to keep young people
safe
E-safety policies have over the past protected young people from online abuse. The
existence of e-safety policies prevents children from accessing various sites that result in
their abuse. E-safety policies, therefore, protect young people by training then on the use of
technology and make aware of the existing online abuse.
Assessed by Signed Date
4.2 Describe the importance of an organization-wide approach to using social
media and other technologies safely
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Organizations through wide but safe utilization of technologies are able to attain
increased output with minimum risks. This is because the application of modern
technologies enables organizations to increase the rate of production. Therefore, ensuring
that the whole process is safe to enable them to reduce risks while enjoying increased
production rate.
Assessed by Signed Date
4.3 Outline how youth workers can reduce the potential harm related to using
contemporary technologies.
The following are some of the ways that youth can reduce various risks associated
with the use of contemporary technologies.
Moreover, interventions and programs such as focused therapy on the use of
technology can be used as a means to address various technological issues which may rise
with the use of technology at youth work.
Such programs can help the youths to identify risks associated with a given
technology and measure the probability of its impact.
Youths should evaluate and analyze security threats related to a given technology
The youths should be able to outsource risks in order to avoid the impact associated
with risks and finally identify a controlled technology with minimum risks or exposure to
hazardous chemicals (Featherstone et,al 2014).
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Assessed by Signed Date
Learning Outcome 5 Understand how youth work protects young people
5.1 Describe how youth workers protect and support young people
Youth work projects and supports young people by enabling them to develop as
competent people with both works academic knowledge as well as individuals who are able
to identify risks and take appropriate decisions based on the identified risks.
Assessed by Signed Date
5.2 Describe how the purpose and principles of youth work align with child
protection and safeguarding policies and procedures
The main aim or safeguarding policies, as well as procedures, are to enable young
people to grow safely, develop emotionally and physically and finally, to enable them to
grow holistically. The principle and the purpose of youth work are also objected towards
enabling youths to grow holistically, personally, academically, socially and finally to
identify their full potentials. In this regard, both safeguarding and protection principles
align with youth work as both provide individuals with the opportunity to grow themselves
and become fully responsible people in the society with voice, influence as well as
individuals who understand risks (van Bijleveld, Dedding and Bunders‐Aelen 2015).
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5.3 Outline ways to support and empower young people to manage personal
risk
Based on personal talk with some youths within my working place, there are various
ways through which I can work with young people to empower them and support them
while managing their personal risks.
The first way is working with focus groups; this way enables one to work based on
the specific needs of each and individuals with common risks and needs.
Another way is by developing a positive relationship with young people which
creates transparency and openness.
Showing interest in various activities that a young person and providing moral
support in every step.
And finally getting down to their level and observing whatever they might be going
through from their angle of view.
5.4 Outline the challenges when implementing safeguarding procedures in a
youth work setting
The number on the challenge when implementing safeguarding procedures in a
youth work setting is the issue of compliance and negligence. The majority of younger
people tend to negligence and on most occasions do not take safety measures seriously.
Lack of compliance and support from each individual affects the process and is a greater
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Assessed by Signed Date
Assessed by Signed Date

challenge when working with youths (Parton 2014).
Learning Outcomes have been signed
off. All additional evidence is seen and/
or discussed.
Unit complete and Signed off …..
Assessed
by
Signature Date
References
Brennan, M., and Phippen, A. 2019. Child Protection and Safeguarding Technologies: Appropriate
or Excessive ‘Solutions’ to Social Problems?. Routledge.
England, N. H. S., and Wales, S. 2015. Safeguarding policy.
Featherstone, B., Morris, K., White, S., and White, S. (2014). Re-imagining child protection:
Towards humane social work with families. Policy Press.
Garratt, D., Piper, H., and Taylor, B. 2013. ‘Safeguarding’sports coaching: Foucault, genealogy and
critique. Sport, education and society, 18(5), 615-629.
Lang, M., and Hartill, M. (Eds.). 2014. Safeguarding, child protection and abuse in sport:
International perspectives in research, policy and practice. Routledge.
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Parton, N. 2014. Social work, child protection and politics: Some critical and constructive
reflections. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 2042-2056.
Peckover, S. 2013. From ‘public health’to ‘safeguarding children’: British health visiting in policy,
practice and research. Children & Society, 27(2), 116-126.
Rogowski, S. 2015. From child welfare to child protection/safeguarding: A critical practitioner’s
view of changing conceptions, policies and practice. Practice, 27(2), 97-112.
Tuck, V. 2013. Resistant parents and child protection: knowledge base, pointers for practice and
implications for policy. Child Abuse Review, 22(1), 5-19.
van Bijleveld, G. G., Dedding, C. W., & Bunders‐Aelen, J. F. (2015). Children's and young people's
participation within child welfare and child protection services: A state‐of‐the‐art review. Child &
Family Social Work, 20(2), 129-138.
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