Introduction to Safeguarding Children and Social Work  Facts  Part one of the history of development of measures to ensure the protection of children  Two significant cases – Dennis O’Neil and Maria Colwell  The Cleveland Child Abuse Scandal (1987) Documentary and Discussion.

Why should you have safeguards in place?

Some of the facts…  Almost one in five children today has experienced serious physical abuse, sexual abuse or severe physical or emotional neglect at some point in their lifetime.  There were a total of 21,493 sexual offences against children recorded by police in the UK in 2011/12.

 One in 10 children in the UK has been neglected.  One in 14 children in the UK has been physically abused.  Around one in five children in the UK has been exposed to domestic violence.  On average, every week in the UK, at least one child is killed at the hands of another person.  Over a third of serious case reviews involves a child under one.  There were more than 91,000 looked after children in the UK in 2012.

Fact  For every child placed on a child protection plan or the child protection register, we estimate there are another eight children who are suffering from abuse and neglect and not getting the support they need.  Deaf and disabled children are more than three times more likely to be abused or neglected than non- disabled children.  Resource:  ork.org.uk/

The history of measures to ensure the protection of children - content/themes/vc_org_1/ChildProtectionTimeLine/childpr otectiontimeline.html

 The history of Child Protection legislation can go back as far as the 1600’s, but the modern idea of Child Protection and the legislation behind it started in This began with  “The first act of parliament for the prevention of cruelty to children”  Commonly known as – The Children’s Charter.

It allowed the state to intervene in matters between parents and children Gave powers to enter a home if a child was suspected of being abused. It also included guidelines on employment rules for children. This act was amended in 1894 to take into account things such as mental abuse and also made it an offence to deny a child medical attention.

In 1908 The Children’s Act introduced the idea of fostering and the introduction of Juvenile Courts. This meant that children now stand in court and give evidence. In 1932 the powers of the Juvenile Courts were extended and the introduction of Supervision Orders was brought about. This all came under the ‘Children and Young Persons Act’

Significant Cases….Dennis O’Neil  The Children Act of 1948 saw the establishment of the Children’s Committee and new powers were given to Local Authorities in the form of Assigned Children’s Officers. The main reason behind these new amendments was following the review of the death of Dennis O’Neil.

Maria Colwell In 1973 the death of Maria Colwell at the hands of her step-father highlighted discrepancies and flaws in these social services. This lead to the creation of Area Child Protection Committees (ACPC’s). These encouraged the coordination and integration of services to safeguard children found to be at risk.

The Maria Colwell case did make the Government revisit the Children’s Act. Albeit not until after the Cleveland Child Abuse Scandal in 1987.

The Cleaveland Child Abuse Scandal 1987 (contains sensitive material) Please feel free to leave the class at anytime if you find any part of this documentary upsetting. Following the film there will be a discussion