Introduction to Safeguarding and Child Protection Helen Elliott and Barry Rawlings

Welcome ! Introduction Housekeeping Learning Contract Looking after ourselves Welcome and thank you for taking time out to come to this event. We are really pleased to be here and look forward to an intereting and interactive day. We are going to introduce ourselves , and then cover some housekeeping before we start with an exercise where we will be asking you to introduce yourselves. Introduce ourselves and say we have been working for over 25 years in criminal justice and social care Domestics, fire, phones, tolielts. Luch, layout of room Aims of day,in course flyer, Learning contract in handouts Handouts and we also have lots of other resources and information that we will display on table if anyone wants to look Ambitious agenda but want to be interactive We will try our best to finish by 4pm Finally, important to ackowledge that this is a difficult area and some of you may be affected by some of the material tofday so it is really important that we look after ourselves and please feel free to take time out if anything affects you or you feel uncomfortable

Aims of the session To provide an overview of the legal and policy framework of safeguarding and child protection To consider roles and responsibilities of staff and volunteers in safeguarding To raise awareness of types of abuse, signs and symptoms To provide information about what to do if you have concerns

Introductory Exercise Safeguarding Quiz

The National Picture Tragedy of child deaths Laming Enquiry Failures at every level and in every organisation Problems in sharing information Soham/Safer Recruitment We all have a part to play - Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility SOOLA Lord Laming was charged with the responsibility of investigating what happened What lessons to we need to learn from this enquiry? There were failures at every level Victoria was known to church organisations, hospitals, social services and the police She was not at school – no one followed up why? We are monitoring children every day in school/have day to day dealings with children in our care Schools are best placed to notice if a child stops attending If Victoria had been at school, someone would have noticed Governing bodies have a legal responsibility Your primary responsibility is to safeguard children’s welfare, before you start to teach Safeguarding: a huge umbrella, CP policy, anti bullying, anti racism, restraint – anything that will safeguard a child’s welfare Lord Laming identified problems with information sharing – some organisations felt they could not share information It doesn’t matter if we are at work or at home As adults, safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility

What Do We Mean By Safeguarding? Duty to protect children from impairment Duty to prevent impairment Promoting wellbeing By Working Together HELEN 3 Ps: PROTECT PREVENT PROMOTE Protect children from harm Preventtion responsibilities – where children’s welfare needs to e safeguarded, eg educational visits policy Promote: Having healthy schools, talking to children about healthy lifestyles, citizenship education Safeguarding is everybody’s business!

Legislation, Guidance, Procedure Children Act 1989 - Education Act 2002 -Children Act 2004

UN Convention of the Rights of the Child 42 Articles which state that all rights guaranteed by it must be available to all children without discrimination. Article 19 “Children have the right to be protected from all forms of violence. They must be kept safe from harm. They must be given proper care by those looking after them.” Article 34 “Children have a right to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.” Article 37 “Children have the right not to be punished cruelly or in a way that would belittle them.”

Safeguarding Children In Diverse Communities: Working Together 2010 Awareness of impact of racism. Awareness of cultural misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Consider how religious beliefs and cultural traditions influence values, attitudes and behaviour, and the way in which family and community life is structured and organized. Cultural and religious factors should not be regarded as acceptable explanations for abuse or neglect and are not acceptable grounds for inaction if a child is at risk Guard against myths and stereotypes. Fear of being accused of racism should not stop safeguarding a child.

Child Protection The process of protecting individual children identified as either suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect

Prevention and Early Intervention (Common Assessment Framework :CAF ) For children where there are concerns about welfare but NOT at risk of significant harm Practitioners from any agency can carry out a CAF Common forms and shared language to assess children when parents consent

Stages of intervention- the CAF in context SPECIALIST ASSESSMENTS & STATUTORY INTERVENTION (children in care), Children with Child Protection Plans, Young offenders, Special Educational Needs (SEN), complex health & disability CAF, with Lead Professional Several agencies involved CAF e.g. Schools and health visiting, Children’s Centres, youth work

The Children Act 1989 The legal duty to protect children is governed by this act which introduced: The welfare of the child as paramount Wishes and feelings of child must be ascertained Working in partnership with families Parental responsibility is always retained by parents. Duty to provide services to families with ‘children in need’. L.A. promote the upbringing of children by families

Child in Need (Children Act 1989 s17) Unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have opportunity of achieving a reasonable standard of health or development without provision of services Health or development likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without provision of such services Disabled

Significant Harm Concept of significant harm justifies compulsory intervention in family life (S47 Children Act) Duty to make enquiries where reasonable cause to suspect child suffering from significant harm

Definition of Significant Harm ( Children Act 1989) Ill–treatment (including sexual abuse and physical abuse) Impairment of health(physical or mental) or development compared to a similar child Now includes impairment as a result of witnessing ill-treatment of another person(domestic violence) Adoption & Children Act 2002

Threshold for Significant Harm There is no absolute criteria but London Procedures give guidance “Significant harm can be caused by one traumatic event or a compilation of events that interrupt, change or damage the child’s physical or psychological development.” It is necessary to consider The severity of ill treatment, the degree and extent of physical harm, the duration and frequency of abuse and neglect, the extent of pre-meditation the degree of threat and coercion, sadism and bizarre or unusual elements in child sexual abuse.

To understand significant harm… …. It is necessary to consider: The nature of harm, in terms of maltreatment or failure to provide adequate care The impact on the child’s health or development The child’s development within the context of their family and wider environment Any special needs, such as medical condition, impairment or disability that may affect the child’s development and care in the family The capacity of parents to meet the child’s needs The wider and environmental family context

Categories Of Abuse Physical Abuse Sexual Abuse Neglect Emotional Abuse HELEN Physical: bruising, change in behaviour, burns Emotional: through witnessing DV/poor attachment/ change in behaviour, tearful, withdrawn Sexual abuse: very little gets reported Children find it very difficult to disclose/threats issued, web of secrecy Neglect: Pattern and history

Exercise: Recognising Abuse ASK what are the signs and symptoms

Physical Abuse Includes Shaking Hitting Burning/scalding Female Genital Mutilation Fabricated and Induced illness Drowning Suffocating Possible signs Bruises (soft tissue areas ) Grasp marks Bites Burns/scalds Fractures Large number of differering aged marks Failure to seek medical help/opposite

Sexual Abuse Includes Forcing/enticing child to take part in sexual activity Contact,penetrative/non penetrative Non contact eg watching sexual activity/pornography Encouraging inappropriate sexual behaviour Possible signs Pregnancy where father’s identity concealed Genital bruising STDs/ UTIs Inappropriate sexualised behaviour Child hinting of secrets Deliberate self-harm /anorexia other disturbance

Neglect Includes Failure to meet physical needs Failure to meet psychological needs Failure to provide food, shelter, clothing Failure to protect from harm Failure to seek medical care Possible signs Malnutrition Dirty/cold environment Leaving young child unattended Failure to protect from physical danger Lack of supervision Lack of stimulation, social contact, education

Emotional Abuse Includes Overly critical parenting Causing child to feel unloved, worthless Inappropriate expectations Causing children to feel frightened Witnessing domestic violence or other forms of abuse Possible signs Very low self esteem High level of anxiety Overly compliant/eager to please Fearfulness/appearing withdrawn Behavioural issues Self harm

What is your role? Recognising indicators of abuse Recording and acting on concerns, referring to designated colleague or Manager Ensuring all communication with parents is managed professionally and sensitively If in doubt use consultation line Making detailed accurate referral reports Providing information as needed to Children’s Social Care Supporting child and family , being sensitive to stress a referral can bring Maintain confidentiality of written records SOOLA

What to do if you have concerns Follow procedures Talk to your manager or designated person Listen to the child but don’t ask leading questions Record full information, who, what, when Refer any concerns to Police or Children’s services via named staff

Managing a Disclosure Listen carefully, do not interrupt the child or ask any questions Reassure the child that they have done the right thing by telling someone Do not promise confidentiality Record the conversation ASAP include date time, persons present and sign it

Safer Working Practice Importance of safer recruitment Induction and training Clear expectations re code of conduct Awareness of role and maintaining professional boundaries Minimising risk of allegations Clear systems to report concerns by children, staff or parents Open and transparent culture

Dealing with allegations against staff or volunteers All allegations must be reported immediately to your designated person/manager who will refer to the Local Authority Designated Officer for threshold discussion No automatic assumption of guilt but all cases must be properly investigated

Exercise : Safeguarding Scenarios

Making a referral This is what I am worried about This is what I have seen and/or heard: when, who from and where This is what I have done What more do I need to do? If parents/carers/child are aware of this referral? Confirm name of person and next steps Who should I speak to if I am not happy with the outcome 56 32

You can expect children’s services to.. discuss your concerns with you decide what action is needed agree with you what the child and parents are told, by whom and when If there are concerns about a child’s safety: check whether the child has a child protection plan consult with other agencies take action to ensure the child is safe involve the police if a crime may have been committed tell you if they are taking no further action and why acknowledge your written referral within one working day of receipt

What happens next? When there is a likelihood of s47 enquiries core continuing significant harm s47 enquiries core assessment recognition and referral child protection conference initial assessment child protection plan strategy discussion review

What parents worry about ? Sexual activity Drugs Gangs Extremism Discrimination Dilution of culture and religion

Key Themes in perception of abuse Honour Respect Cultural clashes in values Faith    Mistrust of agencies 36

Working in Partnership Safeguarding agencies need to gain an understanding of how abuse, in any family, is understood in regard to Faith and culture. It has implications for likelihood of harm, risk analysis, input into what would be an effective protection plan Faiths/cultural groups- singularly and inter faith need to grapple with arguments used to minimise, deny or justify abuse on the grounds of Faith.

Sources of Advice Barnet Children’s Service Advice and Consultation Line 020 8359 4336 Local Contact details see handout CommUNITY Barnet Muslim Youth Helpline 0808 808 2008 NSPCC 0800 056 0566

Questions ?