‘All those who come into contact with children and families in their everyday work, including practitioners who do not have a specific role in relation to child protection, have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.’ (Source: What To Do If You’re Worried A Child is Being Abused, 2006)

 Who would become involved in response to this situation?  Note that this is the same family as in the earlier case. The difference is that 8 months have passed with little or no support for the family.

Achieving good outcomes for children requires all those with responsibility for assessment and the provision of services to work together according to an agreed plan of action. (Source: What To Do If You’re Worried A Child is Being Abused, 2006)

Lord Laming [March 2009] reiterated the importance of frontline professionals getting to know children as individual people and, as a matter of routine, considering how their situation feels to them. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.15, p32)

Ofsted’s evaluation of 50 Serious Case Reviews conducted between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008 highlighted ‘the failure of all professionals to see the situation from the child’s perspective and experience; to see and speak to the children; to listen to what they said, to observe how they were and to take serious account of their views in supporting their needs as probably the single most consistent failure in safeguarding work with children.’ (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.15, p32)

Protecting children from mistreatment Preventing impairment of children’s health or development Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.20, p34) Enabling children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully

Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are at risk of suffering, significant harm. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.23, p35)

Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make enquiries if there is “reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.”

 ‘harm’ means ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development, including, for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill- treatment of another;  ‘development’ means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development;  ‘health’ means physical or mental health; and  ‘ill-treatment’ includes sexual abuse and forms of ill-treatment which are not physical. (Source: Children Act 1989 as amended by the Adoption and Children Act 2002)

Under s31 (10) of the Children Act 2004, the question of whether harm suffered by a child is significant relates specifically to the child’s health and development. Their health or development should be compared with that which could reasonably be expected of a similar child. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.28, p36)

There are no absolute criteria on which to rely when judging what constitutes significant harm. Consideration of the severity of ill-treatment may include the degree and the extent of physical harm, the duration and frequency of abuse and neglect, the extent of premeditation, and the presence or degree of threat, coercion, sadism and bizarre or unusual elements. Each of these elements has been associated with more severe effects on the child, and/or relatively greater difficulty in helping the child overcome the adverse impact of the maltreatment. Sometimes, a single traumatic event may constitute significant harm. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.28, p36)

More often, significant harm is a compilation of significant events, both acute and long-standing, which interrupt, change or damage the child’s physical and psychological development. Some children live in family and social circumstances where their health and development are neglected. For them, it is the corrosiveness of long-term emotional, physical or sexual abuse that causes impairment to the extent of constituting significant harm. In each case, it is necessary to consider any maltreatment alongside the family’s strengths and supports. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.28, p36)

Children who may be more vulnerable to being harmed  babies and younger children  disabled children  children who are isolated  children who are already thought of as a problem (e.g. children in care; children in secure accommodation, children with emotional/behavioural difficulties)

 The under-ones are particularly vulnerable to abuse (although it should be remembered that abuse can happen at any age).  The homicide rate for under-ones is nearly five times greater than the average.  Babies under one have the highest rate of child protection plans.

Disabled children are:  3.8 time more likely to be neglected;  3.8 more likely to be physically abused;  3.1 times more likely to be emotionally abused. (Source: Safeguarding disabled children-Practice guidance - DCSF 2009)

Professionals must take special care to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people who may be living in particularly stressful circumstances. These include families:  living in poverty;  where there is domestic violence;  where a parent has a mental illness;  where a parent is misusing drugs or alcohol;  where a parent has a learning disability;  that face racism and other forms of social isolation;  living in areas with a lot of crime, poor housing and high unemployment. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, Ch. 9)

… vulnerability is such that they are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired, without the provision of services; those who are disabled. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.25, p35)

Local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.25, p35)

Children Act Education Act Children Act 2004

Children can be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting, by those known to them or, more rarely, by a stranger for example, via the internet. They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.32, p37) NEGLECT PHYSICAL ABUSE SEXUAL ABUSE EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Physical Abuse Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.33, p38)

Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non- penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.35, p38)

Neglect Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:  provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment);  protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger;  ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or  ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs. (Source: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.36, p39)

Emotional Abuse Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. cont. ….

Emotional Abuse (cont.) It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill- treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone. (Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, 1.34, p38)

Don’t promise confidentiality. Don’t pre-judge what you are told or make assumptions. Don’t delay action in response to a disclosure. Don’t be afraid of being wrong, or be concerned about starting an investigation - you will be supported. At the earliest opportunity make a written record.

Questions should be:  Necessary – the purpose of questions at this stage is to establish whether or not there is a concern, not to interrogate the child or conduct an investigation.  Non-leading – do not use questions that suggest an answer.  Open – avoid questions that invite only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.