1. YSS Conference May 2014 Worcestershire Young Carers A Safeguarding Matter?

2. Issues to be covered What is safeguarding? What does the Board do? What are the Board’s priorities? Are young carers a safeguarding matter?

3. What is safeguarding? The action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm (Working Together guidance 2013)

4. Definition: Protecting children from maltreatment Preventing impairment of children’s health or development Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

5. What does the Board do? Key statutory mechanism for agreeing how partner organisations will co-operate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do

6. Vision statement All children and young people in Worcestershire are safe and thriving

7. Membership – Strategic senior managers who can speak with authority, commit their organisation on policy and practice matters, and hold their organisation to account Range of statutory functions eg SCRs; child deaths; communicate/raise awareness; develop thresholds, policies and procedures; monitor and evaluate effectiveness; seek assurance about accessibility and quality of training; and produce/publish an annual report on effectiveness

8. In Summary, Boards: Co-ordinate and ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each person or body represented on the Board to safeguard and promote children’s welfare No power to direct - collective responsibility Independent - powerful position Multi-agency funding Totally reliant upon effective partnership working

9. Key issues: Consider all children (universal services), those with additional or complex needs, and those with critical/acute needs The world of child protection includes recognition of increasing family stresses/ complex safeguarding issues; expanding demand for services; era of austerity; and a diverse range of providers with different philosophies

10. What are the Board’s priorities? 1.Robust safeguarding practice Core Work e.g. victims of physical/sexual abuse; neglect; emotional abuse; vulnerable disabled; and preventable child deaths/injuries Development Priorities ie domestic abuse, mental ill health, substance abuse, and all forms of exploitation

11. 2.Evidenced partnership effectiveness eg user feedback, links with other partnerships, assess effectiveness 3.Improvement through learning Learning from eg serious case reviews, audits Demonstrate effectiveness of training

12. Are young carers a safeguarding matter? Definition: Preventing impairment of children’s development; and ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes Priority group: Improvement through learning priority: Serious case reviews Early help: Young carers potentially need early help - statutory function to assess effectiveness Vision: Thriving