Safeguarding means: protecting children from abuse and maltreatment. preventing harm to children’s health or development. ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care.

Signs of neglect

• poor appearance and hygiene. being smelly or dirty. being hungry or not given money for food.
• health and development problems. anaemia.
• housing and family issues. living in an unsuitable home environment, such as having no heating.
• change in behaviour. becoming clingy.

The following indicators may indicate physical abuse: bruises in unlikely places (face, back, ears, hands, buttocks, upper thighs and soft parts of the body) inconsistent or absent explanation of bruises. any bruising on a baby.

What are the six principles of safeguarding?

• Empowerment. People being supported and encouraged to make their own decisions and informed consent.
• Prevention. It is better to take action before harm occurs.
• Proportionality. The least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented.
• Protection.
• Partnership.
• Accountability.

Empowerment: people being supported and encouraged to make their own decisions and give informed consent. Prevention: it is better to take action before harm occurs. Proportionality: the least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented. Protection: support and representation for those in greatest need.

Monitoring a person’s emotional and physical wellbeing Look for any indicators that suggest a person is at risk of harm, such as changes to demeanour or behaviour. Make a point of recording these indicators. Through monitoring these signs and reviewing them regularly you may identify a safeguarding issue.

Examples of safeguarding issues include bullying, radicalisation, sexual exploitation, grooming, allegations against staff, incidents of self-harm, forced marriage, and FGM. These are the main incidents you are likely to come across, however, there may be others.

Anybody can raise a safeguarding concern, for example they might be a carer, a professional working with adults with care and support needs or somebody who thinks they have been abused. They can raise a concern by contacting adult social care help desk directly on 8.

Duty of Care is defined simply as a legal obligation to: always act in the best interest of individuals and others. not act or fail to act in a way that results in harm.

A Safeguarding Alert can however be made by any person. It might be made by the person who is at risk, a friend or family member, a member of the public, a paid carer, a volunteer or anyone else. Making a Safeguarding Alert just means reporting the concerns to be addressed within the safeguarding procedures.

If you think you or someone you know is being abused, or neglected you should tell someone you trust. This could be a friend, a teacher, a family member, a social worker, a doctor or healthcare professional, a police officer or someone else that you trust.

Remain calm and reassure the person that they have done the right thing by speaking up. Listen carefully and give the person time to speak. Explain that only the professionals who need to know will be informed, but never promise confidentiality. Act immediately, and do not try to address the issue yourself.

Managing immediate risks- Some adult safeguarding concerns will require an immediate response to safeguard the adult. As an indicative timescale, an assessment of immediate risks and action needed should be undertaken within 48 hours of receiving the adult safeguarding concern.

Closure to Adult Safeguarding Process Recording and monitoring the Safeguarding Adults process and its outcomes.

Low risk: No safeguarding action is taking place and/or safeguarding issues have been addressed. Moderate risk: Safeguarding Protection Plan is/remains in place. Severe risk: Life may be in danger, risk of major injury or serious physical or mental ill health.

Partnership working and information sharing. Cooperation between agencies is important to help reduce the risk of cases slipping through the safeguarding system and stopping domestic abuse at an early stage or preventing it from happening in the first place. coordinated action to assess, manage and reduce risk.

The new statutory framework requires the three safeguarding partners (local authorities, police and CCGs): to join forces with relevant agencies, as they consider appropriate, to co-ordinate their safeguarding services; act as a strategic leadership group; and implement local and national learning, including from …

Government departments that oversee safeguarding policy and law

• England.
• Wales.
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• Local authority social services.
• Care Quality Commission.
• Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED)
• Office of the Public Guardian.
• Police.

The 2017 Children and Social Work Act sets out how agencies must work together by placing new duties on the police, clinical commissioning groups and the local authority to make arrangements to work together and with other partners locally to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area.

The main pieces of legislation and guidance documents that you should be aware of include:

• The Children Act 1989 (as amended).
• The Children and Social Work Act 2017.
• The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.
• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020.

It means working together to ensure a joined-up local response to reduce the risk of harm to children. This is about leaders who understand their local context. Children and their families do not live in silos, so it is critical that leaders create an environment in which multi-agency working can flourish.

Statutory framework Updated ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018’ with factual changes in relation to information sharing, homelessness duty and references to domestic abuse. Updated ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018’ to reflect how local authorities should notify the Child Safeguarding Panel.

The phrase “Every Child Matters” was immediately replaced with the phrase “helping children achieve more”. Family intervention projects – another ECM policy development, have been disbanded, and that phrase is also banned from use within Gove’s despotic and linguistically pauperised Department.

Republic Act 7610: Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR STRONGER DETERRENCE AND SPECIAL PROTECTION AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATION AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

The Every Child Matters policy was thought up and implemented by New Labour. It was launched in 2003, but there was a significant movement away from it in 2010 under David Cameron and the Coalition Government. Instead, the government returned to child health checks via health visitors and social workers.