Different agencies involved in safe guarding

1.1 Identify the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e- safety. Below is the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures The Children’s Act 1989.

This act outlines the law that enables the mental and physical wellbeing of children will always take priory, and that all actions must be taken to ensure this. This also allows families to stay together where possible. The children’s act 2004

This act was updated in 2004 to allow the “Every child matters” which is a guidance in which all practises that supervise children and young people has to follow. This act has 5 outcomes and the document includes the following to ensure that every child is

a) Be healthily
b) Be safe
c) Enjoy and achieve through learning
d) Makes a positive contributions to society
e) Achieve economic wellbeing.

The Childcare Act 2006

This act includes the “early year foundation stage” and how to ensure their age/ stage development and wellbeing as guidance for all settings looking after children under the age of 5 years. People who work with children and young people have to be checked to ensure they have no criminal record.

Education Act 2002

This sets out the responsibilities of Local Education Authorities (LEAs), governing bodies, head teachers and all those working in schools to ensure that children are safe and free from harm.

United Nations Convention on the rights of children

This treaty sets out the right and freedoms of all children in a set of 54 articles in countries under the United Nations. Including those rights which ensure the children are safe and looked after.

Not all of the United Nations convention on the rights of children is u.k law but the UK has agreed with the entire article in it. UK has also said that they will work toward getting the documents as law. In 2004 the guidelines from the United Nations are also linked to the children’s act 2004. Below are some of the documents titled from the convention to protecting the children in your care from harm. a) Article 9 – the right to a family life unless the child is abused or neglected. b) Article 18 – the government must support parents with services for children. c) Article 34 – the right to be protected from sexual abuse. d) Article 36 the right to be protected from any activity which harms developments.

Schools
Schools have a legal responsibility to create and maintain a safe learning environment for the children by developing policies and procedure set out by the department of education and the government. All staff from the senior management to teaching assistants, must be aware of these policies and follow them correctly. All types of organisation that work with children and young people must document and pass on information appropriately to ensure children are safe.

1.2 Describe the roles of different agencies involved in safe guarding the welfare of children and young people. Below is a list of agencies involved in safeguarding children and their responsibilities: Police are there to protect children and will investigate to see if a crime has been committed. They have the responsibility to collect all details from all other agencies. They will also decide if emergency action has to be taken e.g removing a child from their home. Social Services are a department within the local council, it is a team of people who work to support families and individuals whether they are children or adults. They work with children who are at risk of being harmed and families if they are experiencing abuse. They have a duty to safeguard children and to look out for all children’s welfare. They should communicate with all services involved and parents. If a child is found to be at risk they must intervene immediately.

Health professionals such as G.Ps who have a duty of care and report anything if they suspect a child has been abused. They must inform social services if they suspect a child is being abused. A health Visitor will help and support parents until the child is 5 years old. Their main job is to ensure the child is healthy and offers advice to the parents to allow the development and health of a child by making sure the child is well being looked after. After the age of 5 years the schools the child goes to will ensure that the child is well supported in their development and provides help and advice to the parents on how they help their child with their education. Schools have the responsibility to develop children’s awareness and their knowledge of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behaviour. They also identify the children who are most risk. Schools also keep records and share information to other agencies.

OFSTED is another agency that inspects any supervised child care settings. They ensure that all policies and procedures are being followed correctly. They will grade each setting and offers advice on how they continue within the law. The guidelines the inspectors follow have recently changed (Jan 2012) and depending on what grade each setting gets will depend on how often they will be inspected. The Ofsted agencies will shut a childcare setting whether it will be a school or a nursery if they have not reached a certain level of safeguarding the children Every setting will have a child protection officer who is responsible for the welfare for the children. Children centres like sure start which is a government funded organisation and it offers help and advice for parents and carers of children and young people. E- Safety UKCCIS (U.K COUNCIL FOR CHILD INTERENT SAFETY)

The UKCCIS was set up in 2008 and provide plans to increase awareness of internet safety and cyber bullying. It has set out measures to protect children from inappropriate websites and has established a code of practice.