Principles for Duty of Care
Principles for When people interact with each other each has a duty of care to the other. ‘Duty of care: a requirement to exercise a reasonable degree of attention and caution to avoid negligence which would lead to harm to other people. ’ safeguarding contributes to duty of care as children and babies are dependant on adults to care and protect them from harm, we safeguard children by carrying out risk assessments, observing and assessing their development, understanding the ways children may be abused and setting clear expectations for childrens behaviour.
Children have rights, such as those set out in the UN convention on the rights of the child Parents rights are modified by their responsibilities towards the children. The childrens’ act 1989 made clear that it is the welfare of the child that is paramount. Childrens rights are often given priority, overriding those of the parent. Potential conflicts or dilemmas might arise between am imdividuals rights and the duty of care, these can be:
Risk Taking Duty of care could conflict with childrens rights to have experiances which further there development and learning its essential children learn how to predict and acoid dangerous situation, if you wrap a child in cotton wool you are taking their duty of care too far. Confidentiality
It is essential that sensitive information is kept confidential. However childrens safety and welfare is kept paramount. This conflict becomes more apparent when safeguarding children from abuse. Information must be shared between profecionals in the intrest of the child. Sometimes without consent of the parents.
I would discard my duty of care to support childrens rights to gain life skills on how to cope with tricky situations. When dealing with confidentiality your duty of care to protect a child or children from abuse must be balanced with the families rights to have private information treated confidentially. I could get additional support and advice from my manager, supervisor or team leaders.
