Safeguarding the Welfare of Children and Young People Critical Essay

Local authorities have a duty to work under the Children Act 1989 and Children act 2004 to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in need and have an obligation of ensuring that children in need of protection in their areas are protected from significant harm. Policies which safeguard schools must develop a range of policies which ensure the safety, security and well-being of their pupils. These will set out the responsibilities of staff and the procedures that they must follow. Policies may be separate or incorporated into one health and safety policy, but they must include sections which cover the following issues of:

● safeguarding and protecting, and procedures for reporting ● e-safety
● bullying, including cyber-bullying

The department for Education (DFE) issues guidance for local authorities and schools:

Legislation and guidance

The legislative framework for the child protection system in England is the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. The Department for Education issues guidance to local authorities. The current guidance is working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (HM Government, 2013). Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) use this guidance to produce their own procedures which should be followed by practitioners and professionals who come into contact with children and their families in that particular local authority area.

Local Safeguarding Children Boards and children’s services

England’s 148 Local Safeguarding Children Boards are responsible for ensuring that the key agencies involved in safeguarding children work effectively together in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children at the local level. Their core membership is set out in Working together and includes local authorities, health bodies, the police and two lay members The Act also requires every local authority in England to appoint a Director of Children’s Services and to designate an elected councillor as Lead Member

The policies will propose the responsibilities of staff and the procedures that they must adhere to. All responsible adults that work at a school are responsible over the safeguarding and welfare of children the school must ensure that they have an individual who is the safeguarding officer, the safeguarding officer will have particular responsibilities for safeguarding children and for e-safety, it is very important to be aware of who the safeguarding officer is whilst working as a member of staff.

Local authorities in their education functions, schools of all kinds, and FE colleges need to have arrangements for carrying out their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children under sections 175 and 157 of the Education Act 2002.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as •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; and
•undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully

Statutory guidance backed up through the process of inspection, sometimes requires that services have a clear code or policy on an important issue. It is expected that local authorities will develop their own child protection guidelines, grounded firmly in the relevant law and statutory guidance, in order to support local practice. (Lindon.J, 2008, P4)

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, which came into force in November 2006, implies very significant changes in the way that people who are employed to work with children and vulnerable adults go through the recruitment process. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act is an important part of a bigger programme of work. This programme of work extends across government departments and is designed to solve the failures identified by the 2004 Bichard Inquiry arising from the Soham murders in 2002.

Recommendation 19 of the Bichard Inquiry

Report says:
‘New arrangements should be introduced requiring those who wish to work with children, or vulnerable adults, to be registered. The register would confirm that there is no known reason why an individual should not work with these clients.’ The supervision they plan to provide will take the supervised activity out of regulated activity. Organisations will be able to obtain an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, but not check barred list status, for supervised work that is no longer regulated activity. The supervision they plan to provide will take the supervised activity out of regulated activity. Organisations will be able to obtain an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, but not check barred list status, for supervised work that is no longer regulated activity.