Unit:3- Understand how to safeguard children and young people

1.1) Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within UK Home
Nations affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

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
 Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best
outcomes. (Louise Burnham, pg 32 2018)
There are many laws that protect the welfare and safeguarding of children.
The Children Act 1989:
The local authority has welfare of duty to protect children in their area and work. It
emphasises the important principles to be followed when working with children and
young people: setting must provide a safe and secure environment, if any children are
identified as suffering from abuse or likely to suffer the appropriate action must be
taken.
United Nations Convention in the Rights of the Child 1989:
This legislation states the rights the child has and what the Government must do to
protect their rights. For example,” every child has the right to a standard of living that is
good enough to develop their physical, mental and social needs and the Government
must provide extra money for families in need if their standard of living is below par.”
The Human Rights Act 1998: This act protects all of us. Its protects us against torture
or inhumane treatment, forced labour, discrimination among other things. Any public
authority who disregards this rights are doing so unlawfully. Through this Act some key
provisions introduced; Children’s Trusts were created, Local Safeguarding Children
Boards (LSCB) were set up and an agencies had a duty to safeguard and promote
child.
Children Act 2004: This provides the legal framework for every child matters. It includes
the requirement for: Services to work more closely, forming an integrated service.
Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015: It is relevant to safeguarding as it aims to
prevent children and young people being radicalised or drawn into terrorist acts. Under
the Act, schools and colleges have a legal duty to prevent young people from being
drawn into terrorism. (Source Ref: 1. Cache level 3, Diploma in Supporting Teaching
and Learning, Louise Burnham, 2018 and www.legislation.gov.uk)

2.1) Explain the need to safeguard children and young people.

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect
them from harm.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual
children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Safeguarding children
and young people is a key for all professionals who work in all settings where they have
contact with children, more so children who could be more vulnerable than others. For
example, a child who struggles with a physical or mental disability. All children need to
feel safe and secure and are being taught or mentored by adults they can trust. It is the
most important that the correct people, whether they are full time employees or
volunteers are given DBS checks. All agencies involved with children must take
practical measures to make certain that the risk of harm to children or young people’s

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wellbeing is minimised. If there are concerns about a child or young person’s welfare
then all agencies must take appropriate action to deal with these concerns.
So this is important because children have a right to be kept safe and free from harm.

2.2) Explain the impact of a child or young person-centred approach.

A child centred approach is fundamental to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of
every child. A child centred approach means keeping the child in focus when making
decisions about their lives and working in partnership with them and their families.
A child centred approach is important because every child is different and a unique
individual.
The national framework for Every Child Matters (Children Acts 1989 and 2004) was set
up to support children or young people to ensure the joining up of services to ensure
that each individual support to children to enable them to be:
 Healthy
 Stay safe
 Enjoy and achieve
 Make a positive contribution
 Achieve economic well-being.
The child centred approach promotes the right of the child or young person to
choose, make connections and decisions and they decide what they want to play
with and they decide who their best friends and communicate with, this will help to
plan for their individual needs. Sometimes although not very often young children
may even be involved in more serious matters including their own protection, this
can be difficult if a child is very young or if a child has barriers that stop them
communicating.
A child centred approach allows the child, young person to think, experience,
explore, question and explore for answers in the direction of play that they wish to
experience rather than we directing play.

2.3) Explain what is meant by partnership working in the context of safeguarding.

When it comes to safeguarding, children are the best protected when professionals
know what is required of them and how they work together. This means that everyone
who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe, which involves
identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action. To carry this out
effectively professionals need to work in partnership with each other.
For example, if there are concerns about a child or young person’s unsocial behaviour,
there may be a meeting between the child and family, police, social services and the
school or college to discuss the way forward. In cases of serious abuse, a lack of
information sharing between agencies and other organisations has contributed to
deaths and serious injuries. Such as, Victoria Climbie died on 25 th February 2000.Her
death was preventable as doctors, police and social workers all came into contact with
her and had concerns. Following this case lessons were learnt and recommendations
put into place to try and prevent another tragedy where successful partnership working
for safeguarding should have stepped in earlier to avoid this abuse. To provide
adequate safeguarding measures it helps to have a complete picture of the child.
Partnership working means each professional, whether it’s the polices, doctors,
educations department, social workers, if they have concerns to do with safeguarding,
welfare child protection, they should work with the other agencies in contact with that
child. By working in partnership and sharing information the bigger picture solves.

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2.4) Describe the roles and responsibilities of the different organisations that may be
involved when a child or young person has been abused or harmed.
All organisations who work around children and young people have a role and a
responsibility to uphold when a child or young person has been abused or harmed. A
number of different services may be involved:
School roles and responsibilities are:
 The role of the staff is to create and maintain a safe learning
environment.
 To protect children from harm and abuse.
 To help meet the health needs of children with medical conditions and
provide accurate information on the child’s educational needs.
 Under the children Act 1989 the school have a key role to play referring
children and providing information to the police for future criminal
proceedings that might take place under child protection issues.
 The school should manage risks appropriately such as Internet etc.
 Provide polices and procedures to protect children such as child
protection, physical contact, safeguarding, risk assessments, outings,
injuries, illness and emergencies.
 The school designate a person that have had specific training to deal
with child protection issues.
Health visitor’s roles and responsibilities are:
 A health visitor plays a big part in all stages of a child protection process
including case reviews. They are one of the first to recognise children
who are likely to be abused or neglected.
 Support the health of babies and children under the age of five.
 They have contact with many multi agencies and they support the work
of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB).
 They are trained to a high level to recognise any risks that the child might
be in.
 Health visitors should use their own judgement on when to share
information with other agencies.
 They support and guide parents of young children.
 Provide developmental checks on under five.
Social services roles and responsibilities are:
 To provide support for vulnerable children and families.
Police roles and responsibilities are:
 The main role of the police is to prevent crime and disorder and protect all
individuals.
 The police investigate child abuse cases.
 The police have legislation to adhere to protect the children. Children have the
right to be fully protected.
 The police have powers to enter premises to ensure that children are
immediately protected against significant harm.
NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) roles and
responsibilities are:

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  Provides support for children and families in situations such as domestic
violence, abuse.
 Provide support via telephone line to home based childcare workers on
whether to refer a situation to social services.
 Work with different organisations such as, social services, police, family
protection, education and health services.
Psychology service roles and responsibilities are:
 Provide support for children who have experienced abuse or harm.
General Practitioners (GP) roles and responsibilities:
 The role of a GP is to maintain their skills in recognising if a child is being
abused or neglected.
 They need to follow all correct procedures if abuse or neglect is suspected.
 All GP’s should have regular training and update their training when
necessary.

3.1) Explain why we need to ensure children and young people are protected from
harm within the learning environment.
All children need to feel safe and secure and are being taught or mentored by adults
they can trust. It is the most important that the correct people, whether they are full
time employees or volunteers are given DBS checks. All agencies involved with
children must take practical measures to make certain that the risk of harm to
children or young people’s wellbeing is minimised. If there are concerns about a child
or young person’s welfare then all agencies must take appropriate action to deal with
these concerns. For example, Schools play an essential role in protecting children
from abuse. They have regular contact with children and young people so are in a
strong position to identify signs of abuse and neglect.
School can safeguard children by:
 creating safe environments for children and young people through robust
safeguarding practices
 ensuring that adults who work in the school, including volunteers, don’t pose a
risk to children
 making sure staff are trained, know how to respond to concerns and keep up
to date with policy and practice
 teaching children and young people about staying safe
 maintaining an environment where children feel confident to approach any
member of staff if they have a worry or problem.

3.2) Identify the risks and possible consequences for children and young people of
being online and using digital mobile devices.
As in the real world, children and young people are vulnerable and may knowingly or
unknowingly expose themselves to danger when using the internet, mobile phones and
other technologies. One of the main risks of using the internet is that children may be
exposed to inappropriate material. This could be pornographic, hateful or violent in
nature; that encourages activities that are dangerous or illegal, age inappropriate or
biased. There is also the risk of physical danger. Some children and young people may
become involved in serious illegal activities. Possibilities include, identity theft, bullying,
selling stolen goods, participation in hate websites, suicide sites and online gambling.
There is also the possibility that children may divulge personal information such as,
name, address, email address, phone number, hobbies, name of school etc. Bulling is

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another aspect of the use of new technologies, which are perceived as providing an
anonymous method by which bullies can torment their victims. Children may receive
texts or emails that make them feel sad, embarrassed, upset, depressed or afraid. This
could be damaging to the child’s self-esteem and psychological wellbeing.

3.3) Describe ways of reducing risk to children and young people from:
 Social networking
 Internet use.
There are many ways to reduce the risks to children and young people using these
technologies.
Social networking:
 Do not allow children younger than 13 on social media
 Check the privacy setting on your child’s phone and apps
 Use monitoring apps such as Net Nanny and Web Watcher to track
child’s social media behaviour.
 Stay educated
 Have a discussion.
Internet use:
 Change social media settings.
 Use a VPN.
 Know the risks of using cloud services.
 Read the fine print.
 Smart password practices.
 Use secured websites.
 Bypass phishing attacks.
 Do not forget anti-malware software.

3.4) Explain how support staff can take steps to protect themselves within their
everyday practice in the learning environment and during off-site activities.
In the learning environment support staff can protect themselves by:
 Always follow their settings polices and procedures.
 They should avoid being entirely in a closed room with a child.
 If a child is late being collected the two members of staff stay with the
child until parents/carers arrive.
 Staff and children’s times on arrivals and departures are recorded in
the register.
 When incidents or accidents occur ever acquire a informant to
subscribe.
 If an incident happens before the child enters the setting, compose up
information in incident book and get parent to sign before they leave.
Off site visits support staff protect themselves by:
 Always follow settings polices and procedures.
 Carry out a full hazard appraisal. Think of age/stage of children and
where and when and how they are getting to the venue, always have
the child’s safety in mind.
 Get parental/carers consent.
 Make sure insurance covers the outing.
 Staff ratio is the line within the guidance of Ofsted (perchance travel lower with
ratio)

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  Take emergency contact numbers, mini first aid box and any medical
notes that could be relevant in case of accidents or emergencies.

4.1) Explain child protection within the wider context of safeguarding children and
young people.
Every school or organisation that deals with children must have a safeguarding
policy in place, which should be reviewed and updated regularly. The term “child
protection is increasingly being replaced by that of safeguarding” Child protection is
specifically about abuse but it comes under an umbrella term called safeguarding.
Safeguarding are all the things that we do and the policies and procedures we have
that help keep children safe.
Child protection is part of the wider concept to safeguard and promote the welfare to
children and young people. It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect
specific children who are may be suffering from any form of abuse or neglect. It also
involves protecting children and young people from maltreatment and preventing
impairment of a child’s health and development by ensuring children are raised in
positive circumstances by providing safe and caring environments.
Parents or carers who fail to protect or care for their children could then be taken to
court and the chid be then removed from the home and placed into care.
Wider forms of safeguarding also include; risk assessments such as providing a safe
environment inside and outside a school setting. Adhering to school polices,
procedures and legislation for example, health and safety, fire drills and missing
children.
Keeping up to date with training in safeguarding issues. Encouraging learning and
development of children and young people.

4.2) Identify different types of abuse and bullying.

There are many different types of abuse and bullying. It can happen anywhere-at
school, at home or online.
Types of abuse:
 Domestic abuse
 Sexual abuse
 Neglect
 Online abuse
 Physical abuse
 Emotional abuse
 FGM (Female genital mutilation)
 Child trafficking
 Grooming
Types of bullying:
 Physical bullying
 Verbal bullying
 Relational aggression bullying
 Cyber bullying
 Sexual bullying
 Gangs bullying.

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4.3) Outline the possible signs, symptoms, indications and behaviours that may
cause concern in the context of safeguarding.
An abused child is any child, up to age of 18, who has suffered from, or is believed
likely to be at risk of, physical injury, neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse or
verbal abuse. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community
setting, by those known to them or by a stranger, for example, “via the internet”. The
following signs may or may not be indicators that abuse has taken place, but the
possibility should be considered.
Signs of possible physical abuse:
 Any injuries not consistent with the explanation given for them
 Injuries which occur to the body in places which are not normally
exposed to falls or rough games
 Injuries which have not received medical attention
 Reluctance to change for, or participate in, games or swimming
 Bruises, bites, burns and fractures, for example, “which do not have an
accidental explanation”
 The child gives inconsistent accounts for the cause of injuries
Signs of possible sexual abuse:
 Any allegations made by a child concerning sexual abuse
 The child has an excessive preoccupation with sexual matters and
inappropriate knowledge of adult sexual behaviour for their age, or
regularly engages in sexual play inappropriate for their age
 Sexual activity through words, play or drawing
 Repeated urinary infections or unexplained stomach pains
 The child is sexually provocative or seductive with adults
 Inappropriate bed sharing arrangements at home
 Eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia

Signs of possible emotional abuse:

 Depression, aggression, extreme anxiety, changes or regression in mood
or behaviour, particularly where a child withdraws or becomes clingy
 Obsessions or phobias
 Sudden underachievement or lack of concentration
 Sleep or speech disorders
 Negative statements about self
 Highly aggressive or cruel to others
 Extreme shyness or passivity
 Running away, stealing and lying
Signs of possible neglect:
 Dirty skin, body smells, unwashed, uncombed hair and untreated lice
 Clothing that is dirty, too big or small, or inappropriate for weather
conditions
 Frequently left unsupervised or alone
 Frequently diarrhoea
 Frequently tiredness
 Frequently hungry

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  Overeating junk food

4.4) Describe the actions to take if a child or young person alleges harm or abuse in
line with policies and procedures of own setting.
If a child or young person alleges harm or abuse in our setting we would follow the
following guidance, polices and procedures:
 Listen and respect: what the child or young person is saying and their point of
view.
 Support and reassure that they did the right thing in telling, how everyone
wants the best outcome for them to be happy and safe.
 Clarify or repeat what has been said, without over questioning or using
questions that lead.
 Agree not to keep secrets, do not promise confidentially.
 Be aware of not condemning anyone, showing prejudice, bias or dismissing
information.
 Report to and consult with an appropriate person, internally or externally as a
setting’s procedures will guide for example: manager, leader, supervisor,
named safeguarding or child protection officer or coordinator.
 Record events accurately, include name, address, date, places, times, exact
words, who the disclosure was made to and when, who has named parental
responsibility.
 Know who has responsibility to share the concern of what the child disclosed
with parents or carer.

4.5) Explain the rights that children, young people and their carers have in situations
where harm or abuse is suspected or alleged.
Child or young person’s rights:
A child has the right to be protected against significant harm (children’s act 1989,
every child matters 2004, United Nations Convention on the rights of the child etc).
Children should participate their own views, they should be listened to and applied
some situation, but when a child falling in any harm then we would look at the child’s
best interest to make them safe. Children should be informed everything that is
happening to them, they should be consulted sensitively.
Parents or carers right:
The parents and carers have the right to be informed of suspected abuse and have
the right to know what is being said about them and to participate their own views
and opinions. If a child or a young person is in significant harm, parents or carers
have no rights when it comes to confidentiality within information sharing to the right
agencies (social services).

4.6) Explain how serious case reviews inform practice.

The main purpose for a serious case review is to learn lessons from cases where a
child has been seriously harmed, died and abuse or neglect is known or suspected
to be a factor. Professionals need to learn what happened in each case, and more
importantly what needs to be done to ensure they reduce the risk of it happening
again. Serious case reviews help to put policy’s in place to help safeguard children in
the future. A recent example, Child Y died in late February 2017 having taken an
overdose of prescribed and over the counter drugs at her home address four days
previously. Child Y was sexually abused by Child Q, a 15 year old, whilst she was

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visiting the home of her paternal grandparents in October 2014. Child Q was
arrested and charged with sexual assault. Child Y suffered health problems,
struggled emotionally and her school work deteriorated. After that she was referred
to CAMHS and disclosed self-harm and suicidal thoughts. She began a relationship
with an adult in January 2017 until her death. During the period between taking the
overdose her death. At the time of her death she was fourteen years old.
Children or young people who are victims of sexual assault should be offered a
referral to a Child Independent Sexual Violence Advisor; to ensure the voice of the
child is central to any contact. Widely disseminate learning from this case to enhance
practitioner awareness of potential suicide risk factors.

5.1) Describe ways support staff can work with children and young people to build
self-confidence and self-esteem.
Children self-confidence and self-esteem as well as empowering them by:
 Listening them what they have to say, respect their interest and respond to
show we are hearing.
 Value and praise their work and reassure them its ok to make mistakes
encouraging them to try gain.
 Using positive body language, giving them praise and encouraging their effort.
 Being positive with them and using positive language with them.
 Giving them opportunities to be independent.
 Being a positive role model encouraging cooperation and tolerance between
them.

5.2) Describe the role of support staff in recognising the signs of mental health
concerns in children and young people.
The signs of mental health in children and young people are:
Signs of depression: Children or young people who are depressed may:
 have low confident
 lose their appetite
 get tired easily
 be tearful, nervous or irritable
Signs of anxiety: Children or young people experiencing anxiety may:
 have difficulty concentrating
 be irritable
 try to avoid certain situations
 appear pale and tense
 be easily startled by everyday sounds
The above following signs may indicate the need for professional help. As a member
of support stuff, we should be aware of the need to identify those children and young
people who are more vulnerable to mental health issues so that the school or college
can offer support. (Book: Louise Burnham, 2018)

5.3) Identify the signs of possible mental health concerns in children and young
people.
The signs of possible mental health concerns in children and young people are:
 Mode changes: Because problems in relationships at home or school.
 Intense feelings: Worries or fears intense enough to interfere with daily
activities.

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  Behaviour changes: Fighting frequently and expressing a desire to badly hurt
others.
 Difficulty concentrating: Look for signs of trouble focusing or sitting still, both
of which might lead to poor performance in school.
 Unexplained weight loss: A sudden loss of weight might indicate an eating
disorder.
 Physical symptoms: Compared with adults, children with a mental health
condition might develop headaches rather than sadness or anxiety.
 Physical harm: For mental problems, children or young people can harm
themselves such as, cutting and burning themselves.
 Substance abuse: Some children use drugs or alcohol to try to cope with their
feelings.

5.4) Explain the need to work with children and young people to enable them to
develop emotional resilience and mental well-being
We all can develop resilience, and we can help our children develop it as well. It
involves behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learned over time. Following
are tips to building resilience.
 Make connections: As a practitioner, teach our child how to make friends and
share their feeling, their pain to others.
 Help our child by having him or her help others: Give our child some task that
he or she can master. It will improve their ability to become helpful i.e. the
children will have a mentality to help others.
 Maintain a daily routine: Encourage children to develop his or her own
routines. So they will be more punctual in their life.
 Take a break: Make sure child takes a break from those things if they trouble
her or him.
 Teach our child self-care: Teach them to caring for oneself and even having
fun will help our child stay balanced and better deal with stressful times.
 Move toward our goals: Focus our child on what he or she has accomplished
rather than on what hasn’t been accomplished, and can help build the
resilience to move forward in the face of challenges.
 Nurture a positive self-view: Because child can learn to trust himself to solve
problems and make appropriate decisions.
 Keep things in perspective and maintain a hopeful outlook: Help him or her
see that there is a future beyond the current situation and that the future can
be good. A positive outlook enables our child to see the good things in life and
keep going even in the hardest times.
 Look for opportunities for self-discovery: Help our child take a look at how
whatever he is facing can teach him “what he is made of.”
 Accept that change is part of living: Help our child see that change is part of
life and new goals can replace goals that have become unattainable.
(ref: www.apa.org)
Because if they don’t have resilience, they are not able to make control
themselves. For example, “the sudden loss of a loved one, resilient individuals
are able to successfully cope with, or adopt to, the associated stress”.

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References:

 Cache level 3, Diploma in Supporting Teaching and Learning, Louise

Burnham, 2018
 https://www.apa.org
 www.legislation.gov.uk,

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