Caring for Children & Young People P2,M1,D1

Unit 10 – Caring for Children & Young People
P2 – Identify the current relevant legislation affecting the care of children and young adults
M1 analyse how policies and procedures help children/young people and their families whilst the child is being looked after

For my assignment I’m going to explain 6 relevant legislations and give examples of each related to children and young adults. The first legislation I am going to look at is; The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.

The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child 1989
This piece of legislation has been put into place to ensure children’s rights are also taken into consideration & for the safety & wellbeing of the child throughout their childhood. It also includes; children being reunited with their parents if they have been separated, the right of the child to have an adequate standard of living, the right to play and have an education.
An example of this could be, a child in a school has a different upbringing to most children, therefore they may find it harder to learn new things, however extra help and support is available & all schools make sure they still participate during lessons etc because they have the right to education.

The Children Act 1989
The children act was put into place to maintain the safety & protection of children. The local authorities have the responsibility of children in schools and public places to ensure their safety. The children’s act also ensures that all children are cared for at all times within schools and nurseries as all children have the right to be protected from harm. Also children living in care must be receiving the correct amount of help and support needed, to improve their quality of life.
An example of this could be in a children’s care home, all children have various problems & upsets, which affects them in different ways, and therefore they all need individual care on a one to one basis. All children should be treated equally and receive the same amount of care.

The Children Act 2OO4
The Children’s Act 2OO4 is an add on from the previous, however this act also includes; local authorities and various services working together to ensure the safety and wellbeing of any child as it provides the legislation to underpin the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda. The bought the ‘Every Child Matters’ into this legislation due to social services and other authorities working together for the security of all children.
An example of this could be; a child being physically & psychological abused, therefore does not tell anyone and is very vulnerable. Services such as within schools; teachers, if they notice anything strange and felt they had doubts over the child’s safety, they would then need to take the matter higher with more services, such as; if they believed the child was being abused, they could contact social services, therefore they would all be working together to ensure this child’s safety.

The Data Protection Act 1998
The data protection act is used for the protection of every individual. Personal details, such as; name, address, date of birth etc is created as a profile for each individual & must be kept up to date & in a safe place, where they are non accessible by individuals who don’t have the authority to see. It must be kept up to date and only held for the appropriate amount of time needed. This is important to children because their personal information also needs to be secure and protected.
An example of this could be; a child with learning difficulties in a primary school, their records must be kept up to date with hospital notes etc. It must also include information on when extra help and support is needed in different areas such as with their reading/writing. Their records must be kept in a secure place along with every other child’s & must ensure that the only people who can access those files have consent to do so.

Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Parents 2000
The framework aims to keep a record and achieve a higher understanding of what is happening with children and young people within their families, it ensures that all recorded files and reports are dealt with in the correct manor. It has been put in place in order to support the well being of children and young people through vulnerable times of their lives. When children and young people are in need of support this service completes an assessment of their specific needs, therefore should be dealt with in a sensitive way because it could be extremely distressing for the child/young person.
An example of this could be; within a primary school child who has marks all over her body, her legs, arms, tummy & face, such as; scratches, cuts and bruises. She is an extremely nervous child and does not like getting changed in front of anyone as she is very shy. Therefore the teacher picks up on her nervousness along with the severe marks that cover her body, and reports it. She reports it to the head teacher who makes social services aware of the situation, therefore they speak to the child and assess the marks on her body, but are sensitive towards the issue & ask her in a sensitive way how she may have those marks. They do this sensitively because the child is extremely nervous and vulnerable, so therefore does not need lots of different people asking questions and interrogating her.

Every Child Matters 2003
The every child matters was created to ensure that they monitor SHAPE, which is known as; Shape, Health, Achieve, Positive contribution & Economic well-being of each child. Every child deserves these 5 outcomes, regardless of their backgrounds. The people who are responsible for ensuring all children achieve these 5 outcomes are the local authorities, as they must gather up enough information to enable them to provide help and support for the children/young adults that require it.
An example of this could be; a young boy in secondary school who is very shy & seems quite vulnerable, his tutor gets reports from subject teachers complaining he has been very aggressive with the wrong attitude towards other students. Therefore the child protection officer is notified about these sudden changes & speaks to the young boy to try and identify what the problem is. She then identifies that he is being physically & psychologically abused, therefore must inform the local authorities, so they can take action by doing routine checks & if the child is at risk and in danger, must remove the child and place him in a secure home where he can receive the love, support and attention that he requires.