Safeguarding the Welfare or Children and Young People
Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people
[TDA 2.2 1.1, 1.2]
Understanding current legislation, policies and procedures is essential to ensure that safe guarding is carried out effectively. Knowing the risks ad possible consequences that children and young people can be affected by is important within a supporting role. It is also important to fully understand the responsibilities and when to take action.
Legislations, guidelines and policies are put into place to help protect the welfare and safeguarding of children and young people. Usually parents and carers have the primary responsibility for safeguarding their children but in certain circumstances agencies, families or friends have the responsibility to safeguard their protection.
The following is an outline of current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures within the UK.
The United Nations convention on the rights of a child 1989 was approved by the United Kingdom in 1991.
“Article 19 states children’s rights to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse” (Burnham L 2008 P16)
Children Act 2004
This act includes two important sections which focus specifically on children protection. Burnham (2008) says that section 47 states that the local authority has a duty to investigate when ‘they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm.
Section 17 states that services must be put into place by local authority to ‘safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need’.
The Children Act 2004 provides legal framework for ‘every child matters’.
Burnham states the act includes the requirements for:
- Services to work more closely to form a integrated service
- A common assessment framework to help early identification of need
- Shared database of
[TDA 2.2 1.1, 1.2]
Understanding current legislation, policies and procedures is essential to ensure that safe guarding is carried out effectively. Knowing the risks ad possible consequences that children and young people can be affected by is important within a supporting role. It is also important to fully understand the responsibilities and when to take action.
Legislations, guidelines and policies are put into place to help protect the welfare and safeguarding of children and young people. Usually parents and carers have the primary responsibility for safeguarding their children but in certain circumstances agencies, families or friends have the responsibility to safeguard their protection.
The following is an outline of current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures within the UK.
The United Nations convention on the rights of a child 1989 was approved by the United Kingdom in 1991.
“Article 19 states children’s rights to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse” (Burnham L 2008 P16)
Children Act 2004
This act includes two important sections which focus specifically on children protection. Burnham (2008) says that section 47 states that the local authority has a duty to investigate when ‘they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm.
Section 17 states that services must be put into place by local authority to ‘safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need’.
The Children Act 2004 provides legal framework for ‘every child matters’.
Burnham states the act includes the requirements for:
- Services to work more closely to form a integrated service
- A common assessment framework to help early identification of need
- Shared database of