Understanding Safeguarding of Children and Young People

516 1.1) The policies, procedures and practices for safe working with children and young people all stem from the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley. From this horrific act of evil the Safeguarding Vulnerable Group Act 2006 was born (see evidence ‘6’ – 520 1.3). Another public enquiry was set up to address the failure of the law after the death of Victoria Climbié. Within this enquiry, Lord Laming called for changes to be made in child protection policies. From this there was a new incentive born called ‘Every Child Matters’ in 2003. This became one of the most far reaching policy incentives to be released in the last 10 years. It covers children and young adults up to the age of 19 or 24 for those with disabilities. This also led to changes in the Children’s Act in 2004 and provided a detailed framework for working with children within multi agency partnerships. The themes that were adopted by all agencies working with children are –
Be healthy
Stay safe
Enjoy and achieve
Make a positive contribution
Achieve economic well-being
This policy and other policies and guidelines alike it such as ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ 2006 and ‘The protection of Children in England: A progress report’ 2009 continue to promote the sharing of information and data between those working with vulnerable children.
516 2.1) There are different signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that may cause concerns in the context of safeguarding for each type of abuse. The government guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010’ identifies four types of abuse as being –
Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Sexual abuse
Neglect
Physical Abuse
This is an action that results in a child being hurt in a physical manner such has hitting, shaking, burning, drowning or suffocating as the result of harm. Signs of physical abuse can include –
Unexplained bruising or injuries of any part of the body
Multiple bruises – on the upper arm or in the