TDA 2.2 Safeguarding In England the law states that all practitioners working with children have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004.
It is important that everyone working with children fully understand their responsibilities and duties as set out in this legislation which addresses all areas of child care.
The term safeguarding has replaced the term child protection and includes promoting children’s safety and welfare as well as protecting children when abuse happens.
Promoting welfare has a wider, more positive approach to create opportunities to enable children to have optimum life chances as well as ensuring …show more content…
Under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004, the police authority and the chief officer must ensure that their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
All forces have a Child abuse Investigation Unit which will normally take primary responsibility for investigation of child abuse allegations. All CAIU'S have access to the national IMPACT Nominal Index which enables them to quickly check which forces hold information on a particular individual.
However the task of safeguarding children is a fundamental part of the duties of all police officers. For example, officers attending domestic violence incidents need to be aware of the effect of such violence on any children in the household.
The police also maintain databases for management of individuals that pose a risk to the public. For example the Vetting and Barring Scheme relies on regularly updated police information.
The police also hold important information about children who may be suffering, or who are likely to suffer harm which they should share with other organisations where this is necessary to protect children for example, the family