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Explain policies and procedures that are in place to protect
children and young people and adults who work with them.
The policies and procedures that affect day-to-day work with children and young
people have been discussed in Section 1.3. Specific policies and procedures relating
to the protection of children, young people and the adults who work with them are
outlined in the government document Working Together to Safeguard Children
(2013), which is informed by the Childcare Act (2006) and, for children aged 0-5
years, the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2014). The
main policies and procedures include:
Roles and responsibilities
All professionals who work with children and young people must have a clear
understanding of the signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that may cause
concern about possible abuse, harm or neglect. This includes knowing how to
respond to disclosure about abuse, specific responsibilities and the action to take in
any safeguarding situation, including any allegation being made against a member of
staff. This is discussed in Section 4.2. Policies must also include the requirement to
have a named person to take lead responsibility for safeguarding children within the
setting.
Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local
authority children’s social care and the relevant contact details should be signposted
clearly in the setting so that children, young people, parents and other family
members are aware of who they can contact if they require advice or support.
In school settings, both paid and volunteer staff need to be aware of their
responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, how they
should respond to child protection concerns and make a referral to local authority
children’s social care or the police if necessary.
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Policies and procedures in place.
Staff recruitment and training
Policies must include the requirement for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
checks for all staff, volunteers and students working in the setting. This checks for
spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, plus any
additional information held by local police that is reasonably considered relevant.
DBS checks are designed to ensure that unsuitable people are prevented from
working with children and young people.
There is also a statutory requirement for all staff to undertake safeguarding training
on a regular basis.
Safe working practices
Policies should include the use of mobile phones and cameras by children, young
people and staff in the setting. This is important in order to prevent the possibility of
digital images of children being used inappropriately. In 2009, a child abuse case in
Plymouth exposed a paedophile ring, which centred around photographs taken of
children by a nursery worker. She was jailed for a minimum of seven years and
Plymouth City Council initiated a serious case review.
Policies should also include the procedures for carrying out children’s intimate
personal care, including toileting and physical contact. This is important in order to
protect children and staff against any allegations of improper conduct and is
particularly significant when working with children and young people who have
special educational needs.
There should also be a policy for responding to situations when a child arrives at the
setting with existing injuries. This is important in order to avoid any possibility of false
allegations about injuries occurring to children or young people whilst at the school
setting. Any bruising, scrapes or sores that are evident on the body of a child or
young person should be noted and recorded, and many school settings use a body
map for this purpose, as shown below:
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An example of a Body Map.
Record keeping and information sharing
Accurate records must be kept about any concerns relating to the safety and
wellbeing of children and young people. This includes accident and injury reports
and first aid records in addition to any concerns about safeguarding issues. Regular
observations should be made on children and young people and accurate records
kept about their development and behaviour. Those working in schools are often in
situations to observe children and young people engaged in role play or dressing up
activities, changing for sporting activities or going swimming and this provides an
important opportunity to closely monitor children’s physical condition. This should
always be done discreetly to avoid drawing attention to the child or causing
unnecessary embarrassment.
School settings must have clear processes for sharing information with different
organisations, other professionals, parents, carers and the LSCB. No professional
should assume that someone else will pass on information which they think may be
critical to keeping a child safe. If a professional has concerns about a child’s welfare
and believes they are suffering or likely to suffer harm, then they should share the
information with local authority children’s social care (This is discussed in Section
1.5).