Transcript The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead

Designated Safeguarding Leads
in Children Centres
Ruth Hester
Training 4 Student Success
Housekeeping
• Fire alarms and exits
• Toilets
• Non smoking policy of venue
• Switch mobiles OFF or silent if on call
Training Principles
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Limited confidentiality
Respect for others
Timekeeping
Style of training
Naïve questions are OK
KEEP YOURSELF SAFE
Aims
• To ensure that designated staff understand
their safeguarding and child protection
responsibilities in relation to the
organisation and their colleagues
• To promote and develop effective working
relationships
By the end of the course you should be able to:
• Describe the role of the designated lead
• State key areas of responsibility
• Describe key legislation & guidance that underpins
the role
• Identify the steps Children Centres need to take to
ensure the safety of children
• Detail barriers to staff reporting concerns about
children and how to overcome them
• Make appropriate decisions about action to be
taken
• Understand the importance of recording, storing &
sharing information
• Understand emotional wellbeing of staff
What do you want to get out of the session?
What concerns do you have as a designated
lead?
Quiz
• What does Safeguarding mean?
• What is meant by Child Protection?
• Can I investigate allegations of child
abuse?
• To whom do I make a referral if I have
concerns about a child?
• Do I have to inform parents/carers of the
referral ?
• Do I understand levels of need?
Safeguarding
......is the action we take to promote the
welfare of children and protect them from
harm and it is everyone’s responsibility.
Everyone who comes into contact with
children and families has a role to play.
(Working Together 2013)
• Safeguarding also covers the wider remit of
Health and Safety which is about preventing
physical harm from the environment.
• Access to building
• Camera and mobile phone use..
• Staff ratios.
Child Protection
Intimate Care
Restraint
Staff Conduct
Anti Bullying
Policies
Curriculum
Attendance
Safeguarding
Behaviour
Management
Health
and Safety
Managing
Allegations
Against Staff
Whistle blowing
Safe Recruitment and
Selection
Safe Built
Environment
Policies & Procedures
Using the checklist – think about what you already
have in place...
How often is it updated?
How is it disseminated to staff?
How is it audited?
How often is training received?
How is this recorded?
Values & Ethos
How does your establishment reflect
its safeguarding ethos?
Values and Ethos of Organisation
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There is an ethos in this organisation where children and
parents/carers can feel safe, are valued, respected and
listened to.
Parents/carers and staff are encouraged to talk and their
opinions are respected.
We display posters in this organisation giving information
about safety.
We insure that new parents, new starters, new children are all
made aware of our safeguarding policies, values & ethos.
We regularly hold discussion groups to discuss safeguarding.
There is a positive atmosphere, so people feel able to raise
concerns.
Safeguarding is discussed regularly and valued in staff
meetings.
We listen to the voices of our children, acknowledge their
concerns and feedback what we are doing.
Child Centred Practice
• Children know to whom they can turn if they are
worried.
• Rules are few but explicit.
• Information displayed around the centre
• Staff & volunteers are seen and heard to speak to
children courteously.
• Organisation is involved in early intervention work.
• All children have a named worker
• Evidence of anti oppressive and anti-discriminatory
practice
• All staff have regular training on safeguarding and
child protection
Ofsted requirements
• The culture of safeguarding is embedded
• Robust policies, procedures and practices
are in place.
• Safeguarding the welfare of children is at
the forefront of the centre’s purpose.
• The centre works collaboratively with
partners to reduce the risk of harm to
children successfully.
Child Protection
• A part of safeguarding and promoting
welfare.
• This refers to the activity which is undertaken
to protect specific children who are suffering,
or are likely to suffer significant harm’
(WT 2013)
Significant Harm
• The Children Act 1989 introduced the
concept of significant harm as the
threshold which justifies compulsory
intervention in family life in the best
interests of the child.
Significant Harm
• Harm means the ill-treatment or the
impairment of health or development
including, for example, impairment
suffered from seeing or hearing the illtreatment of others.
(CA1989/Adoption and Children Act 2002)
Abuse
• A form of maltreatment of a child.
Somebody may abuse or neglect a child
by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to
prevent harm. Children may be abused in
a family or in an institutional or community
setting by those known to them or, more
rarely, by others (e.g. via the internet).
They may be abused by an adult or adults,
or another child or children (WT 2013)
Safeguarding Adults
• An Adult At Risk is:
• 'Any person over the age of 18 years who is
unable to look after their own well being,
property, rights or other interests; and is at risk
of harm (either from another person’s behaviour
or from their own behaviour); and because they
have a disability, mental disorder, illness or
physical or mental infirmity, are more vulnerable
to being harmed than other adults.'
Adult Abuse
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Abuse can take many forms, including:
Physical abuse
Neglect (and acts of omission such as withholding food or medicine)
Psychological abuse (bullying, threats, emotional blackmail, etc.)
Sexual abuse
Financial or material abuse (theft or misappropriation of money or
possessions)
Discrimination (racist, sexist, homophobic, disability abuse, etc.)
Institutional abuse (inappropriate care given by an organisation)
Hate Crime
Domestic Abuse
Referral to ASCAT
• Complete a Safeguarding Alert and email
to:
• [email protected]
• Or phone 01908 253772
Legislation
• Legislation, guidance and policies
underpin all the work that we do:
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Justify when we act
Tell us how to act
Ensure co-operation
Protect us from failing
Protect the children in our care
Children Act 1989
The Children Act 1989 (Section 47)
Duty of local authority to investigate
situations where a child (person under 18) is
at risk of significant harm.
The Law
The Sexual Offences Act 2003
It is an offence:
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to download and/or forward on sexual images of
children / young people.
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to sexually groom via the Internet.
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for a person in a position of trust to engage in a sexual
relationship with a young person under 18 years.
The Children Act 2004
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Clear accountability
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Set up LSCBs
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Raising the priority of child protection
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Creating a lead inspectorate for children
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Creating an independent voice for children
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Raising the status and attractiveness of working with children
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Sharing information between services to pick up the warning
signs
Education Act 2002
• Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 came into
force in June 2004. It arose as a result of a number
of high profile cases relating to the deaths of children.
• Places a duty on schools and colleges to safeguard
and promote the welfare of children and young
people.
• Safeguarding includes: Child Protection training
every 3 years. Students can disclose to ANY member
of staff.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
April 2014
• Statutory Guidance replacing
Safeguarding Children and Safer
Recruitment 2006
• All schools should have a child protection
policy which sets out procedures and
responsibilities for keeping children safe,
including reporting allegations.
• All staff to have read Part One. Governors
to monitor.
Care Act 2014
• Adult safeguarding: there is a clear duty
on local authorities to investigate possible
abuse or neglect of adults with needs for
care and support, whether or not those
needs are being met by the local authority.
Each local authority must establish a
Safeguarding Adults Board to oversee
these functions.
• No right of entry
Care Act 2014
• Councils must make enquiries whenever
abuse or neglect are suspected in relation
to an adult with care and support needs or
ensure another agency does so. The
circumstances will often determine the
right person to begin an enquiry. In many
cases it will be a professional who already
knows the individual, such as a social
worker, a housing support worker, or
health worker such as a community nurse.
Childcare Act 2006
• Children centres have a duty to comply
with the welfare requirements of the Early
Years Foundation Stage
Early Years Foundation
Framework 2014
• A statutory framework
• What are its key areas in relation to
Safeguarding and Child Protection ??
• True or False??
• Identify the key responsibilities of the
designated lead
Guidance
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013
• Statutory guidance
• Roles and responsibilities
• Slim version
Working Together 2013
• A requirement that designated
professional roles should always be
explicitly defined in job descriptions and
that sufficient time, funding, supervision
and support should be provided for them
to carry out their role effectively. The
guidance is also more specific on staff
competencies around safeguarding, with a
specific requirement for staff to undertake
mandatory child protection induction.
Philosophy
• WT 2013 puts the child in focus at all
stages of the child protection process.
• It creates the expectation that
collaborative inter agency work will
address the outcomes for the child of any
actions taken and services provided,
begging the professionals to ask the
question:
Philosophy
• Is this work going to have a positive
impact on the life of this child, if so, what
will it be like and what is going to happen,
if nothing changes?
• Twice in the document the word ‘rescue’ is
used in relation to action that should be
taken to safeguard children, who live in
homes where there is chronic neglect
which illustrates the government’s
strategy.
Early Help
• Each LSCB needs to have a published
threshold document which outlines the
types of early help on offer and the criteria
for referral to Children’s Social Care for
statutory services and assessments.
The Windscreen
Statutory Assessments and
Timescales
• A new single assessment process which
takes no longer than 45 days from the
point of referral now replaces Initial and
Core assessments.
• Particularly vulnerable groups such as
young carers and disabled children are
singled out as needing special attention in
terms of their potential for maltreatment.
Guidelines
• We always need to act in the best interest of the
child.
• Our responsibility is to safeguard the welfare of
child.
• We need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of
abuse.
Regardless of race, gender,
disability, age, religion or belief,
sexual orientation, or background
the young person has the right to
be protected from harm e.g. forced
marriage and female genital
mutilation are illegal in the UK
FGM
• Ofsted has introduced questions on female
genital mutilation (FGM) into its safeguarding
inspection schedule.
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) is ‘a collective
term for all procedures involving the partial or
total removal of external female genitalia for
cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons’. In the
UK, where it is considered to be child abuse,
FGM is illegal. It is also illegal to take a child
abroad for FGM purposes.
FGM Resources
• https://fgmelearning.vctms.co.uk/selfregistr
ation.aspx?version=10394&DeptId=50214
&digest=4AD38ECF2884A47A5EFA657F
3358E635
• Home Office Resource Pack. July 2014
• FGM Helpline 0800 028 3550
Child Sexual Exploitation
• Involves exploitative situations, contexts
and relationships where young people
receive something (for example food,
accommodation, drugs, alcohol, gifts,
money or in some cases simply affection)
as a result of engaging in sexual activities.
• Sexual exploitation can take many forms
ranging from the seemingly ‘consensual’
relationship where sex is exchanged for
affection or gifts, to serious organised
crime by gangs and groups. What marks
out exploitation is an imbalance of power
in the relationship.
• Children may not exhibit any external
signs of this abuse.
Best Practice in Handling
Disclosures
• Always stop and listen.
• Keep calm, don’t panic, and don’t appear
shocked or angry. Avoid making judgements.
• Never make a promise to keep a secret.
• Do NOT ask leading questions.
• Report the incident to the designated lead.
• Protect the child.
Best Practice in Handling
Disclosures
• Tell the child they are not to blame and have done
the right thing by telling you.
• Avoid criticising the alleged perpetrator.
• Keep the child informed of what is happening (via
the designated person).
• Offer support to the child.
• Make brief notes.
• Never attempt to carry out an investigation.
Best Practice in Handling
Disclosures
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Tell
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Explain
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Describe
Why Refer?
• Children have a right to be safe.
• Adults have a responsibility to protect.
• Abuse and neglect are damaging.
• Abuse and neglect continue because of the secrecy
and silence which surround them.
• Children rarely lie about abuse.
• An abuser may well abuse many other children who
also have a right to protection.
Observation
• What would give you cause for concern??
Why Refer?
Remember……
You only have one small piece of the jigsaw.
What should we do?
• Direct referral to MASH on
01908 253169
01908 253170
• Email: [email protected]
• Fax: 01908 254460
• Complete the Referral form. In two parts.
Part 1-The Children & Families Referral Form
Part 2-The Family Assessment
MASH
• Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
• Co-located hub to take referrals
• Police, Health and Social care in the same
office at Saxon Court
• Accessing all three agency computer
databases
• Ability to gather more information before
making a decision
No changes for front line practitioners
One Referral Process
Multi Agency
Safeguarding Hub
(MASH)
Single Agency
response
Level 1 &
some Level 2
CFP
Level 2 & 3
CSC
Section 47 and
high end Section 17
Level 4 & top Level 3
Referral to MASH(Part 1)
Police/Health and Social Care workers
Child/young person at
risk of or may be
suffering significant
harm
LEVELS OF
NEED
Child/young person has
considerable needs
which can be met by
multi agency response
Child/young person has
additional needs which
can be met by joint
agency response
Child/young person has
additional needs which
can be met by single
agency response
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Level 4
Referral to relevant CFP
Single Assessment
(also known as Children and
family assessment)
>2
agencies
Is it an emergency?
NO
YES
Family
Assessment
(part 2 form)
completed
CFP carry out
urgent visit
Senior practitioner
decides action
required
Is CFP service appropriate?
YES
Family Plan produced and delivered using
Team around Family approach
No
Referred for appropriate intervention
including specialist provision
2 agencies
response
Referring agency
encouraged to
complete Family
Assessment (part 2)
and consult with other
agency to formulate
plan for delivery
Your
agency
can meet
needs
Follow own
agency
procedures
for support
delivery &
review
Other single
agency can
meet needs
Consult
agency &
make referral
if appropriate
Rules for information sharing
1. The DPA is not a barrier
2. Be open & honest with the person/family
3. Seek advice
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4. Share with consent where appropriate
5. Consider safety and well-being
6. Necessary, proportionate, relevant,
accurate timely, and secure
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7. Record your decision and reasons
Daniel Pelka SCR
Identified a need for :
• A robust system for recording any injuries
or welfare concerns
• Role of Designated leads are clearly
understood and utilised
Callum Wilson SCR
• Mum blamed her 2yr old son and ‘non
existent’ daughter for bruises.
• Bruising noticed on three occasions and
not reported.
• Observation of a change from a ‘happy
smiling baby’ to ‘emotionless and listless’
• Challenge parents.
• Think the unthinkable...be curious
• A culture of vigilance
Case Studies
In pairs or threes look at the case studies.
Consider the risk to the child:
The level of risk now
The potential risk...is it abuse? What level?
What will you do?
Assessing the risk
Facts- I know
AssumptionsI think I know
3rd Party
Someone else has told
me
Missing info
I don’t know
Recording of Information
What do you record?
Where is it kept?
Who has access to it?
Annual Report ?….
Maintaining Records
‘If it isn’t recorded, you can’t prove it happened!’
Monitoring Safeguarding
•Induction- safeguarding procedures
•Recording training- basic every 3 years
•Interagency training. (Designated teachers)
•Keeping up to date
•Reviewing policies annually
•Ensuring professional competence
•Professional vigilance
•Supervision – discussion around cases
Supervision
•The opportunity to:
•Discuss cases
•Challenge
•Gain advice
•Monitor progress
•Raise concerns
•Test options
Why do staff not report?
North Somerset SCR 2012
Teacher at a primary school for 15 years
Guilty of 36 sexual offences
‘concerns’ over a period of 10 years
Lessons to be learnt:
•Accurate records of all incidents.
•Whistle-Blowing policy.
•Personal Responsibility for the role of DT.
(speak to the Duty Social Worker)
Yaseen Ali SCR 2013
•All schools should have more than one
designated person to deal with child protection
issues....good practice for CCs?
•Designated staff to update training on a regular
basis.
•Discuss with ‘external support services’ (ie CSC)
DBS
• Disclosure and Barring Service
• On 1 December 2012 the functions of the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) were
merged with the functions of the Criminal
Records Bureau (CRB) and are now undertaken
by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
• - See more at: http://www.optimuseducation.com/vetting-and-barring#sthash.
Safer Recruitment Updates
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The DBS Update Service is an online service, which
aims to remove the need for repetitive applications.
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The applicant pays an annual subscription of £13, so that
their DBS certificate will be kept up to date and can be
transferred between roles. Volunteers can access the
service for free, and employers do not need to register or
to subscribe themselves - See more at:
http://www.optimus-education.com/new-dbs-updateservice#sthash.
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From 2013 there is only one copy of the DBS
certificate which is issued to the applicant.
LADO
• The role of the LADO is included under LA
responsibilities; all timescales have been
removed apart from the LADO should be
informed of every allegation within 1 working day
of the employer becoming aware or police being
notified.
Checks...
• I know what to do if a member of staff is
concerned about a child?
• I know what to do if an allegation of abuse
is made against a member of staff?
• I know with whom I can share this
information ?
• I have tel nos/emails of the relevant CSC
depts?
.......and finally
• Signs of Safety
A new approach to risk assessment within
MK
• Strengthening Families.
An intensive support programme for
families.
Briefings.......see MKSCB website
Finally
I also need to know.....
Revisit
What did you want to get out of today?
What concerns did you have as a designated
safeguarding lead?
Thank you for your contributions
to this session