Safeguarding, at any level, is an important task that demands a level of policy and procedure to do correctly. Let’s look at some guidance for it.
Safeguarding is an important facet of society that protects both children and adults from abuse, neglect and harm – both physical and emotional. It is important to make sure that the safety of all parties under the care of a group or institution are cared for in a safe and responsible way.
But without the right guidelines, how does a group or company undertake this task? How does the correct standard be maintained and upheld? Well, this is where safeguarding policies and procedures come into play. They help to provide a framework for companies trying to fulfil their expectations and responsibilities.
When we look at safeguarding, there are quite a few policies and ideas which need to be kept in mind to make sure that all parties who need safeguarding are properly protected from harm.
The Children Act 1989 is the first, and was introduced to both clarify and indeed reform all the laws which affected children. Before this act, there wasn’t a single comprehensive legislation which protected children in the UK.
However, the main tenet of the act is that the welfare of the child is the main deciding factor when considering their upbringing. Every effort should be made to preserve the home and family links for the child, but the act does stipulate what should be done by both the courts and local authorities to protect the welfare of children and assigns the task to local authority to undertake. If the local authorities believe that a child is likely to suffer harm or is already suffering, they have to intervene.
The Children Act 2004 is considered to be an amendment of the original act, instead of a replacement for the 1989 edition. It was a consequence of the Victoria Climbie inquiry, and helps to create a more integrated set of services for children. Early intervention, multi-disciplinary coordination and strong leadership are all encouraged.
This act takes a very child-oriented approach and helps to promote an effective local method for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of kids everywhere.
Next up, there is the Children and Social Work Act 2017. This is thought of as being a way to improve the support structure for kids that need to be looked after by promoting their welfare and safeguarding. There is provision within the act for how to regulate social workers too.
The purpose of the 2017 act was to improve the decision-making process for kids in England and Wales, enable the creation and establishment of a new regulatory system for the social worker profession, improve joint work at the local level to help safeguard and protect children, and also to promote safeguarding by talking about relationships and sex education in schools.
There are definitely some acts which safeguard all members of society and not just children – like the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. This is a piece of legislation which should be kept in mind when hiring volunteers and staff members. The act is to make sure that people who are not allowed to work with vulnerable adults or children should be stopped from doing so.
The act stops these people from gaining access to vulnerable parties through their work. In 2002, a new part of the Act was added to respond to the death of two children in Soham. The new amendments offered up a vetting/barring scheme to replace previous arrangements, now thought to be outdated and obsolete.
Finally, there is the Care Act 2014, which was created to protect adults, children and young people in care. The act focuses a lot on a person-oriented approach. By obeying the principles of the act, a company or person can help to put the well-being and needs of the person at the front of the safeguarding process. These principles include the following:
Empowerment – this principle is all about encouraging and supporting people and children to make informed decisions with informed consent.
Prevention – this principle outlines how important it can be to take action to prevent harm, rather than to react to it.
Proportionality – this principle is concerned with the appropriate response to the situation. The risk itself needs to be proportionate to the steps taken.
Protection – this principle serves to make sure that there is representation and support for those parties in the greatest need.
Partnership – this principle focuses on making sure that local solutions are designed by working with different communities. These communities play a core role in the detecting, reporting and prevention of abuse or neglect.
Accountability – this final principle is all about making sure that there is both accountability and transparency when delivering safeguarding to vulnerable groups.
Safeguarding policies are important for creating a uniform code of conduct for anyone who works with vulnerable parties. Everybody – children, young people or adults – deserves the same level of care, respect and safety in their daily lives. Safeguarding policies create a minimum requirement which helps with this.
As part of basic training, all staff should be aware of the safeguarding policies for their workplace and should be able to retain key facts. In the event this information is not communicated, the employer has a responsibility to rectify the situation by providing adequate training.
The health and social care setting is primarily geared towards working with older people and therefore requires specific rules and regulations to protect these parties.
With this in mind, any safeguarding policy that is created should focus on protecting elderly and vulnerable parties from home, whilst at the same time being considerate of the situation at hand.
A safeguarding policy statement is a core part of any institution that provides care or support to any vulnerable member of society. The statement should outline exactly what the company will do to protect these parties from harm, and should be observed and agreed to by all staff members.
A child safeguarding policy is an important statement. It outlines how the organisation will keep the children and young people within it safe. The policy does this by outlining the commitment of the company or organisation in question to protecting children from harm, and stipulates what they will do as a result.
Safeguarding and child protection procedures are detailed instructions and guidelines that support safeguarding policy statements a company has aimed to create. They outline the steps that your organisation will take to keep young people and children safe from harm, and what you will do if there are concerns about the well-being or safety of a child.
Any safeguarding policy designed for a school environment must contain certain things. It must consider all the safeguarding risks that are present, ranging from neglect and abuse through to child exploitation, online safety and extremism, and any other criteria. Any staff who work with children have to receive safeguarding training that outlines their responsibilities to minimise the risk, and helps them understand the details of the policy.
An adult safeguarding policy should be designed to protect vulnerable adults from harm. The policy should outline exactly what the organisation will do to secure adult safeguarding and the steps it will take to guarantee the safety of all adults involved. It will also serve as a framework for adults who work in the company.
Safeguarding training has been designed to protect and help people remain fully compliant with the rules and regulations surrounding safeguarding. Ignorance is not considered to be a valid excuse for not safeguarding, so training helps to prevent that. Training also equips staff to be able to identify areas where the policy is not being properly maintained, or recommend improvements. Furthermore, good training helps to improve the reputation of the school, and make sure that the organisation remains compliant with the latest rules.
We are fully committed to providing training for as many people as possible at LearnQ and offer a range of services to that effect. At the end of the day, a wealth of services are available including safeguarding training opportunities. All staff who work with vulnerable adults or children need this training so there is no way to get out of the obligation to do so.
With that in mind, it’s best to work with reputable training providers like ourselves who can deliver a broad range of different training solutions. Speak to a team member today about the training opportunities that are available for anyone who needs education in safeguarding.
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