Develop and Implement Policies and Procedures to Support the Safeguarding of Children and Young People
1.1
Policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people are -
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 - which ensure that children are safe and looked after, children have the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect, negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse by those looking after them.
Children Act 1989 - Parents and professionals must work to ensure the safety of the child. Local Authority has ‘a duty to investigate when there is a reasonable cause to suspect that a child suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
The Education Act 2002 - This sets out the responsibilities of Local Education Authorities (LEAs), Governing bodies, head teachers and all those working in schools to ensure that children are safe and free from harm.
Children Act 2004 - This provides the legal framework for Every Child Matters. It includes the requirement for: Services to work more closely, forming an integrated service.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 - This sets out the duties of organisations and how they must work together to safeguard children and young people.
1.2
National and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding that affect a practitioner’s day to day work relating to;
Childcare practice
The Education Act 2002 poses a duty on education authorities to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people. This affects my day to day work as I must be aware of the child protection procedures at all times, such as how to spot the signs of abuse, how and who to report my concerns, how to maintain a safe school environment, be aware of the health and safety of children and to be able to undertake any training required of me.
1.3
In my settings policies and procedures for safeguarding it states that all employees, volunteers and students should be properly vetted, which includes checks into the eligibility and the suitability, and that crb checks should be carried out. If I didn’t produce a crb check to make sure I didn’t have any criminal convictions or to check my suitability to work with children and young people then I would not be allowed to work in my setting.
Risk assessment
Risk assessments are an important factor in safeguarding children and in my day to day work, before I carry out any activity with children and young people I am required through my setting policies and procedures to carry out a risk assessment first to make sure all involved is safe, for example, if I were to plan an activity, such as an art and craft activity I would need to risk assess the potential danger of scissors, small objects, i.e beads and amend my plan accordingly to suit each individual.
Ensuring the voice of the child or young person is heard
Advocacy safeguards children and young