Introduction

Children’s Safeguarding refers to the activity which is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or are at risk of suffering significant harm. At the Peter Le Marchant Trust we believe everyone has a responsibility to safeguard children and promote their welfare.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and in particular protecting them from significant harm, depends upon effective joint working between agencies and professionals that have different roles and expertise.  Individual children, especially some of the most vulnerable children and those at greatest risk of social exclusion, will need co-ordinated help from health, education, children’s social care, and the voluntary sector and other agencies, including youth justice services.

For those children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm, joint working is essential, to safeguard and promote welfare of the child and where necessary to help bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against children.

Peter Le Marchant Trust, including its staff and volunteers should:

• be alert to potential indicators of abuse or neglect;
• be alert to the risks which individual abusers, or potential abusers, may pose to children;
• share and help to analyse information so that an assessment can be made of the child’s needs and circumstances;
• contribute to whatever actions are needed to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare; and
• work co-operatively with parents unless this is inconsistent with ensuring the child’s safety.

Definitions of abuse and neglect

Abuse and neglect are forms 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 a stranger. They may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or children.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child.

Emotional abuse

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as over-protection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (eg: rape, buggery or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts.  They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

Neglect

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home or abandonment, failing to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-takers, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Staff and volunteer awareness

All staff and volunteers at the Peter Le Marchant Trust will be made aware of this policy as part of their initial induction process and briefings and updates.  Where necessary or possible, staff and volunteers will be encouraged to attend appropriate training courses.

Reviewing the policy and procedure

This policy and procedure will be reviewed every year, this will include checking any actions undertaken and any updates required by a change in local or national policy.

    

PDF of Children's Safeguarding Policy