Tuesday 17th September, 2013
Early Years and Schools’
safeguarding briefing for new
designated child protection co
ordinators
Giving Children and Young People the Best Start in Life
The aims of this briefing are to:• Understand your role and responsibilities
• raise awareness of key legislation and
guidance
• Increase your understanding of the referral
process and what makes a good referral
• Help you to recognise and overcome barriers to
disclosure
• Update you on the allegations and complaints
procedures
• Equip you to support staff effectively
What do you think?
• Safeguarding?
• Child protection?
Child Protection
Intimate
Care
Restraint
Staff Conduct
Anti Bullying
Policies
Attendance
Curriculum
Safeguarding
Behaviour
Management
Health
and
Safety
Whistle blowing
Safe Recruitment
and Selection
Managing
Allegations
Against Staff
Safe Built
Environment
Where does child protection
sit?
healthy
supportive
safe
environment
child in
need
child in need of
protection
seriously
abusive
environment
Child Protection
Assessment Framework
.
SAFEGUARDING
.
‘Significant harm’
• Ill treatment or impairment of health or
development
• Development can be physical,
intellectual, emotional, social or
behavioural
• Health can be physical or mental
• Can be a single traumatic event or a
series of events over time
Definition of Safeguarding
Safeguarding is:
• protecting children from maltreatment;
• preventing impairment of children’s health or
development;
• ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances
consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
and taking action to enable all children to have the best
life chances.
Working Together 2013
But ultimately …..
• To support you to help keep children
safer
Areas of responsibility
• Referrals
• Training
• Raising awareness
Dealing with a concern…
• All staff should be given two key
messages:1.) record
2.) share
Response to a disclosure
Do
• Listen carefully and take it seriously
• Stay calm, however shocked you
may be
• Reassure the child
• Explain what you will do next
• Report it urgently to the DCPC
• Record the disclosure fully
Response to a disclosure
Don’t
• Ask leading questions
• appear shocked or angry
• Make judgements
• Promise anything you can’t deliver
• Confront an alleged abuser
• Promise that you won’t tell anyone
Next steps…….over to you
• Reassure the individual who has alerted you
• Clarify information (this may involve speaking again to
the child / children)
• Consider the new information, alongside any previous
chronology
• Seek advice (if needed)
• Speak to parents *
• Make an informed decision about whether to refer to
social care
• Ensuring actions and outcomes are recorded and
feedback given to staff involved
*Speaking to parents/carers
• If a child discloses physical or sexual abuse, where
the alleged abuser is either a family member or
someone resident within the household, the school
must consult the Duty Social Worker before
informing parents, unless the child is subject to a
Child Protection Plan in which case schools must
contact the allocated Social Worker. The relevant
Social Worker will advise the school when, and by
whom, parents will be informed.
When do I contact social care?
• If you are worried about a child/
children you can phone and speak
to someone for advice or for
reassurance that you are taking the
appropriate action.
• If you suspect a child is being
abused or you have a disclosure of
abuse you must contact social
Bringing on
care to make a referral.
board, rather
than passing on
What happens when you call
466903?
Family Contact Point
5 advice and information officers
Initial information gathering
Child
protection
cases
CHIN and lower
level concerns
Referral Forms
• What has changed today that means we have
decided to make a referral?
• What information will help the Referral Team?
• Is the information clear and descriptive, with
clear dates and times.
• Is the information subjective?
• Is there any supplementary information which
could be attached?
Some recent data about
referrals 2012/2013
6,421 contacts to referral team
1,632 referrals (1st time increase in three years)
75% of referrals went to initial assessment (67%)
556 core assessments completed
185 referrals went to section 47 enquiries
• 94 of these 185 went to
conference.
• Currently have 171 children on a
CP plan
EY and Schools safeguarding
Advisers
•
•
•
•
Ceri McAteer – 465740
Cmcateer@swindon.gov.uk
Sarah Turner – 465737
Sturner2@swindon.gov.uk
Thinking about a child/teenager in your life that you feel a worried about:
hat are you Worried About?
What’s Working Well?
STEP ONE: START HERE, BACK AND FORWARDS
What has happened, what have
you seen, that makes you
worried about this
child/teenager?
When you think about what has
already happened to ____ what
do you think is the worst thing
that could happen to ____
because of this problem?
Are there things happening in
____’s life or family that make
this problem harder to deal
with?
What do you like about ___ what
are his/her best attributes?
Who are the people that care
most about ___? What are the
best things about how they care
for ____?
What would ___ say are the best
things about his/her life?
Who would ___ say are the most
important people in his/her life?
How do they help ___ grow up
well?
Has there been times when this
problem has been dealt with or
was even a little better? How did
that happen?
What Needs to
STEP
THREE
Happen?
Having thought more about
this problem now, what
would you need to see that
would make you satisfied
the situation is at a 10?
What would ___ need to
see that would make them
say this problem is
completely sorted out?
What do you think is the
next step that should
happen to get this worry
sorted out?
On a scale of 0 to 10 where 10 means this problem is sorted out as much as it can be and zero means things
are so bad for the young person you need to get professional or other outside help, where do you rate this
situation today? (Put different judgment numbers on scale for different people e.g., you, child, teacher etc).
0
STEP TWO: JUDGMENT
10
Escalation Policy
Occasionally situations arise when workers within one
agency feel that the decision made by a worker from
another agency on a child protection or child in need
case is not a safe decision. Disagreements could arise
in a number of areas, but are most likely to arise
around:
• Levels of Need
• Roles and responsibilities
• The need for action
• Communication
5 stages
Training
• Ensure DCPC and deputies refresh training
every 2 years
• All staff every 3 years - register
• Induction safeguarding training for new staff
• Safer recruitment – Statutory Head and at least
one Governor, manager of setting
• Allegations – Good practice for Head and Chair
or manager, owner, or chair of committee of a
setting
• CPCs – attendance and provision of report
Training
Swindon LSCB provide multi-agency child protection
training
• Online calendar
• Online booking form
• Annual conference
• Requirements
Raising Awareness
• Policy – how do we ensure all staff are
kept up to date
• Easily accessible
• Copies of transfer files
School/Settings Safeguarding
audit
• School governing bodies/EY settings are
required to carry out an annual review of
their school’s/setting’s safeguarding
practice and to provide information to the
LA about how the duties set out in the
statutory framework for early Years and
DfE guidance (‘Safeguarding Children and
Safer Recruitment in Education’) have
been discharged.
Safeguarding Staff
• Code of Conduct
• Whistleblowing policy
• Positive Handling
• Allegations against members of
staff
Code of conduct
• All staff should have read the school’s
/setting’s code and have signed to say
they have read it, understood it and
agree to the statements it contains.
• Whistleblowing policy – reporting
concerns
How are concerns
about staff
recorded?
Positive Handling and the Use
of Reasonable force
• School/setting should have their own policy
• Restraint should be used only rarely
• All staff and volunteers working in the school/setting
should be made aware of protocols
• All incidents of the use of force by staff should be
formally recorded
• Complaints of inappropriate handling should be
treated under child protection procedures
• Uplands School provides Team Teach training on
behalf of the LA
DfE statutory guidance
Updated April 2013
• Quick resolution should be a clear priority
• Suspension should not be the default
option
• Allegations found to be malicious should
be removed from personnel records
• Unsubstantiated or unfounded should not
be referred to in employer references
Swindon guidelines
• Head teacher/manager would take the lead on this,
unless they are subject of allegation, then Chair of
Governors/owner/Chair of Committee would take on
the responsibility.
• Settings-LADO to be first point of contact, then EYSA
• Schools’ Safeguarding Adviser to be first point of
contact
• Initial information will be recorded (see handout)
• Adviser to confirm actions with LADO and feedback to
school
– No further action by LADO (School to consider how
the matter should be dealt with under employers’
procedures eg complaints / disciplinary) *
– Allegations management/ strategy meeting/discussion
Safer recruitment
• Deter
• Reject
• Prevent
• Detect
Little
Stars
DBS checks - Regulated activity
• Unsupervised activities: teach, train,
instruct, care for or supervise children or
provide advice / guidance on well-being
or drive a vehicle only for children
• Work for a limited range of
establishments with opportunity for
contact. (Not work by supervised
volunteers)
• Done regularly
Regulated activity cont’d
• Relevant personal care or health care by
or supervised by a professional
• Registered child minders and foster
carers
• If your organisation works with children / young people
and a member of staff is dismissed because they harmed
a child, or you would have done so had they not left, you
must refer this information to the DBS (formerly ISA).
• An organisation which knowingly employs a barred
individual to work with children in regulated activity will
be breaking the law.
• A person will be breaking the law if they work or
volunteer or try to work or volunteer and are barred from
working with children and young people in regulated
activity.
DBS Update
On 17th June the DBS launched the ‘Update
service’
• Individuals can choose to subscribe for an
annual fee of £13
• Service will keep DBS certificate up to date and
portable
• Employer will be able to go online and check
Registered bodies will not be sent a copy of the
DBS certificate.
Schools’/ EY Safeguarding Adviser
•
•
•
•
•
•
Termly briefings (2 dates to choose from)
Termly safeguarding newsletter (x6)
Advice and support via telephone / e mail
Allegations
Feeling safe survey(schools only)
Monitoring
Monitoring of child protection
• School/setting safeguarding audit
outcomes
• School/setting safeguarding audit visit (3
yearly cycle)
• Attendance at CPCs and provision of
reports
• Leads meetings
• Referral forms
Further Information
• South West Child Protection Procedures
accessed at www.onlineprocedures.co.uk/swcpp/
• LSCB web site at www.swindonlscb.org.uk
Websites
• www.earlyyearschildcare.org