DSCB Whole School Training Pack
Learning Outcomes
When the training is completed you will be
• Aware of legislation and national guidance relating to
protecting and safeguarding children and young people
• Understand what children and young people want and
need to feel safe
• Be aware of different forms of abuse
• Be aware of possible signs and indicators of abuse and
neglect
• Know when and how to pass on a concern to the senior
designated professional
• Understand the issues from both local and national Serious
Case Reviews
Sensitivity
We each carry our own experiences of being a child
– during the training it is expected our agreement
with each other will be to
• Respect each other and our individual
experiences
• Keep any personal matter shared today private
unless by doing so will be detrimental to a child
• Be sensitive talking about our professional
experiences as the subject often raises personal
as well as professional issues for ourselves and
each other.
Children Act 1989
• Children in Need (s17)
• Have a duty to investigate where there is
reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering
or likely to suffer significant harm (s47)
Section 17
What does it cover?
• Impairment of health and development without the
provision of services
OR
• The child is disabled
Duties of the Local Authority
• Safeguarding and promote the welfare of the child
• Promote up bringing with own family
• Provide services appropriate to child’s need
• Assess and provide services to child whose health and
development is not as expected in partnership with
parents.
Section 47
What does it cover?
• The legislation does not talk about child abuse – it
conceptualises it in terms of the outcome of the abuse
for the child
• Significant harm
Duties of the Local Authority
• To make enquiries to enable them to decide whether
they should take any action to safeguard and promote
the welfare of the child.
• Have a duty to investigate where there is reasonable
cause to suspect that a chid is suffering or at risk of
suffering significant harm.
Education Act 2002
Section 175 (2) A governing body of a
maintained school shall make arrangements for
ensuring that the functions relating to the
conduct of the school are exercised with a view
to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of
children who are pupils at the school.
Safeguarding in Education
• First circulated to schools in September 2004
• Updated to include managing allegations of
abuse against members of staff in June 2005
• Developed to include requirements for safer
recruitment in November 2005
Children Act 2004
• Appointment of the children’s commissioner
• A duty to co-operate using the 5 outcomes as
measures
• Local safeguarding children boards
• Information sharing protocols
• Director of children’s services
• Inception of children’s trusts
Victoria Climbie
• Died in February 2000 aged 8 years old
• Her ‘aunt’ and partner found guilty of murder
and received life imprisonment in January
2001
• Inquiry into Victoria’s life and death set up in
April 2001
• Inquiry chaired by Lord Laming
• Report published in April 2003.
Findings
Victoria was known to:
• 3 housing departments
• 4 social services departments
• 2 GP’s
• 2 hospitals
• 2 police child protection teams
• 1 NSPCC family centre
• An unregistered child minder
• Faith based organisations
‘The extent of the failure to protect Victoria was lamentable’
Lord Laming
J Children
Serious Case Review
• Lack of information sharing
• Inappropriate response to DV
• Multiple services involved
• Poor record keeping
• Lack of understanding re Thresholds
• Lack of engagement with father
• Neglect????????
Background
Lauren Wright
1994-2000
• When Lauren died she had lost 4 stone and
weighed only 2 stone
• Often appeared with bruises, which were
explained away
• Lauren was killed by her step mother
Hansard text 24 April 2002
Lauren Wright
‘Lots of times, often she was covered with lots of small
bruises and with major bruises about once a month.
These included black eyes, bruising to her face and
scratches across her back’
Class teacher
‘Her physical deterioration had been apparent for at least
5 months before she died’
Head teacher
What Went Wrong
• Lauren’s step mother was a member of staff in the
school.
• The senior designated professional had left the school
and the role had not been replaced.
• A governor had offered to take on the role of senior
designated professional
• Lauren’s teacher had not received any child protection
training.
• Lauren’s step mother had told a paediatrician that
Lauren was being bullied at school.
• The school did not make a referral to children’s social
care.
North Somerset Serious Case Review
2011
• Class teacher committed and was charged with
36 sexual offences
• Police uncovered 30,500 indecent photographs
and 720 indecent movies
• The youngest victim was aged 6
What Went Wrong?
• The Teacher had worked in the school for 15
years, however within his first year colleagues
had a variety of concerns.
• 30 incidents of inappropriate or unprofessional
conduct were recorded in school but none
were referred through the Local Authority
Designated Officer (LADO)
Everyone Has a Responsibility To:
• Protect from maltreatment
• Prevent impairment
• Create opportunities to enable children to
have optimum life chances in adulthood
Working together 2006
Safeguarding in School
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Child protection
Anti bullying policy
Staff conduct
Attendance
Curriculum
Behaviour
Safer Recruitment
Whistle blowing
Allegations against staff – LADO
Health and Safety
Our building
eSafety
Categories for Child Protection Plans
Neglect
Physical
Types of abuse
Emotional
Sexual
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking,
throwing,
poisoning,
burning/scalding,
drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing
physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also
be caused when a parent fabricates the
symptoms of or deliberately induces illness in a
child
Working Together 2006
Possible Signs of Physical Abuse
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Runs away or fears going home
Aggressive behaviour
Reluctance to have parents contacted
Depression
Scalds
Injuries not treated or treated inadequately
Child flinches when approached
Injuries to parts of the body where accidental injury is unlikely
Bruising that reflects finger tops or hand marks
Reluctance to get changed for PE
Wanting arms and legs covered even in very hot weather
Broken bones
Cigarette burns
Bite marks
Ear injuries
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. It may involve physical contact,
including penetrative or non penetrative acts. It
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 sexually
inappropriate ways.
Possible Signs of Sexual Abuse
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Stomach pains when walking or sitting
Sudden unexpected changes in behaviour
Nightmares
Bedwetting
Running away from home
Fearful of someone
Self-harming
Recurrent genital discharge
Any sexual transmitted disease
Sexual drawings
Sexually inappropriate language
Not allowed to have friends
Pain, itching or bleeding of the genital areas.
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 the child that they are worthless
or unloved, inadequate and valued in so far as they meet the
needs of another person.
It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate
expectations being placed on the child.
Working Together 2006
Possible Signs of Emotional Abuse
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Racial or other forms of harassment that regularly
undermine a child’s self esteem
• Telling a child you wish they were dead or hadn’t been
born
• Persistently being over protective
• Constantly shouting at, threatening or demeaning a child
• With holding love and affection
• Regularly humiliating a child
• Failure to thrive
• Inability to cope with praise
• Poor self esteem
Why Focus on Neglect?
• Neglect cases provide particular challenges for
professionals working with children & young
people
• Nationally neglect cases represent the highest
proportion of children on child protection
plans. Doncaster is mirroring this trend
• Understanding of both the impact & the
identification of neglect is severely lacking
• 10% of abuse cases in Britain are due to
neglect
Definition of 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, clothing and shelter (including
exclusion from home or abandonment)
•Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or
danger
•Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of
adequate care-givers)
•Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment
•It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a
child’s basic emotional needs
In groups:
Discuss a case that you believe neglect to be the
main issue:
Identify on flip chart paper
1. Why you believe this is the case
2. Indicators
Deliberate Neglect or Lack of
Understanding
• Using the eCAF brings services together to
meet the needs of the child/children
• Allows for discussion about progress “when is
enough, enough”
• Detailed referral if thresholds are met
Factors Contributing to Neglect
•Poor parenting of care givers
•History of neglect / abused care givers
•Care givers experience of care system / prison
•Substance misuse
•Mental illness / learning disability
•Inability to nurture
•Premature babies / low birth weight
•Lack of bonding
•Poor parenting skills
Factors Contributing to Neglect
• Disorganisation / mismanagement
• Domestic abuse
• Social isolation
• Frequent house moves
• Failure to engage in services – missed
appointments
Family Dynamics
• High stress levels
• Family violence
• Unrealistic expectations of the child
• Parents needs first
• Scapegoating
• Lack of boundaries
• Financial problems
Impact on the Child
• Delayed development
• Lack of Stimulation
• Behavioural problems
• Aggression
• Physical injury / abuse
• Sexual abuse / inhibited sexuality
• Poor hygiene
• Hunger / feeding problems / inadequate diet
• Failure to thrive
• Health problems / inappropriate medical requests
Brain development in the first years of
life
Babies are born with 25 per cent of their brains
developed, and there is then rapid periods of
development so that by the age of 3 their
brains are 80 per cent developed.
The Effects of Extreme
Deprivation on The Brain
Development doesn’t stop at age 3!
However research indicates that the most
damage is done in the first 3 years of life.
Social and Economic benefits of
intervening early
• Early intervention that promotes social and
emotional development can significantly
improve mental and physical health,
educational attainment and employment
opportunities.
• Early intervention can also help to prevent
criminal (especially violent) behaviour, drug
and alcohol misuse and teenage pregnancy
Parents actions are more important
than who they are:
The right kind of parenting is a bigger influence
on a child’s future than, wealth, class,
education or any other common social factor.
Social Capabilities
A child will engage in give-and-take exchanges
with an adult: will engage with other children:
will demonstrate the ability to get along with
others: will understand and respond to the
emotions of others: will develop a sense of
belonging to a larger community through social
interactions and relationships, and will have an
awareness of their relationship to others in a
group; and will develop the ability to interact
co-operatively with others.
Emotional Capabilities
A child has secure attachment; is able to
experience recognise and express a variety of
emotions, and to recognise and empathise with
those emotions in others; will manage their
internal states and feelings, as well as
stimulation from the outside world; will
develop strategies to control emotions and
behaviours; will manage their behaviours; and
will recognise their ability to do things.
By building these capabilities we enable
children to happily engage with others and
with society, and to learn, to develop fully, to
attain and to achieve.
• If the predominant early experience is fear
and stress the neurochemical responses to
those experiences become the primary
architects of the brain.
• Trauma elevates stress hormones, such as
control. One result is significantly fewer
synapses (or connections) . Specialist viewing
CAT scans show an area that looks like a black
hole.
House of horror in Clifton, York
A mother and father who imprisoned their pre-school youngsters for months in a
house of horror have been jailed for three years.
A neighbour’s call for help finally enabled police to break through the wall of
excuses made by the parents to prevent the authorities discovering the stinking,
squalid conditions in which they had to live, York Crown Court heard.
Jailing them, Judge Stephen Ashurst said the couple’s three young children were
“not so much living, rather surviving in that dark, insanitary and squalid house”.
He said: “All three of your children were dirty and unkempt. They had, variously,
cradle cap, severe nappy rash and other areas of inflammation. The two older
children including (the four-and-a-half year old) were still in nappies.
“They were prisoners in their own home unable even to play in the garden.”......
Neglect
Good practice when working with adolescents
who have suffered neglect.
Most of the research around what works with
adolescents who have suffered neglect,
identifies
that
cognitive
behavioural
interventions offered the most benefits.
Also the holistic approach used within multi –
systemic therapy (MST).
This approach emphasises the importance of
the CAF and a multi disciplinary approach.
Resilience:
• Young people who are doing well despite
adversity
• Using risk and protective factors
• Using the ‘strengths’ already evident
Neglect does challenge professional & personal
values leading to an avoidance of making value
judgements.
TAC meetings assist in Multi-agency decisions
• Visit our website
www.doncastersafeguardingchildren.co.uk
• For any policies and procedures including the
neglect assessment tool please use the
Policies book in the top right hand corner.
Confidentiality when passing concerns
to Designated Teachers
• The majority of cases we will deal with arise
from out knowledge of the children and our
observations. This enables us to build a picture
over time that might constitute a child protection
concern.
• Another aspect of our work is dealing with
disclosures when children tell us about something
What does confidentiality mean to you as an
individual and what does it mean in your role in
school?
Allowing Children to Talk
Helpful ideas
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Take what you are being told seriously
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Listen carefully – do not interrupt
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Acknowledge what you have been told
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Remain calm
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Reassure – tell them they have done the right thing
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Tell them you will have to pass the information on and who you will be telling and why
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Pass to the Designated Person on the referral form
What to avoid
• Do not investigate
• Do not look shocked or distasteful
• Do not probe
• Do not speculate
• Do not pass an opinion about the alleged perpetrator
• Do not make comments
• Do not promise to keep a secret
• Do not display disbelief
• Never delay getting help
What Stops Children From Telling?
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Being blamed
Direct threats
Fear of what will happen
No one listening
Lack of communication or vocabulary
Not recognising an abusive situation
Lack of trust
Abuse is not considered unusual
Feeling responsible
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Children Talk About Their Concerns
When…
School feels a safe place to be
Children’s views and contributions are respected
Adults and children are respectful of each other
There is a culture of openness, honesty and trust
Staff allow children to be heard
There is space for privacy
Self esteem is high
Safeguarding in Education and Safer Recruitment 2007
I Think I Should Act Now
What will stop me?
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What if I’m wrong?
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I’m not very confident
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I don’t know the child very well
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I’ve reported before and had a bad experience
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I don’t know who to talk to
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It’s not my job
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Someone else will pass it on
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I will do it tomorrow
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I have not got the time
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It doesn’t happen to families here
Why I will pass it on?
• At this school we take safeguarding seriously
• I know our school procedure
• I know who to pass it to
• I know what is expected of me
• It is my responsibility
• This is serious and important
• Children spend more time in school than any other place
• After parents, school staff are often the next adults a child will respond to
• The indicators of abuse are present
• Abuse investigations often highlight a failure to act
What Does the Senior Designated
Professional Need to Know
• Who is the child – full name
• Where were you in school when they disclosed
to you
• Was anyone else with you
• What did they say – their words and descriptions
• What did you do or say
• Did they show you an injury
• Were is it colour, size what does it look like
• Was the disclosure of a sexual nature
• What else do you know about the child
Any Questions or Concerns?