Unit 202 – Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.

1.1 Identify the current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety.

Safeguarding, which works to protect children has been developed in the last 50 years. Now there are different Acts in place which give guidelines on safeguarding children and young people.

Children Act 1989.
The responsibilities of parents and professionals who work to ensure a child is safe are identified in this Act. Section 47 and Section 17 specifically focus on child protection. Section 47 states that the local authority has a duty to investigate if they have cause to suspect a child in their area is likely to suffer, or suffering from significant harm.
Section 17 states local authorities must put services into place to ‘safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need’.

Children Act 2004.
This Act provides the framework for Every Child Matters. It requires that services work more closely, earlier support is given to parents experiencing problems, that there is a database shared between agencies which is relevant to the welfare and safety of children and that there is a ‘common’ assessment framework to help the early identification of need.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
There are 54 articles in this treaty which sets out the rights and freedoms of all children. In article 19, it states children’s rights to be protected from any form, or type, of abuse from those looking after them. The countries which signed up to this treaty, are bound, legally, to put into place legislation which supports all the articles.