Unit 516 Understand Safeguarding of children and young people (for those working in the adult sector) P5

The UK Government has defined the term ‘safeguarding children’ as: ‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.’

To be able to safeguard children effectively we need to be aware of the following policies:

Children Act 1984 with the following additions
The Every Child Matters (ECM) 2003
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
Protection of Children Act
Working
Numbers are available on the child safeguarding policy should they be required.
The term child abuse and neglect describes a range of ways in which people, often known and trusted by the child (e.g. a family member, family friend or professional), harm children knowingly or by failing to act to prevent harm. Child abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual. Neglect is the result of a parent's or caregiver's failure to provide adequate care for their child, whether or not that failure is deliberate. Neglect is different from other forms of abuse because it is about what is not done. In many cases, children are subjected to a combination of types of abuse, e.g. neglect and emotional abuse.
Child abuse can take place in the home, at school or anywhere else children spend their time. Some forms of abuse are obvious, such as when an adult strikes out at a child in anger, but others are much more difficult for outsiders to notice. While some types of abuse are caused by someone doing something that harms a child, others are the result of neglect - failing to take steps to keep a child safe and well.
Physical abuse
Most children collect cuts and bruises quite routinely, as part of the rough and tumble of daily life, and injuries should always be interpreted in light of the child's medical and social history, developmental stage and the explanation given. But physical abuse may have occurred when one or more of the