Summary Of The Legal Requirements And Guidance Relating To Safeguarding

This act looks at how social services and other agencies work together and deal with issues of safeguarding relating to children and young people. The Children Act 2004 has principles which were designed in mind for the care and support of children and young people, these involve; allowing children to be healthy, allowing them to remain safe in their environments and to help children enjoy life. Next is to assist children in their quest to succeed, make a positive contribution to their lives and finally, too help achieve economic stability for the children’s future. On top of the Children Act 2004 in 2008 the ‘Children and young person act’ was introduced basically as an extension of the existing act. It works to make sure that the care the children and young people receive is well supported, of high quality and tailored to their needs. There are many other policies and legislations that are promoted around educational settings which link to ECM. Some of these include; Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping children safe in education: for schools and colleges. Working Together to Safeguard Children is one of the most important policies that occur in all education and childcare settings. Due to it being easily accessible within the educational system partly due to its high profile within the media and the education department. Safeguarding has four main outcomes; to protect children from

1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedure within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Children Act 2006 – Is an Act that defines the new duties imposed on the Local Authorities in respect to improving the Every Child Matters outcomes for pre-school children. The Act also defines new rules in relation to childcare for working parents as well as parental information services. It is aimed at improving the well-being of young children. It emphasises the importance of safeguarding children and young people within an educational setting. If a child discloses neglect or abuse; an establishment should have instructions to help the child. This could be referral to an outside organisation or internally.

In order to not only promote the welfare of children within a setting but also to protect them from harm and abuse there are a number of pieces of legislation and statutory guidance that must be adhered to. Both laws and statutory guidance are mandatory and so legally enforceable and must act as a foundation of which policies and procedures within any setting can be based upon.

If any one of these targets were not being met, today, some agencies could potentially review a child’s safety under this current legislation.

Unit 14 AC1.3 Unit 16 AC 1.1 in the table below explain the following legislation and guidance in respect of safeguarding adult’s children and young people.

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

Allocates duties to local authorities, courts, parents and other agencies in the UK to ensure children are safeguarded and their welfare is promoted. It focuses on the idea that children are best cared for by their own families, however it also makes provisions for parents and families who do not cooperate with the professional bodies.

This Act, which regulates the childcare in England, formalise the important strategic role of local authorities play through a set of duties. These duties require

Legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures affecting the safeguarding of children and young people would be:-

The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989, which was introduced in an effort to reform and clarify the existing laws affecting children. The Children Act 1989 gave every child the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to inquiries to safeguard their welfare. Its central tenet was that children are usually best looked after within their family. The act came into force in England and Wales in 1991 and - with some differences - in Northern Ireland in 1996. The key principle

According to section 10 of the Children Act 2004, each local authority has a duty to co-operate in improving the welfare of a child. Under this section the local authority must consider the significance of parents and other persons caring for children. Section 10 also states that a local authority should seek to improve the physical, mental, and emotional well being of children; protect them from harm and neglect, and improve their social and economic well being (Children Act, 2004). This is

The children Act (1989) although not the first legislation within the UK implemented to promote the safety and welfare of children It is considered to be the most comprehensive legislation of its kind to date. It is also the first UK legitave document to place the Childs welfare as the paramount consideration of the courts in all matters affecting them. Wonnacot (2014)

A number of laws and statutory guidance documents govern the way in which children are safeguarded.

Children Act 2004 stated that it is not only one person’s duty to protect a vulnerable individual. It establishes better planning, commissioning, and delivery of children’s services. This act aims to improve effective local working to safeguard and promote children’s well-being. This act introduced local safeguarding children’s boards and appointed a children’s commissioner. The Children Act 1989 did not change anything, it wasn’t until the Children Act 2004 when a children’s commissioner was introduced that the delivery of children’s services started to improve. This act was brought about because of the Victoria Climbie case. There was a failure of communication between different staff and agencies and a failure to follow established procedures.