Safeguarding Children - An Introduction

Overview:

Level 1 - For those in regular contact with children and young people, and with adults who are parents or carers.

The importance of training has been highlighted in many policy documents in relation to safeguarding children and is frequently featured in recommendations of Serious Case Reviews into circumstances where children have died or been seriously harmed as a result of abuse and neglect.

Lord Laming in his inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié said "Staff working in the relevant agencies should be required to demonstrate that their practice with respect to inter-agency working is up to date by successfully completing an appropriate training course." Paragraph 17.11: Laming Report 2003; and in his review of child protection services in 2009 commented "All those who work with children need to be able to identify the signs that suggest a child may be suffering from abuse or neglect and know what actions to take to safeguard the child's welfare. Laming (2009) The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report

The recently revised version of Working Together to Safeguard Children (Published March 2010) states that 'employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff are competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting children and young peoples welfare'. It goes on to say "practitioners and managers must also be able to work effectively with others, both within their own agency and across organisational boundaries and this can best be achieved by a combination of single agency and inter agency training."

Child protection training aims to increase participants' knowledge and skills in the field of child protection and safeguarding in order to provide high quality services and improve outcomes for children, young people and their families and carers.

Aims & Objectives:

Course Aims:

To provide individuals with basic awareness and understanding of the issues in relation to safeguarding children

To enable all those who come into regular contact with children and young people to develop awareness of, and the ability to act on, concerns about their safety and welfare.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course participants should have gained a basic understanding of :

  • The historical and policy context and key factors of safeguarding children
  • Child abuse and neglect including definitions, signs and indicators.
  • The impact of abuse upon children and families.
  • The concept of e-safety
  • The impact of parenting issues such as domestic abuse and substance misuse on parenting capacity.
  • The importance of family history and functioning
  • What to do in response to concerns about children's and young peoples' safety and wellbeing, documentation and the sharing of information regarding concerns
  • Working together to identify assess and meet the needs of children where there are safeguarding concerns
  • How to respond to a disclosure of abuse by a child/young person
  • Safer working practices

Course Outline:

  • Agreeing ground rules
  • Concepts of safeguarding and child protection
  • Historical background
  • Policy and legislative background
  • Definitions of child abuse and neglect
  • Recognition of concerns about children's welfare
  • Actions to be taken in response to concerns
  • Handling disclosures from children
  • Personal action planning
  • The course will be delivered using a variety of methods including
  • Presentations
  • Video
  • Small group work
  • Large group discussion
  • Role play
  • Case studies
  • Quizzes

Participants will be invited to complete evaluation forms and will be encouraged to discuss their learning and future development needs with their supervisor/manager.