Measuring Wellbeing in Child Safeguarding

1.1 Explain the policies, procedures and practices your organisation has for safe working with children and young people who may be in your establishment

According to Brandon and Thoburn (2008), Working Together to Safeguard Children ( 1999) and Every Child Matters (2003) have five specified particular biological and social indicators through which the wellbeing could be measured. These could be identified as preservation of healthy physical status, safe and secured environment for raring, psychological wellbeing stimulus in the form of achievement and enjoyment, social impetus for positive contribution to the environment and finally, with progression of age, achievement of financial stability. The organisational policy orientation has to be towards the special needs of children and adults in congruence with the internationally acknowledged value of protection of children and young personnel and the generation of contribution on their part which could be made to the broader society and to the individuals. This approach is premised upon the universal value accreditation to the recognition of gifts and values of all human beings. In this context, the organisational support mechanism imbues the ethos of establishment of greater interpersonal collaboration amongst personnel either with or devoid of any disability which they could be experiencing at their residential, community or professional settings. Bywaters et al (2016) have stated that this could include children, their families, young personnel and vulnerable adults.

According to Holland (2012), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) has emphasised on the objective of sensitisation of children to have respect towards everyone else through education. This could be only achieved through exposure of children to the prospects of observing respectful and dignified treatment of vulnerable adults with disabilities. This requires policy propositions which could establish operational parameters through which social and treatment based engagement of adults with disability by others in the most respectable and human manner which could highlight the absolute abrogation of predispositions of such vulnerable adults being patients, could be achieved. The organisational objective is thus to instil operational values which could emphasise the fact that such personnel have neither to be pitied nor to be feared but to be treated as fellow human beings with special conditions.

According to Parton (2010) from the organisational perspective, the responsibility scenario involves the ensuring of wellbeing and safety of children with utmost measure of seriousness while properly signifying the positive contribution which could be made to the learning and development of children. Furthermore, this involves the heralding in of the opportunities of young personnel which could permit them to evolve greater and positive contribution towards the society in general. The procedures are designed towards minimisation of risks of causing harm to the children while they could be within a shared environment. Scourfield, Smail and Butler (2015) have delineated that these could be identified as situations such as community based gatherings including celebrations and parties, family congregations, meeting with friends and paying visits to relatives while under the supervision of the organisation.

To this effect, the organisational guidelines are specified as visiting of the community houses or other properties, participation in the community activities could be only permissible for children under the strict supervision of responsible adults who has to be cognisant of their safety and security under all of the circumstances while such visitations could be undergoing. This process has to be devoid of any active working time of the responsible adults while the children could be present under the purview of the same person and the adults have to schedule their responsibility hours for other adults in the manner that such responsibilities could not co-inside with those of the responsibilities towards the children. The emphasis is on the work experience measurement of adults prior to their placement and their voluntary performance in work role management.

Furthermore, organisational policy is indicative of the imperative of the children being aged 14 year and older and would have to be safeguarded through appropriate measures of planning and assessment of risks, through obtainment of prior consent and approval from the guardians and would have to be provided with proper supervision. Wells (2019) has outlined that work experience placements are required to be served with approval and agreement on behalf of schools or educational institutions. Only the personnel who are permitted by the organisation could accompany the children or be present while they could be paying visits to public and private destinations. However, since both unplanned and planned contact with adults could become inevitable, children are required to be protected through a host of risk assessment and planning method application so as to outline any risk which could be present for the vulnerable children. According to Woodman et al (2019), it is the organisational prerogative to ensure the presence of supporting personnel at all of the occasions wherever and whenever the children could require any assistance. The details of concerns and assessed risk potentials are to be raised with the approved and designated professionals within the organisational working architecture.

If any child could arrive at any property of the organisation without prior announcement, in such an instance, the onus has to be accepted by the organisational staff present at that place, as per the organisational guidelines, to inform the legal guardians or parents of the child and the responsibility of collection of the child with immediate effect has to be accepted by the organisational staff as well.

Remaining concerns have to be communicated to the local teams for safeguarding. The organisational staff members regularly receive training in terms of the minimisation of the risk of causing harm to children. Apart from this, the staff members also undergo the induction processes meant to inform them about the procedures of operations in all contingencies through making them aware of the organisational procedures and policies as well as the local procedures meant to safeguard children.

2.1 Describe the possible signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that may cause concern in the context of safeguarding young people

According to Featherstone et al (2017), abusive behaviour perpetrated against children could consist of deliberate offence against the children, aggravated negligence of shortcomings in terms of safeguarding the children from harm. The categories of abuse are four in number, namely the physical, psychological, sexual and emotional. Other recognised formats of abuse for children are child trafficking and bullying of them. All of such forms of abuse are perpetrated by the personnel who could be familiar to the victimised children as either their family members or belonging to their social networks. Either adults, other children or even young personnel could commit such abuse. Sims-Schouten, Skinner and Rivett (2019) have averred that, more often than not, children could refrain from communication or disclosure of such abuse out of the fear of repercussions, shame or out of absolute dearth of understanding of the gravity of the situation under the false pretext that what could have happened to them could not be the actual norm. Coercion by the abuse perpetrator could be another factor for children not disclosing such incidents.

The indications of such maltreatment of children have considerable variation concerning the specific category of perpetrated abuse. Such indications could emerge with the passage of time. According to Szilassy et al (2017), a comprehensive understanding of different indicators of abuse could be outlined from the enlistment provided by Kent & Medway Safeguarding Children Procedures. Furthermore, the NSPCC does also provide additional information regarding child abuse indicators through online resources and leaflets. Bradshaw (2016) has asserted that the signs of physical abuse could be determined through physical injuries, flesh wounds, bruising and marks which could be both unexplained as well as inconsistent with any form of physical harm emanating from accidents. Further, scars, marks of bites, scratch marks and scalds could be indicators of such form of abuse. The victims could be apprehensive regarding the presence abusive adults or could be reticent about exposition their physical signs of abuse under certain situations where physical abuse perpetrators could be present at close vicinity.

According to Thompson et al (2017), the anxiety levels of any child who could be subjected to emotional abuse based experiences, could be comprehensible from the display of extensive measure of anxiety such as withdrawal, unsubstantiated fright and severely declined self-esteem levels. In specific cases, aggressive and attention seeking behaviour could be displayed to certain extents. Incompatibility with their peers in terms of relation establishment is another of such signs. The abnormality of attachment with the parents in the form of either severe poor relations or over-protective approaches could indicate the existence of emotional turmoil and abuse.

According to Shin, Jiskrova and Wills (2019), the element of shame and fear could restrict any child from revealing the perpetration of sexual abuse. The physical signs could be physical marks which could be not explainable, could commit self-harm and could be reluctant in terms of removal of clothing. Behavioural signs of such an abuse are also multiple in numbers. Some could be identified as the display of explicit or sexual behaviour or propensity to engage in adult conversation which could be completely inappropriate for the age of the children. Avoidance of being with particular adults and the expressions of anxiety and fear in the presence of such personnel could be other psychological signs of probable sexual abuse. Furthermore, from the perspective of the perpetrator, one critical sign of sexual misconduct perpetrated to the child could be the overt and indecorous physical contact with children and unsolicited overtures of taking care of the children in a voluntary manner.

According to Sheehan (2018), the abuse through negligence of children requires certain measure of time to become perceptible. Generally, the detection completely is incumbent upon the identification of collective discerning of different behavioural and conditional indicators. These could be acknowledged as the inappropriate measure of personal hygiene, poor physical presentation, substandard dental care, unnatural measures of hunger and malnutrition and medical conditions which could have not been attended to or could have been left untreated. Other psychological indicators could be acknowledged in the form of low self esteem by the child and withdrawal based behaviour, unrestrained measure of psychological attachment to certain individuals, behavioural anomalies such as overt attention seeking measures and finally, greater cheerfulness while they could be brought outside the periphery of their residential environments.

2.2 Describe the actions to take if a child or young person alleges harm or abuse in line with policies and procedures of your own setting

According to van Bijleveld et al (2015), allegations of perpetration of child abuse have to be emphasised on with utmost seriousness in the most earnest manner. The responsible organisational personnel are required to be vigilant and take in cognisance the gravity of the situation and would have to adhere to the existing procedures regarding reporting such allegations. The ensuring of security and safety of the young person or the child would be paramount in terms of prioritisation so as to assure the victims of the surety of their physical and psychological safety. Deviation from and the dereliction of such duty has to be strictly prohibited. Furthermore, paying proper attention to the opinions and statements of the child or the young person in the most measured and mindful manner is also necessary and this would have to involve absence of any probing or leading question.

According to Berrick et al (2015), one measure of approach of undertaking actions in response to allegations of harm or abuse from children would be for the organisational personnel to enquire about the presence of potential witnesses to the act perpetration. Thus, the person in charge of registering the complaint of the child or the young person would have to be deliberative to make the child or the young person understand that the registered allegations are to be communicated to the higher authorities so that corrective actions could be taken to ensure the safety of the alleger. The communicated information is thus not going to be kept secret in any manner. The young alleger has to be made aware of the purpose of such information as well. This could involve the communication of the actualities associated with procedures to forward referrals to the Local Authority.

According to Ferguson (2016), informing the manager by the staff members or the personnel in responsibility to register the allegations forwarded by the children has to be prioritised. In case that such allegation exclude the parents or guardians of the children, then, informing them about what could have taken place is also necessary. Certain measure of discretion is required so as not to forewarn the child abuser about the impending actions of the organisation.

The criticality of the line of management based actions is also of maximised significance so as to communicate the concern in the most appropriate manner to the authorities. Recording the statement of the child and those of possible witnesses with special emphasis on the quotes of the statements, phrases and works which could have been voiced by the abuse alleger, would be necessary with immediate effect. Other imperatives could be acknowledged as the recording of the observations related to the immediate physical appearance of the child such as whether the child had been tearful, afraid, suffering from convulsions or concussive effects or had obvious physical abuse signs such as bruises or scars.

Furthermore, for the proper execution of the entire measure of registration and communication of the complaints of the child or young victim of physical abuse, it is of utmost necessity, on part of the responsible organisational staff, so as not to arrive at any hasty or imprudent assumptions or not to jump to any improper conclusions regarding the gravity of the situations. This could be further elaborated from the perspective that the staff members in charge of recording all of the essential information are also entitled to voice their opinions or perceptions, within the overall recordings and statements which they could be forwarding. As per the observations of Crawford and L’Hoiry (2017), the records and statements have to be presented in the appropriate and intelligible manner with proper signatures, attestations and dates inserted at the places determined for such information. Finally, the aspect of forwarding the registered statements and records to the Local Authority Children & Families Team would have to commence with immediate effect depending upon the particularities associated with the overall structure of the allegation. These particularities could be associated with the identity of the alleged abusers such as whether it had been another child, an adult or anyone else to whom the child could be either acquainted to or could be oblivious about.

It would not be prudent to conduct internal investigations prior to the completion or conclusion of any investigation conducted by either the Police or the Local Authorities. It is necessary that proper advice has to be consistently sought regarding every such incident. This becomes especially significant regarding the instance of any staff member becoming implicated in the allegations. In such cases, it is deemed imperative to serve such implicated personnel their suspension of work notice pending future investigation into the actualities of such allegations. Furthermore, regarding the probability of any service user becoming implicated in any such allegation, it would be necessitated to immediately contact the funding authority of such a person. This is of particular significance regarding ensuring that no other child or young person should be at the immediate danger or risk. This would also be premised upon the necessity to undertake immediate and effective assessment of risks.

2.3 Explain the rights that children, young people and their families have if harm / abuse is suspected

The amount of legislative stipulations and administrative guidelines which could outline the rights of the children, young personnel and their relatives such as family members, are multiple in number. The fundamental objective of such legislations is to ensure the protection of vulnerable children from every form of abuse. According to Invernizzi (2016), the most prominent one is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). This particular resolution of the United Nations considerably clarifies the primary human rights based legal entitlements of all of the children in the global scenario. Such legal entitlements also are inclusive of the right of the children to be protected from any form of physical or psychological abuse and harm. Ryan (2019) has specified that The Children Act (1989) (Part III, 17 (1) (a)) has outlined that every local authority would be accountable, in terms of it being a general duty, to promote and safeguard the welfare of the vulnerable children within their area of responsibility. This responsibility is an added one concerning the other responsibilities imposed upon the local authorities by the guidelines of Part III Subsection (a) of the previously mentioned act. Furthermore, according to Ryan (2019), the (Part III 17 (3)) of The Children Act (1989) further states that any services which could be provided by any authority with the specific purpose of exercising the functions which could have been conferred on such an authority by the provisions of the particular sections of the act, would have to be made available to the family members of the particular child or young person who could be deserving of such assistance and services. Such services become applicable regarding provisioning of safeguarding facilities to the children and their family members on the prospects of protecting them from physical or psychological harm or both and regarding the promotion of the welfare of such children.

According to Ryan (2019), (Part III 20 (4)) of The Children Act (1989) have been deliberative about the stipulation that any local authority could furnish accommodation for the children within their zones of responsibilities under the pretext of doing so for the explicit purpose of promotion of the welfare of the child and for safeguarding of the child physically. Under the legal promulgations of the act, this could be applicable in spite of the fact that any person, who could have been entitled to execute parental responsibilities from legal perspectives, could be present and be able to provide for the necessary accommodation for the child. Furthermore, according to Ryan (2019), Children Act 1989, Part IV 31 (1,2) have stated that in the possibility that the vulnerable child could be experiencing suffering or could be poised to suffer from significant measure of harm which could be attributable to the existing care services available to the child, the Courts of Law could place the vulnerable child under the protective care of any local authority or similar administrative units which are legally entitled to execute such responsibilities of ensuring the protection of vulnerable children at risk of suffering abuse.

According to Penna (2005), the Children Act (2004) (updated) had legally obliged every Local Authority to arrange for and systematise the Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards for the purpose of promoting the welfare of children as well as for safeguarding them. Penna (2005), have observed that this had been prompted by the report submitted by Lord Laming regarding the investigation of the mortification of Victoria Climbie and this also contributed to the development of Keeping Children Safe (2003) initiative. All agencies are thus legally obliged to undertake appropriate actions to ensure the risk minimisation to the possible harm and risk potentials of children and to address the existing concerns in this context. Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) initiative has been a guideline in this context towards integrative working regarding safeguarding children. This involves the communicating the actualities of abuse or harm which could have taken place with the child to the legal guardians or parents. Adherence to the guidelines and procedures, raising the concerns to the appropriate authorities in an urgent manner and responding to the registered complaints under the purview of the safeguarding procedures and policies of the organisation, are all integral to the responsibilities associated with safeguarding of children.

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