Legislation Relating To The Safeguarding Of Children Essay

There are many procedures, policies, legislations and statutory guidance to support the safety and welfare of children and young people. They have been developed over many years to recognise the rights of children and young people, protect vulnerable children and young people and after independent inquiries of fatal abuse cases, to recognise the failures of multi agencies and support services.

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.

Section 47 of the Act places a duty upon local authorities to investigate such situations whereby 'there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer harm'.

Current legislation is the result of The children Act 1989 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and was clear about their responsibility’s and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made.Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded.The Laming report led to the governments Every Child Matters paper and The Children Act 2004. In the last year this has now been renamed Every

The current legislation, guidelines and policies and procedures state that children have the rights to protection from abuse also they have the right to express their view and to be listened to as well as the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away, although different British governments have said that it regards its self-bound by the convention and refers to it in child protection guidance. It has not become part of the uk law but there is no single piece of legislation

Child Act 1989- “the Children Act 1989 aimed to ensure that the welfare of the child was paramount, working in partnership with parents to protect the child from harm” http://www.careandthelaw.org.uk/eng/b_section2 appendix 3

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

1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people

More than ever, Child protection is a topical issue. That’s why many years ago the British government, aware of the fragility and vulnerability of children to adults, has implemented a number of laws relating to children and young people in the UK. These laws are made to define the inherent right of children, and also to define the implication of their rights for all those responsible of or using any childhood services; but more specifically what we will see through the legislation concerning the rights of children, is how they may impact the work of childcarers, how they can

Any individual who comes into contact with children in their daily work has a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of children. Safeguarding means protecting and promoting the childs welfare and putting measures in place to prevent abuse. Child protection is protecting a child when there is reason to believe that the child has suffered or is likely to suffer from abuse or neglect. In order to ensure this happens within a school setting, there are many laws that protect the welfare and safeguarding of children:-

The main legislation in our county that supports the rights of children is Children Act 1989. According to Penny Tassoni, ‘this act is a result of the UK government adopting the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, new legislation was required. The 1989 Children Act also made it clear that children’s and young people’s views had to be taken into consideration when decisions about their future were being made.’ The key elements to this legislation are:

Policies and procedures for safeguarding and child protection in England and Wales are the result of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 carried more changes that affected the way the child protection system is structured and organized works here in the United Kingdom and so affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Often children die or get seriously injured due to abuse or avoidable accidents. Society has a duty to protect children. We have a range of professional organisations supported by legislation, policies and procedures in order to do this. When the procedures and policies do not work society has failed at the thing it is meant to do. It is vital and that the causes of failure are known and dealt with.

Before Daniel Pelka’s death there had been many serious case reviews for example in the same year January 2013 the death of 7year old Yaseen Ali. The key issue was audit training for staff at schools in terms of safeguarding. (Heritage 2016)

Working together to safeguard children 2006 sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989 and the Children’s Act 2004. It is important that all practitioners within settings and environments looking and caring after children and young people must know their responsibilities and duties in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, following their legislations, policies and procedures.