Hi, can you contact a local childminding network or your local authority as there will be procedures for contacting & reporting allegations of abuse/disclosure that rely on details for your area -
ofsted poster is a resource that displays contact details and reporting avenues.
Safeguarding children in the workplace:
1. Know the settings policies and procedures: eg. safeguarding, child protection, whistleblowing and complaints.
2. Listen and respect: what the child or young person is saying and their point of view
3. Support and reassure: that they did the right thing in telling, how everyone wants the best outcome for them to be happy and safe.
4. Agree not to keep secrets / do not promise confidentiality
5. Clarify/repeat what has been said: without over questioning or using questions that lead.
6. Be aware of not condeming anyone, showing prejudice, bias or dismissing information.
7. Report to and consult with an appropriate person, internally or externally as a setting's procedures will guide eg. manager, leader, supervisor, named safeguarding/child protection officer or coordinator.
8. Record events acurately: include name, address, date, places, times, exact words, who the disclosure was made to & when, who has named parental responsibility -
9. Know who has responsibility to share the concern of what the child disclosed with parents/carer.
-- Where there is a suspicion of abuse, parents are informed at the same time as the report is made, unless this increases the risk of harm to the child or additional guidance has been given by the local safeguarding children board, whereby the investigating officers will contact and inform parents, feeding back to the setting within 48 hours of a refferal letting the setting know what is happening. The setting continues to support both child and family.
-- Where a child makes a disclosure of abuse a designated/named officer shares the concern with parents, makes informed decisions about the need for refferal and explains how the procedures work for maintaining each child's confidential file - how all reports and records are kept & updated, the parent's right to access the file, the way the setting reports its concerns, suspicions, makes refferals and the right for parent's to make a complaint.
9. Follow up your report
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10. Implement the whistle blowing policy and its procedures if there is a lack of action taken to investigate the reported disclosure by approaching the next appropriate and relevant adult or organisation to report dangerous/poor practice in the workplace. eg.
-- Most senior member
-- Ofsted
-- Social services, child welfare response team
-- Police
-- probation
-- health visitor
-- NSPCC
Quote:
Assignment 026 Understand How to Safeguard the Well-being of Children and Young People Task D - D2 Produce a 10-point action plan describing the actions for workers to take if a child or young person alleges harm or abuse. The action plan should be in line with policies and procedures in children and young people settings. You must provide a short description to accompany each action given.
maybe describe how within your organisation you..
Listen carefully to what is said, remain calm, take what is being said seriously, do not ask leading questions eg.
where did he/she hurt you, or attempt to investigate an allegation, accept what is being said, do not rush, hurry or dismiss the information being given, do not promise to keep the information a secret, reassure and support the child that they were right to tell you, report the allegation to an appropriate adult as the earliest opportunity, complete any record of concern relevant to a setting's policies and procedures, assist with refferal procedure where necessary, liase with appropriate professionals. Check what actions have been taken since the first point of disclosure ..
You could base your information on the guidance provided in
'What to do if you're worried a child is being abused'
Quote:
All practitioners working with children and families should…
10.1 Be familiar with and follow your organisation’s procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children in your area, and know who to contact in your organisation to express concerns about a child’s welfare.
10.2 Remember that an allegation of child abuse or neglect may lead to a criminal investigation, so don’t do anything that may jeopardise a police investigation, such as asking a child leading questions or attempting to investigate the allegations of abuse.
10.3 If you are responsible for making referrals, know who to contact in police, health, education, school and children’s social care to express concerns about a child’s welfare.
10.4 Refer any concerns about child abuse or neglect to children’s social care or the police.
10.5 Have an understanding of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (see Figure 1), which underpins the processes of assessing needs, planning services and reviewing the effectiveness of service provision at all stages of work with children in need and families. (The dimensions of the Common Assessment Framework (2006b) are based on those in the Assessment Framework.)
10.6 When referring a child to children’s social care you should consider and include any information you have on the child’s developmental needs and their parents’/carers’ ability to respond to these needs within the context of their wider family and environment.
This information may have been obtained during the completion of a Common Assessment (2006b). Similarly, when contributing to an assessment or providing services you should consider what contribution you are able to make in respect of each of these three domains.
Specialist assessments, in particular, are likely to provide information relevant to a specific dimension, such as health, education or family functioning.
10.7 See the child and ascertain his or her wishes and feelings as part of considering what action to take in relation to concerns about the child’s welfare.
10.8 Communicate with the child in a way that is appropriate to their age, understanding and preference. This is especially important for disabled children and for children whose preferred language is not English. The nature of this communication will also depend on the substance and seriousness of the concerns and you may require advice from children’s social care or the police to ensure that neither the safety of the child nor any subsequent investigation is jeopardised.
Where concerns arise as a result of information given by a child it is important to reassure the child but not to promise confidentiality.
10.9 Record full information about the child at first point of contact, including name(s), address(es), gender, date of birth, name(s) of person(s) with parental responsibility (for consent purposes) and primary carer(s), if different, and keep this information up to date.
In schools, this information will be part of the pupil’s record.
10.10 Record in writing all concerns, discussions about the child, decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions.
The child’s records should include an up-to-date chronology, and details of the lead worker in the relevant agency – for example, a social worker, GP, health visitor or teacher.
10.11 Talk to your manager and other professionals: always share your concerns, and discuss any differences of opinion.
Follow up your concerns.
Always follow up oral communications to other professionals in writing and ensure your message is clear.
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An example in Scotland for reporting child abuse to police in the
Strathclyde area and in Newcastle -
10 points for reponding to a child or young person's disclosure of harm or abuse
Search online for you county's .gov.uk website and details of its local safeguarding, social service teams and ways of reporting child abuse concerns locally. As an example there is good reading on Bristol.gov.uk - safeguarding children,
a leaflet and safeguarding procedures for daycare providers. Reponding to disclosure of abuse search - Australia's
practice brief is good.
Leaflet for reporting child abuse from
Citizen's advice bureau
Handbook search on amazon
Hth xx
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Keyword Tags
Unit 025, assignment 026 city and guilds classification
CYP core 3.3 Cache assessment criteria 3.3
Unit 3 Edexcel
Level 3 Diploma in Playwork (NVQ) (QCF) Unit 311 Understand how to safeguard the well being of children and young people 311.4 Understand how to respond to evidence or concerns that a child or young person has been abused or harmed: 2. describe the actions to take if a child or young person alleges harm or abuse in line with policies and procedures of own setting.
.Describe the principles of responding to disclosure of possible abuse.