Safeguarding Children Training

The protection of human rights is the main purpose of safeguarding and consequently training identifies when abuse is happening. Chief among these rights is the right to equality, regardless of sex, race or other characteristic. Where there is a violation of human rights, it is crucial that measures are in place to restore them in. This creates a framework where everyone has the right to maintain their values and beliefs while living their lives unimpeded.

Safeguarding aims to minimise and manage the risk of exposure to abuse and neglect. There are specific safeguarding circumstances to consider for children due to power imbalances and their lack of experience. The NSPCC gives a clear overview of these specific safeguarding issues at Safeguarding Children and Child Protection

Legislation and government guidance defines safeguarding as the protection of all individuals from ill treatment, implementing measures that prevents the impairment of an individual’s well being and development, taking the appropriate action to ensure the best outcome for vulnerable people to ensure every person’s environment and circumstances are consistent with the provision of safe and effective measures.

This Safeguarding Level 1 course is aimed at anyone who has a duty of care for, or comes in contact with children in their chosen profession. This includes but is not limited to teachers and those who work in the education sector, sports coaches, social workers and those who work in welfare. Those with a duty of care for children must undertake a safeguarding course.

At the end of this course, you’ll have learned to

• define key terminology in relation to safeguarding and protecting children.
• explain the key principles of relevant safeguarding legislation and guidance.
• be able to manage the environment to minimise risk of harm to children.
• recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and bullying.
• respond appropriately to disclosure of abuse and bullying.
• follow correct procedure about when, how and who to refer or concern about a child’s safety or welfare, including referral to other agencies.
• explain the actions you will need to take to keep yourself safe and well.

Abuse can be split into five distinct groups. These are

• Bullying: as deliberately hurtful behaviour by one person or group to an individual, where it is difficult for the person being bullied to defend themselves.
• Physical: when a child is physically harmed through the actions of another, leaving physical damage such as lacerations, scars, broken bones and worse
• Emotional or Psychological: the persistent ill treatment of a child to the point that it causes an adverse effect on that child’s emotional development. It can take on a wide variety of forms, such as an individual telling a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may also include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or making fun of what they say or how they communicate
• Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in a serious impairment of the child’s health or development
• Sexual abuse: forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence whether or not the child is aware of what is happening

Child abuse is under diagnosed and under reported and can be a difficult subject to broach for fear of getting it wrong. However, If you do suspect that a child may be being abused, whilst it isn’t yet a criminal offence not to disclose this information, you do have a duty to do something and should never wait until you’re certain.

This Safeguarding Level 1 training guides you through a process and gives you steps to follow should you suspect a case of child abuse being mindful that your role is one of support and not investigative. It’s important that whatever environment in which you work, you should be familiar with and follow your organization’s procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children in your area. You should know who to contact in your organisation to express concerns about a child’s welfare.

There are several pieces of legislation that work together to safeguard children. The course looks at each in turn. Two of the main pieces of legislation in the UK are:

The Children’s Act 1989 – This act allocates duties to children across local authorities, the courts, parents and other relevant agencies to safeguard and protect children.  It focuses on the premise that children are better cared for inside their family but it also makes provisions outside the family when parents or carers are un-cooperative with the statutory bodies set up to safeguard children

The Children’s Act 2004 which builds on the children’s act 1989 and came about as a result of the death of Victoria Climbie in 2001.  This piece of legislation introduces a newer government strategy called “Every Child Matters: Change for Children” and identifies five outcomes for children

• to be healthy,
• stay safe,
• enjoy and achieve,
• make a positive contribution and
• achieve economic well being.

The aim of this Safeguarding Level 1 training course is to equip those working with children with enough knowledge and understanding of safeguarding principles so they can respond quickly and effectively when they need to.  This course is an excellent introduction to safeguarding for those who work with children to help them in both recognising the signs of abuse and knowing how to respond in addressing their concerns.