Section 3: Understand how to respond to reports or suspicion of child abuse

In this section you will learn:

• What to do when concerned that a child or young person may be being abused.

• How to appropriately react and respond to a child should they make a disclosure.

• About the statutory agencies responsible for safeguarding and protecting children and young people.

Section introduction

Now that you have learned what the different types of abuse are and what to look out for, it is important to know and understand how to follow your organisational policies and procedures that are required to be in place within a setting. You also need to understand how to react and respond when a child or young person makes a disclosure to you, following your workplace procedures and maintaining appropriate boundaries. Finally, in this section you will explore a range of statutory agencies that are involved in the safeguarding and protection of young children such as Ofsted and the NSPCC and their duties and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection.

Safeguarding Processes and Procedures

All settings will have their own safeguarding processes and procedures and you need to be extremely familiar with these so you know how to report and who to go to when you have a concern.

What to do when concerned that a child or young person may be being abused

Before you begin your role in a setting or organisation, you must be aware of the safeguarding processes you need to follow in your setting. This also includes being knowledgeable of the reporting procedures and the designated safeguarding lead and officers in your place of work. These are the people who will be responsible for following up and investigating your concerns. If you have a concern about a child or young person or if a disclosure of abuse is made, you should follow the best practices outlined below, and in accordance with your own organisational procedures: 1. Write down what you have witnessed or what is disclosed to you as accurately as possible. You should record exactly what the child or young person has said anything you notice such as signs of injury, the child appearing upset, stressed, angry or even ashamed while they are talking

to you. You should also summarise any ongoing concerns that you have and be as accurate as you can in your notes. 2. Discuss your concerns. As a matter of urgency, you should approach the named member of staff for safeguarding even if they are busy at that time. Your organisation will have a lead Safeguarding Officer (SO) and a range of additional safeguarding officers so that somebody is always available on site for you to talk to. Numbers of additional SOs are dependent upon the size of the organisation. 3. Report the indicators. Make sure that you report anything that has led you to suspecting abuse or neglect against a child or young person straight to the designated safeguarding officer. If in doubt, your line manager can help you follow the correct procedures and you should let them know that you are reporting something. 4. Continue to keep written observations. As soon as you have made a suspicion around abuse you should continue to record anything that has made you feel suspicious. This needs to be written in case it is used later in court or child protection proceedings. 5. If your concern is not being followed up. If you have raised a concern and you think that the action taken is not adequate you can meet the named safeguarding officer again. If it continues in this way you do have a right to follow the organisations whistleblowing procedure to report this further as necessary. Always ensure that you uphold the principle that the child’s welfare and safety come first. 6. What if you are a student? If you are a student, then discuss your concerns in confidence with your tutor. Any worried adult is also entitled to contact children’s social care or the NSPCC directly. If you have reason to believe your concern has not been acted on you should do this. After reporting a concern, one of the following may happen: • No action. This may happen if that is a reasonable explanation for the concern of the injury or behaviour. • Advice given. This may happen if a child is coming to the setting in inadequate clothing for the weather and advice is given on appropriate clothing going forwards. • Support offered. This could be a response if a parent or guardian agrees that they need support. This could be offered via a range of ways eg, parenting group or psychologist. • Referral to family support. Projects at local children centres for example Disabled Children’s teams’ services or the Domestic Violence Project. This is on a voluntary basis. • Referral to social care. If the designated safeguarding officer believes that the child is at risk of significant harm, there will be a referral made to children’s social care who will pick up the concern.

Safeguarding Processes and Procedures

Recognise: Use your knowledge of the signs and indicators of abuse to recognise when a child is at risk of harm. Record: Write down what happened, what you saw and what was said. Report: Follow procedures to report to the appropriate person and immediately where a child is at risk of being in danger. Refer: The DSL may refer using guidance, to the appropriate services.

How to appropriately react and respond to a child should they make a disclosure

When you are aware of the process to report an accusation or suspicion of abuse, you need to be sure of your own boundaries to work within. This includes issues in relation to confidentiality, allegations made against staff, and whistleblowing. In general, you must keep sensitive information confidential. Information regarding a child protection issue should only be shared with people on what is called a need-to-know basis. Therefore, you should only share information about the child and the issue with the named safeguarding officer and those working on the investigation around that disclosure. Names and identities should never be disclosed outside the designated need-to-know group. Gossip and hearsay must always be avoided. Information that freely circulates can leave the parents feeling vulnerable and they may stop sharing any information that could be relevant to the investigation. As discussed earlier, there may be no action as a result of concerns raised or support may be offered rather than being reported to social care. Not all allegations imply that abuse has occurred.

Where appropriate, you should seek consent before sharing any information. You should never disclose any information unless the child’s welfare is at stake. You should also never take that information outside of the organisation. For example, you would not tell your own friends and family about a child protection conference you have attended or anything about the investigation at hand. Importantly, you must always put the child’s interests first if sharing information. You should never promise a child that you will not share certain information. For younger children, explain you’re going to speak to someone

who will be able to help. For older children, explain you’ll need to report the abuse to someone who can help. You must make it clear that you will pass on the required information to the appropriate person that is responsible for keeping that child safe ie, the designated safeguarding lead. Sometimes there may be instances where a child or young person is abused by a member of staff within an organisation. Examples include the case of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002 who were murdered by their school’s caretaker. Another example is when Vanessa George, a nursery nurse, distributed inappropriate images of children from her own nursery setting in 2009. Despite DBS checks and safe recruitment practices, it is important to be vigilant where any suspicions arise about a member of staff, even if you feel you know them well and that they are your friend. To safeguard yourself from allegations, make sure you are never alone with a child or young person and always ask permission when supporting a child with any aspect of their care. The following may be signs that a staff member is behaving inappropriately towards children or young people: • A child seems fearful of a particular member of staff. • A member of staff seems to try to develop a close relationship with a child or young person. • A member of staff is offering presents or treats to a child or young person or is arranging to meet the child young person outside of the setting. • A parent or guardian expresses a general concern about how a member of staff relates to the child but is unable to say exactly what it is that is wrong. If you notice something like this, you will need to talk to your designated safeguarding officer as you would with any other suspicion or allegation of abuse. As you work as a staff team this may be awkward but (as discussed earlier) the interests of the child must come first. Whistleblowing is a process where you directly report your organisation to relevant authorities when you feel that the organisation is demonstrating poor practice in safeguarding children and young people or where they have not followed through with their own procedures and processes after you have made a report in relation to the protection of a child in your care. If a member of staff in your organisation has spoken to either the manager, the designated safeguarding lead or another appropriate person, making it clear that there is a dangerous or illegal situation but no action has been taken, then it is necessary to blow the whistle and report the concerns directly to an external organisation or body such as the local children’s services, Ofsted or the NSPCC.

Serious Case Reviews

Serious case reviews (SCRs) are conducted when serious harm or death occurs to a child. They look at how and why the unfortunate outcome occurred and consider how things can go differently ie, what changes should be made. Some well-documented SCRs are Little Teds, Baby P, Daniel Pelka and Victoria Climbie. You can view SCRs on the NSPCC website.

Statutory agencies responsible for safeguarding and protecting children and young people

Government legislation sets out a framework of safeguarding and protection of children and young people. There are a range of organisations and agencies that have responsibilities and duties in terms of implementing safeguarding and child protection. The table below identifies some of these and the key responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection.

Organisation or agency

Ofsted

Local authority (Social Workers)

Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU)

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)

Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (Now known as Safeguarding Partners) Responsibilities in relation to safeguarding

Ofsted will work to ensure that all providers have the policies and procedures in place to deal with safeguarding effectively. They play their part in tackling institutions where they believe that young people are at risk of radicalisation and extremism as well as other forms of child abuse and neglect.

The Section 47 duty under the Children Act 1989 requires the local authority to complete an enquiry where it 'has reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives (or is found in their area) is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm'. The local authority has the rights to limit or remove parental responsibility if they believe this is in the best interests of a child or young person. Social workers will work with children and families to offer the best support and guidance as necessary to each situation.

The CPSU provides advice and support around safeguarding children. They can provide guidance in developing policies and procedures as well as codes of conduct for the setting.

The NSPCC is a charity organisation and is funded entirely on donations from members of the public and donations from other quarters. The NSPCC is not affiliated to any government body and receives no funding from the government. They operate a public policy and spends a great deal of time lobbying members of parliament in order to bring about change in laws relating to how children are cared for and protected by the law in the UK. The NSPCC also provides help to thousands of families across the UK every year. It operates telephone lines (such as Child Line) which allow the victims of abuse to speak to someone in confidence about the nature of their problem as well as help with matters relating to domestic violence.

Safeguarding partners are in charge of agreeing on and implementing new safeguarding strategies that will strengthen their multiagency working and in turn, improve the provision of safeguarding and child protection arrangements in the local area. They have replaced the Local Children Safeguarding Board, but you may still hear of this terminology being referred to.

Police Police officers have considerable powers to arrest and detain suspects, investigate crimes, seek court orders, restrict an offender’s activities, move a child to a place of safety and issue notices to offenders warning them to cease contact with children whom the police have identified as potential victims.