...Protecting Children and Young People from Abuse Name Institution Date Abstract This paper draws the attention of the involved agencies and governmental bodies on the need to implement measures to safeguard children and young people from abuse and exploitation in America. Despite the existence of excellent examples of the practice, a lack of awareness on the problems faced by abused children or non existence of resources geared towards addressing the abuse means that there is a need for the implementation of policies and guidelines towards preventing child abuse and prosecuting the abusers (Sauer, 1992). This paper will give an in depth discussion of various legislation acts, governmental bodies, policies and regulation that helps in curbing the menace. Introduction Children abusers come from different social backgrounds, different cultures and races and all walks of life. They can be the child's parents, or people known by the child including relatives and family members, and it is unlikely that a child will be abused by a total stranger. Children under the statutory age need to be protected from abusers as the harm can cause the child's emotional, physical and mental health, as well as impaired development (Olafson and Corwin et al., 1993). When an adult presents the treat, the abuser may be forced to move out of the family as inquiries into the matter takes place. This enables the child to live away until it is established that it is safe for them to return. Topic rationality...
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...are the result of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 which introduced further changes to the way the protection system was structured. The Children Act 1989 aimed to simplify the laws that protected children and young people. They were thought of as a serious shake up and made it clear to those who worked with children what their duties were and how they should work together in cases of child abuse in Working Together to Safeguard Children 1999. The tragic death of Victoria Climbie at the hands of her carers in 2000 highlighted the dysfunctional way in which services for children were happening. The Laming report of 2003 examined this and produced the green paper/policy Every child matters which in turn instigated extensions to the Children Act 1989 creating the Children Act 2004, all of which support the UNCRC's articles e.g. 19, 32, that give children the right to be protected from harm and to have protection procedures in place that enable care for a child that safeguards their well-being. The Children Act 2004 focuses on: • The integration of children’s services and the introduction of children’s directors with responsibility for local authority education and children’s social services. • Lead councillors for children’s services with political responsibility for local welfare. • The establishment of Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCB) with statutory powers to ensure that all services work together to protect vulnerable children. • A new Common Assessment...
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...legislation that covers children’s rights, but rather a multitude of laws and guidance that are being continually amended, updated and revoked. Child welfare policies and initiatives target the care, health, and wellbeing of children, with the goal of improving child health with the public health sector. These policies and initiatives aim to protect children from the harmful effects of poverty, family and parenting problems, child abuse and neglect, and inadequate resources All adults working alongside children have a responsibility to keep them safe. As a teaching assistant, ¬initial training will be given outlining your role and any other particular areas which your employer would like you to focus on to improve...
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...The main current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK home nation for Safeguarding children and young people. (REF 1.1) The main current legislation for safeguarding children and young people are: - Children Act 1989 - The Children Act (Every child matters) 2004 - Protection of Children Act 1999 - Data protection Act 1998 - Safeguarding vunerable group Act 2006 - Sexual offences Act 2003 - Criminal justice and court services Act 2000 - Equalities Act 2010 - Data protection Act 1998 non-statutory guidance - United Nations Convention on the rights of the child The main current guidelines for safeguarding children and young people are: - Working together to safeguard children The main current policies and procedures for safeguarding children and young people are: - Child Protection Policy Child protection is part of the wider work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering from any form of abuse or neglect. It also involves protecting children and young people from maltreatment and preventing impairment of a child’s health and development by ensuring children are raised in positive circumstances by providing safe and caring environments. Parents or carers who fail to protect or care for their children could then be taken to court and the child be then removed from the home and placed into care. Wider forms of safeguarding...
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...Understand safeguarding of children and young people for those working in the adult sector (Level 5) Explain the policies, procedures and practices for safe working with children and young people. Policies and procedures are set in place to not only protect children and young people but also adults who work with them. It is vital that all professionals follow safe working practices to ensure that not only children are protected but also themselves. I have chosen to talk about in a childcare setting for this unit. An example is, if a disclosure is made by a child to a member of staff, it is vital that it is always taken seriously even if it is proven to be untrue or inaccurate. The child or young person should be listened to in a calm supportive manner which will allow them to talk freely and openly, it is also imperative that they are reassured about telling someone and how hard it must have been for them. Once the disclosure has been made and the child is calmed and secure, the employee or adult should inform the designated safeguarding officer, relevant notes should be written down in the child’s own words, including names that were mentioned, time and place of disclosure and place and background of the disclosure. In every setting there should be on display or on view a policy and procedure folder. This is there for everybody to look at and to show support of safe working. The policies and procedures are put in place to benefit staff, children, parents/carers and visitors...
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...Anti-discriminatory Practice: How National Intiatives Promotes Anti-discriminatory Practice: By Paisley Cusick. The Children’s Act 1989 (2004) The Children’s Act 1989 (2004) The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989, which was introduced in an effort to reform and clarify the existing laws affecting children. The Children Act 1989 gave every child the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to inquiries to safeguard their welfare. Its central tenet was that children are usually best looked after within their family. The act came into force in England and Wales in 1991 and - with some differences - in Northern Ireland in 1996. The key principle of the Act is that the welfare of the child is vital when an issue concerning the upbringing of a child has to be decided by a court under this legislation. A court must also ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child and shall not make an Order unless this is 'better for the child than making no Order at all'. Every effort should be made to preserve the child’s home and family links. The Act introduced the concept of parental responsibility which is defined as 'the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child.' This replaced the old idea that parents have 'custody' of the child or children. The Children Act 2004 was introduced following the tragic death of Victoria Climbie and the public enquiry into the circumstances surrounding...
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...‘The conventional division of private and public law is to some extent a false dichotomy’. Discuss. The aim of this essay is to discuss the conventional division of private and public law is to some extent a false dichotomy. In order to achieve this aim it is necessary to inform that the writer, will examine the Children Act 1989 (CA 1989), giving examples of case law. This will include a brief background of implementation of private and public law into the Act. The next section will identify the similarities and differences in private and public law cases by comparing and contrasting case law. The current regulatory legal framework for contact issues in the public and private law context will be discussed by evaluating how the children’s views are considered. Further in the section the children’s representation in the public and private law arena will be touched on considering the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child 1990 (UNCRC 1990), implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), and the incorporation of the of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) bearing in mind that the Children Act was outlined with a consideration to the convention. Throughout the chapters I will refer to relevant case law, statute, drawing attention to how both private and public law cases can have elements of both private and public law and amalgamation of some cases. There will be a brief discussion to address the different treatment of parties mainly kinship...
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...Legislation The Children Act 1989 This act enforced new laws concerning the safety and welfare of children in England and Wales. It emphasises that it is the duty of parents, local authority, agencies and courts to take responsibility for children’s safety and promote their welfare and work together to ensure that children are safeguarded at all times. The act stresses the importance that a child or young person is best cared for within their own family; but when parents or a family is unable to work with the statutory authorities, stipulations are in place. The act also states that the framework around court proceedings regarding children were to be updated. The court should prioritise the children’s welfare before anything else, and if any...
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...1. Children act 1989: This act was put into place to protect and makes the law simple in dealing with children. It was seen as a wakeup call to dealing with children, it also gave clear information to any one working with children regarding what their duties should include and how they should deal with other professionals in case an allegation arises about the child’s welfare. The guidance was called working together to safeguard children 1999, in one of the articles, number 47, it says the local authorities has a right to investigate any case where they may feel the child is in serious harm or danger. It was then rewritten in 2004 as up until 2003 it was clear that people that were working with young people and children were still not being protected and being left vulnerable. This was highlighted at the death of Victoria Climbe at the hands of her carers, her death was then resulted into an independent enquiry. This was called the laming report 2003as this criticised the protection of children in society, this laming report resulted in a green paper called ‘EVERY CHILD MATTERS’ which in turn led to the new written act. 2. Children act 2004: This act introduced the children services and the introduction of children directors, it also promotes multi agencies working together/ social services (the police, NHS and education services) to ensure and protect that every child stays safe from harm and also a new common assessment framework to assist agencies in identifying welfare...
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...with the application of safeguarding legislation and policies, children Act 1989(section 17and 47). This section of the legislation is focus on need, and detection of harm and when it is believe that a child may be facing significant harm. The social worker having an understanding of what significant...
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...circular 10/95 set out the role of FE colleges in helping to protect children from abuse, under the terms of the Children Act 1989. 1.3 This circular was superseded in September 2004 by new statutory guidance on child protection, entitled Safeguarding Children in Education. Safeguarding Children sets out the requirements to provide a safe learning environment, identify young people suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and take appropriate action in full partnership with other local agencies. It therefore encompasses issues such as health, safety and bullying as well as the contribution made to child protection in relation to individual children, and underpins our common law duty of care. The Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to investigate...
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...There are many recent pieces of legislation and policies. The Children Act 1989, States that it is the authorities' duty to safeguard children and promote their welfare. This is to say that children from all backgrounds that are vulnerable to harm should be protected. Also their general way of life should be shielded from those who threaten to harm or impair it in anyway. To protect the children from such people or events, such as abduction, social workers (sometimes known as child protection officers) have been employed. Their primary goal is to focus on the safeguarding of children and for many years these workers have also provided additional support to families and family members that feel they are vulnerable. CAFCAS along with social work is another agency that is employed in the welfare of children dealing with courts to find solutions to families’ differences when parents separate. Their goal is to reunite parents with their children and also to provide the children with a better way of life. This is either by shielding them from an abusive parent or, by helping the single parent gain access to finances to help support the child. Another feature of this legislation is to enable the courts to decide on what is best for the child, if that choice is more beneficial for the child in their current situation. This could in extreme cases involve the removal of the child from their parents and be placed into the care/foster care system; this is always the last resort. CAFCAS...
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...Using your own words discuss the main reason why children and young people may need to be cared for away from their families. People who abuse children come from all social backgrounds, all walks of life, different races and cultures. They can parents and other people the child knows well like family friends and relatives and it is not so common for a child to be abused by a stranger. Children and young people under the age of 18 need to be cared for away from their families, if they are in severe danger or significant harm is caused to them such as child’s physical, emotional, mental health or development is impaired as a consequence of abuse or neglect and the most important priority is to make them safe. So if a particular adult presents that danger, the adult may be asked to move out of the family home voluntarily or stay away while the enquiry takes place and if they don’t move out, then social services can apply for an emergency protection court order. This would enable the child to live away from home until it was safe for them to return. Also children and young people may need to be cared for away from their families, when an investigation finds that a child needs protection, and the social worker will take whatever steps are most appropriate and least disruptive to the child. Children are only removed from their homes when they’re in immediate danger and nothing less disruptive can protect them. Another reason why children may be cared away from their homes its because...
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...The family came to signify ‘blood ties’ rather than ‘household’ (Hall, 2001, p. 11). Histographies of the late 18th and early 19th centuries have focused on the development of two distinct social classes. The upper / middle classes and the working classes. Britain had become a nation state comprising of ‘two nations’, rich and poor (Mooney, 2001, pp. 54-55). The language of class described what was new and different about 19th century British society. This language also illustrated the dominant discourse of ‘separate spheres’. Men belonged in the public world of work and women in the private world of the home. Men were able to move freely between these two worlds whilst women were not. Women should be dependent caring for their children, to create a healthy nation. This gendered language became ‘naturalised’ (Hall, 2001, pp. 15-17). The ‘ideal’ family was dominated by the discourse of ‘gendered separate...
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...children’s act 1989 was the first part of legislation to set out the duty of councils in regard to child protection procedures. The aim of the children’s act 1989 was to provide reforms in the law relating to children, making provision for the local authority’s Social services departments and others to act together providing services and support for children, young people and their families. The introduction of the Children’s Act was a landmark and a significant turning point for children’s social work. The result was a move from concern with child welfare to child protection and a frequently authoritarian intervention. The act was introduced in 1989 by the Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government just a year before of her being replaced by John Major as Prime Minister of the UK. With the change in Government when The Labour Party came into power with Tony Blair as the new Prime Minister was the beginning of a shift in social work as Labour’s administrations gave continuity to the Thatcher’s ideologies in many aspects. Therefore, with a string of high profile cases of child abuse in those years, the Labour Government in 2003 published “Every Child Matters” with the aim to address the immediate concerns identified in both reports, and a range of circumstances that happened in families and impacted on the lives of children and young people in the UK. The proposal of the White Paper was with five outcomes children’s services needed to provide in order for children to achieve:...
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