SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IS EVERYONE'S BUSINESS!!

All voluntary, community and faith organisations need to understand their safeguarding roles and responsibilities (alongside those of other organisations and services) to help keep children and young people safe from abuse and neglect, and promote their wellbeing.

There is a range of help and support for voluntary, community and faith organisations working in Wolverhampton from Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council. This includes safeguarding support which you can access as follows:

1. Specific support for faith groups

• There are over 250 faith groups in Wolverhampton which you can find details for all of these on the Wolverhampton Faith Map
• To access this support, please contact Pavitter Kaur Mainn - (Faith Engagement Worker) by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone: 07538 105780

2. Individual and group support for any voluntary or community organisation

Hidden Harm is defined by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as:- “Parental problem drug use and its actual and potential effects on children”

We estimate there are between 250,000 and 350,000 children of problem drug users in the UK – about one for every problem drug user. Parental problem drug use can and does cause serious harm to children at every age from conception to adulthood. Reducing the harm to children from parental problem drug use should become a maincobjective of policy and practice. Effective treatment of the parent can have major benefits for the child. By working together, services can take many practical steps to protect and improve the health and well-being of affected children. The number of affected children is only likely to decrease when the number of problem drug users decrease ( Hidden Harm Multi Agency Guidance 2013).

All professionals who come into contact with families where substance misuse is an issue have a responsibility to ensure that children in these circumstances are identified as early as possible and are given appropriate intervention, support and protection:- “Early Intervention breaks the all too common cycle in which people who grow up with dysfunctional behaviours and lifestyles transmit them to their children, who, in turn, transmit them to their grandchildren. Early Intervention offers a real chance to break this destructive pattern and of raising children to become good parents and carers in turn” (Allen 2011)

It is essential that all professionals involved work in partnership, exchange relevant information, share knowledge and expertise in order to safeguard children effectively.

Summary of Key Messages

To achieve the best outcomes for children and young people; to promote their welfare and safeguard them from harm, agencies need to work together. Children and young people’s needs and circumstances can be complex and it is only by agencies coming together and working collaboratively that we can achieve a holistic assessment of the child or young person within their family and community and ensure that they receive the services that they need.

Effective inter-agency working is dependent upon effective information sharing whether a child or young person needs some additional support (early intervention) or whether there are concerns that they are at risk of significant harm (safeguarding).

Click here for Information Sharing Guidance 2018

THE SEVEN GOLDEN RULES OF INFORMATION SHARING

Managing Allegations against Staff, Carers and Volunteers who work with Children and Young People

All Local Authorities have to have a Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) to be involved in the management and oversight of individual cases for dealing with allegations against people who work with children.

The Local AuthorityDesignated Officer will provide advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations, liaising with police and other agencies and monitoring the progress of cases to ensure they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent and fair process.

Organisations working with children should have in place clear policies in line with those from Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards for dealing with allegations against people who work with children.

An allegation may relate to a person who works with children who has:

Wolverhampton has now adopted the NEW West Midlands Regional Safeguarding Children procedures.

These cover:

• ​Statutory Child Protection Procedures - which would be the same wherever you are in England (Level A procedures)
• Regional Safeguarding Guidance - which apply across the whole of the West Midlands area (Level B procedures)
• Local Area Specific Safeguarding Information and Procedures - developed in Wolverhampton, and containing local contacts, processes and structures (Level C procedures)

To access the NEW Safeguarding Children procedures:

1. firstly, click on the image below or copy http://westmidlands.procedures.org.uk into your browser address bar
2. next  click on 'Wolverhampton' in the drop down list under the left hand menu -  this makes sure you are shown Wolverhampton's local (Level C) procedures
3. finally, click on 'contents' in either the top menu bar or the side menu

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National statutory guidance

Early Years Foundation Stage statutory guidance 2019

Female Genital Mutilation - Statutory Guidance 

One of the most important roles for any volunteer or employee is to be able to recognise abuse or neglect in the course of their everyday work. Sometimes, the signs are very obvious such as broken bones or cuts and bruises. However, sometimes the signs are a lot less easy to spot.

All adults working with children and young people need to be alert to signs of abuse or neglect and know how to respond appropriately (including knowing who in their organisation to share their concerns with and where appropraite, knowing how to ask relevant non-leading questions to see if there is a reasonable and consistent explanation for the signs observed).

Recognising Neglect

• Constant hunger - inc. scavenging for food
• Poor personal hygiene - inc being unwashed, body odour
• Poor state of clothing - poor fitting or inappropriate shoes, clothes too small, no suitable outdoor clothing
• Frequent lateness or non-attendance at school, etc
• Untreated injuries/medical problems

Recognising Physical Abuse

• Unexplained injuries or burns, particularly if they are recurrent
• Improbable excuses given to explain injuries
• Refusal to discuss injuries
• Untreated injuries
• Fear of parents being contacted
• Arms and legs kept covered – even in hot weather
• Fear of medical help

Recognising Emotional Abuse

• Over-reaction to mistakes
  Sudden speech disorders
  Neurotic behaviour e.g. rocking, hair-twisting, thumb sucking
  Self mutilation
  Extremes of passivity or aggression

Recognising Sexual Abuse

• Vivid details of sexual activity
• Compulsive masturbation
• Sexual drawings
• Sexualised play with explicit acts
• Soreness of genitalia or bottom

Once the abuse has been recognised, all staff need to know how to raise their concerns withn itheir organisations through their named safeguarding lead, and with Children's Social Care via the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub on 01902 555392.

Safer Recruitment:

All organisations engaging people in 'Regulated Activities' must have robust and transparent recruitment procedures in place to ensure children, young people and vulnerable adults are safeguarded and they should be familiar with the Local Safeguarding Children Board policies and procedures.

Before recruiting staff (whether paid or unpaid), the following should be considered:

 The application process should include the organisations commitment to safeguarding in for example the Job Description and any other documentation;

Thorough checks should be made of an applicant's identity, work history and references including any gaps in time;

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Child sexual exploitation can be hard to identify and a change in behaviour in a young person may often seem like normal teenage behaviour. But for some, these could be the signs of something far more serious.

It’s not always easy to know what young people are up to and abusers can be very clever in their manipulations.

A young person may feel they are in a loving relationship, while perpetrators will often seek to break the bond between the child and their family.

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Many young people will have access to or own the latest gadgets such as tablets, smart phones and games consoles.The internet and all it can offer, is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, however parents and carers need to be aware that it is possible for people who are unknown to children and young people to communicate with them via the internet.Some parents, carers or relatives might not realise that even games consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation are connected to the internet and can be used for communicating as well as playing games.

Click here for NetAware (NSPCC & O2) which helps parents to explore and understand online life as kids know it

Click here for NSPCC advice on how to talk to your child about the risks of online porn and sexually explicit material.

Click here for Childline information  to help a child  under 18 , remove  an explicit or nude image that has been shared online.

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Do you know a child being looked after by someone who is not a close relative?
If you do this is known as private fostering. Private fostering is defined as:

"when a child or young person under 16 years old (or 18 if they have a disability) is looked after by someone who is not a parent, close relative, guardian or person with parental responsibility for 28 days or more without the involvement of City of Wolverhampton Council."

Close relatives are defined as:

• Brothers and sisters     
• Aunts and uncles
• Grandparents
• Step-parents

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There are four recognised categories of child abuse: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Neglect and Sexual Abuse.

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Physical Abuse When an adult, child or young person deliberately hurts a child, such as hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning or suffocating.

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Key to our approach to supporting children and young people in Wolverhampton is a commitment to early help through a range of evidence based interventions. Early Help is a collaborative approach not a service and should not be confused with the Council's Early Intervention Service. Early Help and our Think Family approach go hand-in-hand.

Thresholds of Need and Support in Wolverhampton

This sets out the role and processes around universal support, single-agency Early Help, multi-agency Early Help, and support from specialist services. It also gives indications of the level of need that can be managed by each level of support.

The Thresholds document encourages conversations between practitioners both within their agency, amongst colleagues in Teams Around the Family (TAF), and with colleagues from agencies offering different levels of support.

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Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator. The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

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CSE Screening Tools and other resources to support work on CSE

Put simply, modern slavery or human trafficking is the movement of a person from one place to another (this could be country to country, town to town, or even as simple as one room in a building to another) into conditions of exploitation, using deception, coercion, abuse of power or the abuse of the person’s vulnerability. Even if a victim consents and is willing to be moved, trafficking could still be taking place.

It involves either the threat of harm or actual harm to the person themselves or their family.

It affects:

• both women / girls and men / boys
• UK nationals
• people trafficked from overseas

It includes forced labour, domestic servitude and human trafficking, debt bondage (or baonded labour), descent-based slavery, child slavery and forced or early marriage. See https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/ for more information.

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Signs to look out for and things to think about

• Secrets– If someone online asks you to keep secrets, think about why they would want you to do this? If it is because they don’ t want other people knowing about them being in contact with you, ask yourself why? Real friends wouldn’ t mind your parents /carers knowing that you are chatting to them.
• Attention & flattery - someone you don’ t know other than online, says lots of really nice things about you and how you look on your profile page. If someone starts doing this ask yourself – what do they really want?
• Sexy pictures– You might be told everyone does it, but ask yourself why do they really want a picture or film of me? What will they do with it? Will they share it with someone I don’ t know? Remember if you share a photo via the internet it can be shared with anyone without your knowledge or permission. If you are unsure don’t press send! Pictures and film can be used to threaten you and make you send more pictures or do other things that you are uncomfortable with. Don’ t share anything you wouldn’ t want your friends and family to see.
• Sexy talk– someone talking sexy or ‘ dirty’ with you; about what sexual things that they might like you to do, or that they might say they would like to do to or with you. Be careful if someone is very flirty with you or tries to get you to talk about sex or look at pornography – ask yourself, why are they doing this?
• Private chats– the person you have been talking to might ask you to start having private chat so that no-one else can see what you are talking about. If someone asks you to do this, ask yourself why do they need to talk privately with you?

1. Don’t post or give out personal information– such as your name, email, phone number, home address, and email address or school name – to people who you don’ t know in real life.
2. Never share images, send pictures or do anything on a webcam that you wouldn’ t want your family or friends to see.
3. When you share photographs online, including on profile pages, make sure that the location you are in can’t be identified. For instance make sure that the name of the road /house place you live at or local areas / landmarks and or car licence plates can’ t be seen by people you don’ t know.
4. Keep your online and phone privacy settings set to high. If you don’ t know how to do this ask an adult who you trust.
5. Don’t accept friend requests or chat to people who you don’t really know. Remember ‘ friends’ , who contact you, might not be who they say they are! People can use fake names, profiles and photos to make you think they are someone they’ re not.
6. Don’t agree to meet up with anyone who you have only spoken to online, and never meet someone in secret on your own, who you don’ t really know. If anyone suggests that you meet them, always tell your parent / carer, a teacher or an adult that you trust.
7. Remember to be careful about accepting e-mails, IM messages or opening files from people or names you don’t know or trust. These might contain viruses, pornographic images or nasty messages and might allow people you don’ t know to access your personal information
8. Make sure you know about the safety features on any networking site. Some, for example, have a ‘ panic button’ which you can press if you see something that shouldn't be there.
9. If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if someone asks you to do something that makes you feel the same, leave the website or stop the chat immediately and tell an adult you trust. This can be a parent, carer, relative, teacher, or you can contact any of the numbers below.