There are a number of different organisations that may be involved when a young person or child has been abused or harmed. This includes health visitors, GP’s, the police, schools, the NSPCC, psychologists, school nurses and probation workers.
Health visitors have a vital role in protecting children from harm and abuse because they are one of the first to recognise children who are likely to be abused or neglected. They play a big part in all stages of a child protection process including case reviews. They support and guide parents of young children, provide developmental checks on children under the age of five, have contact with many multi agencies and they support the work of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB). They are trained to a high level to recognise any risks that the child might be in and also they will visit the children at home. They are in a position to gather information from very early on and therefore this enables them to start the process quite quickly when any signs or concerns of abuse or neglect are detected. The health visitor will need to have ongoing contact with the family if abuse or neglect is suspected. Health visitors should use their own judgement on when to share information with other agencies.
The role of a General Practitioner is to maintain their skills in recognising if a child is being abused or neglected. They need to follow all correct procedures if abuse or neglect is suspected. All GP’s should have regular training and
Often children die or get seriously injured due to abuse or avoidable accidents. Society has a duty to protect children. We have a range of professional organisations supported by legislation, policies and procedures in order to do this. When the procedures and policies do not work society has failed at the thing it is meant to do. It is vital and that the causes of failure are known and dealt with.
Section 47 of the Act places a duty upon local authorities to investigate such situations whereby 'there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering or likely to suffer harm'.
with all police and schools etc. Each organisation will do its own inquiry. The LSCB will conduct a serious review once a child dies or receive serious injuries from abuse or neglect. A serious case review is done to establish any lessons learnt and better inter agency communication. First steps will involve the schools polices which include contacting the police as there may be a criminal offence made. The school and police will also be in contact with the social services to establish if any information was missed to protect the child and what procedures
Your local authorityâ€TMs website will give you the details of who to contact about child abuse. The police Most examples of child abuse amount to criminal offences, for example,neglect of a child under 16, assault or rape. The abuser could be reported to the police and prosecuted. The police have a legal duty to: follow up any complaint or concern expressed about child abuse report their concerns to the local authority in serious cases, take a child away for 72 hours to keep the child safe.
GPs have a responsibility to listen to the child and not dismiss any concerns that they might have. Children usually do not have the courage to report the neglect that they are going through; however this legislation makes it possible for him to be protected without them having to do the reporting themselves. If any member of staff reports any signs of abuse that they have found on a child they will be helping the child in a way that they cannot do for themselves. The child will then have confidence to speak up about the abuse since they feel that they have the support of other
Practitioners and professionals working with children on a daily basis are in a good position to notice changes in a child's or young person’s behaviour which may be a possible sign of abuse. Children or young people may also confide in practitioners or allege that abuse has taken place.
As can be seen there are many different organisations involved when there is any suspicion that a child may have been abused or actually harmed.
Working Together to safeguard children 2015 is a statutory guidance and says ‘’specific duties in relation to children’s need and children suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.’’ (Gov.uk)
You should discuss your concerns with your manager, a named or designated professional or a designated member of staff. Such as; school staff (both teaching and non-teaching), concerns should be reported via the schools’ or colleges’ designated safeguarding lead. The safeguarding lead will usually decide whether to make a referral to children’s social care; for early years practitioners, the Early Years Foundation Stage sets out that providers should ensure that they have a practitioner who is designated to take a lead responsibility for safeguarding children who should liaise with local statutory children’s services agencies. Child minder’s should take that responsibility themselves and should notify children’s social care (and, in emergencies, the police) if they have concerns about the safety or welfare of a child; for health practitioners, all providers of NHS funded health services should identify a named doctor and a named nurse (and a named midwife if the organisation provides maternity services) for safeguarding. GP practices should
Health visitors have the responsibility to care for children’s health for the under 5’s. they will provide information to the parents and carry out assessments.
The organization under investigation is Child Protective Services, also referred to as CPS, which is an agency within the Department of Family and Protective Services. CPS is a governmental organization that has existed for years. The agency is designed to protect children from abuse and neglect. There are numerous cases that are called in on a daily basis in the state of Texas, and it is the duty of state employees to address all allegations in a timely manner. The positions held as a caseworker within the agency are either Investigator, Special Investigator, Family Based Safety Services Specialist, or Conservatorship Specialist. Due to the required work and deadlines involved with being a caseworker at CPS, the job can become very
Social worker in charge of particular cases of a suspected child maltreatment must initially complete a core assessment of the child and his family's situation. This process is crucial for planning of an intervention with a positive outcome (Parker and Bradley, 2003). In the assessment, under the ecological model, the practitioner must recognise different systems, such as the child, family or neighbours, and surrounding environments. If the assessment asserts that a child fits a category of a child in need within these systems, defined in the Children Act 1989 as a child 'unlikely to achieve or maintain (...) a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority' (Children Act, 1989, section 17), the social worker must organise a form of an intervention. He or she must assess which part of the environment requires a change, and where are stress factors negatively affecting the child and the family. At the same time, the child should be given resources, and a certain level of autonomy, and to be treated as the centre of the assessment (Teater, 2010). In the ecological perspective, it might be easier for the social worker to relate to the adults' needs (Davies and Davies, 2011). However, the focus of the assessment should be child-centred, protecting the child's health and wellbeing (Every Child Matters, 2004)(Department of Education, 2011).
n this circumstance, the requirements of community workers with regards to client confidentiality may conflict with the mandatory reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect. For example, if you have a client who is a young person under the age of 18 years and they disclose to you that they have been sexually abused by their uncle since they were 12 years of age, the information they are disclosing is confidential but you may also be required under mandatory reporting laws to notify the relevant child protection agency. In circumstances such as this, where the code of practice conflicts with the law it is important for professionals to seek advice from their relevant governing body and if necessary, legal advice. In this circumstance you may be found to have a legal duty of care for your young client and you may be found to have breached your duty of care if you do not report suspected child abuse or neglect. In all cases, you should be aware of the ethical and legal requirements of your profession and these should be made clear to your clients at the start of the therapeutic relationship. This is particularly important for issues surrounding confidentiality and the limits of confidentiality.
For 30 years, advocates, program administrators, and politicians have joined to encourage even more reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Their efforts have been successful, with about three million cases of suspected child abuse having been reported in 1993. Large numbers of endangered children still go unreported, but a serious problem had developed: Upon investigation, as many as 65 percent or the reports now being made are determined to be "unsubstantiated", raising serious civil liberties concerns and placing a huge burden on investigative staffs.
Of the four researchers involved in this study, two obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) and the remaining two a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD). Qualifications were met by each researcher for this study. The title, “How Childcare Providers Interpret ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ of Child Abuse”, is appropriate for the described study. The title implies a research on the interpretation of child abuse by medical professionals and what they constitute as reasonable suspicion to report as abuse; the article follows this idea. The abstract gives a comprehensive, yet precise, idea of the study and allows a new