The Implications of Current Child Policy for the Welfare of Children

1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedure within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

There are a number of legislations which address the needs of young people leaving care with provisions that are in place to help them through life transitions. The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 focuses on older young people and those who are leaving care. Providing the necessary legislative support to improve the care system in England. Ensuring that stability and continuity in every aspect of a child's care. This act proposed to reform the statutory framework for the care system involving children and young people as much as possible regarding decision making, giving them a voice so that they are heard. Resulting in the improvement of care standards.

Children Act 2006 – Is an Act that defines the new duties imposed on the Local Authorities in respect to improving the Every Child Matters outcomes for pre-school children. The Act also defines new rules in relation to childcare for working parents as well as parental information services. It is aimed at improving the well-being of young children. It emphasises the importance of safeguarding children and young people within an educational setting. If a child discloses neglect or abuse; an establishment should have instructions to help the child. This could be referral to an outside organisation or internally.

Children Act 1989 – Determines the duty of early year’s practitioners to identify and meet the separate and distinctive needs of children and to keep them safe. It initiated the belief that the child ought to be at the centre of planning and that a child’s well-being and safety are vital when judgements are made concerning them. This act also recognises the accountabilities of parents in keeping their offspring safe. In this act there are two particular segments that relate to the duty of local authority with concern to child protection, these are-

Following these proposals from Lord Laming, there have been developments in legislation and policy, which involve children’s welfare, one of which was the Green Paper of Every Child Matters (ECM) (DfES, 2003), a pre legislative document from the government of the day. This built upon existing plans to strengthen preventative services using the four key themes of: support, early intervention, problems addressed in the Victoria Climbie case and ensuring adults working with children are trained. The ECM Green Paper was the basis of a consultation between professionals, parents, cares and children about how the services for young people were working. Following from this, the government developed and parliament passed the Children Act

Children Act 1989 – Protecting children’s welfare and to provide services according to the specific needs of children.

Identify the current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.

Child Act 1989- “the Children Act 1989 aimed to ensure that the welfare of the child was paramount, working in partnership with parents to protect the child from harm” http://www.careandthelaw.org.uk/eng/b_section2 appendix 3

Children’s Act 1989: Identifies the responsibilities of parents and professionals who must work to ensure the safety and welfare of the child/young person. Two important sections included in the act are:

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people

More than ever, Child protection is a topical issue. That’s why many years ago the British government, aware of the fragility and vulnerability of children to adults, has implemented a number of laws relating to children and young people in the UK. These laws are made to define the inherent right of children, and also to define the implication of their rights for all those responsible of or using any childhood services; but more specifically what we will see through the legislation concerning the rights of children, is how they may impact the work of childcarers, how they can

1.1- Outline the current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people-

There has been certain legislation in the United Kingdom along with home policies and procedures that affect the safeguarding of children and young people. Policies and procedures for safeguarding and child protection in England and Wales are the result of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 brought more changes that affected the way the child protection system works here in the United Kingdom and so affecting the safeguarding of children and young people. Through the protection policies and procedures for safeguarding children and young people, settings which work with children and young people have an important role in the

The second account of a changing stance toward children’s rights was evolution alongside women’s rights. Before this time, women and children were seen as unimportant under the law, whereas a father was given almost total control over all matters regarding his wife and children. If a father was violent or neglectful, society simply turned their shoulder to it. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, laws pertaining to the family system began to change. A new law recognized the equal rights of fathers and mothers with the mother’s rights reigning over the fathers in regards to the children. Also, the legal system began viewing children as important to the future of society, therefore “appropriate objects of the court’s