Summarise The Importance Of Legislation For Children

Through this Act some key provisions introduced; Children’s Trusts were created, Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCB) were set up and all agencies had a duty to safeguard and promote child

There are many legislations and guidelines affecting safeguarding of children and young people. The Children Act 1989, assigns duties to local authorities, courts, parents and other agencies to ensure children are safeguarded, their welfare promoted and for children to be consulted in decisions affecting them. The Children's Act 2004 made amendments to the act of 1989 after the failings regarding Victoria Climbe. It places duty on local authorities to work together and share information introducing local Safeguarding Boards to work collaboratively to safeguard children and young people. This includes the five outcomes of Every Child Matters 2003. The Childcare Act 0f 2006 introduced plans for children aged 0-5 to

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-

Current legislation is the result of The children Act 1989 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and was clear about their responsibility’s and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made.Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded.The Laming report led to the governments Every Child Matters paper and The Children Act 2004. In the last year this has now been renamed Every

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

Lord lemmings report on the death of Victoria Climbie brought into force the children act 2004 which requires all local authorities across England and Wales to set up a local safeguarding children board. This states that each area should promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people. LSCB replaced the Area Child Protection Committees and stated all agencies should work together to protect children. An assessment is carried out annually to make sure all agencies are working to promote safeguarding and welfare of children. EVERY CHILD MATTERS.

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

Polices and procedures for safeguarding and child protection in England and Wales are the result of the Children Act 1989 and in Northern Ireland of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. The Children Act 2004 introduced further changes to the way the child protection system is structured and organised in England and Wales.

This Act, which regulates the childcare in England, formalise the important strategic role of local authorities play through a set of duties. These duties require

The idea behind the Act is to promote (co-ordination between multiple official entities to improve the overall well-being of children. The 2004 Act also specifically provided for including and affecting disabled children. The Act places a duty on local authorities and their partners (including the police, health service providers and the youth justice system) to co-operate in promoting the wellbeing of children and young people and to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Measures came into force on the 1st April 2017 to ensure that public authorities take account of children’s rights and wellbeing in fulfilling their functions. The Children and Young People Act (Scotland) 2014 replaced the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. In creating this act, the Scottish Government has attempted to strengthen the rights of Children and Young People in Scotland by encouraging workers and public bodies to think about these rights and how they affect the child. Duties under this act require specific public authorities to do a report every 3 years on the steps taken to secure a better

The Children’s Act 2004 revised but does not replace Children’s Act 1989. The Act presents a legislative foundation which covers universal services in which every child can access, in addition to more targeted services for those children with added needs. The main aim of the Act is to promote a multi-discipline working including integrated planning, commissioning and provision of services, in addition to increasing accountability and improving the organisation of individual and joint services within the local authority.