The Importance Of Cross-Examining Children

* Confidentiality – Parents/carers must give consent for information to be collected and stored about their child and they should be able to access this freely. If information needed to be shared with other professionals, signed consent needs to be gained from the parent/carer with the exception of cases where it is believed a child is in immediate and significant harm. All information recorded must be securely stored so it is not freely accessible

Verbal questioning can be used to gauge the learner’s knowledge, the questions could be rephrased if the learner did not understand the question and also gives the opportunity to expand on questioning. Some learners may find verbal questions intimidating. Video evidence would have to be used as there would be no real evidence, some learners may not take well to this.

One of the most interesting parts of this chapter was the section regarding child testimony in court. It mentioned a study by Myers et. al (1999) that questioned 248 jurors regarding child testimony and adult hearsay testimony. Jurors tend to find adult hearsay witnesses more consistent and credible than the child witnesses, most likely because adults can give more thorough, confident responses to questions asked of them by attorneys. This makes sense to me because most people understand that a child does not always fully comprehend their situation or understand what is being asked of them, especially in a legal setting. It can be hard to have them relive these traumatic experiences and expect the children to provide

For child protection to work effectively we must ensure we have good inter relationships with other agencies and good co-operation from professionals that are competent in responding to child protection situations. A procedure for recording concerns and incidents if a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare; We must make a record of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to a safeguarding officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidential and separated from pupil’s records. Guidance on confidentiality and sharing; the head teacher or safeguarding officer will only disclose personal information concerning a child to other members of staff on a need to know basis, however all staff must be aware that they have a responsibility to share information with other agencies.

Practitioners have a legal duty of confidence with regards to person information that they hold about children young people and their families. Any information you receive about young people and their families. In my work setting information should only be shared with professionals, all information child protection records should be kept securely. These are kept behind the manager’s desk on a tall shelf so that children can’t access them. Personal information should only be disclosed to third parties such as social services after obtaining the consent to who the information relates to in some child protection matters but it may not be possible to obtain consent. The data protection act 1998 allow allegation without consent in some circumstances for example to detect and prevent crime, to apprehend prosecute and offender.

Assumptions or opinions should never be recorded and practitioners should ensure that they only include relevant information. All records must be kept in a secure, lockable storage compartment and must remain confidential on a 'need to know' basis; this is in compliance with the Data Protection Act. This means that only adults directly involved in working with the child should have access to their records.

This act aims to simplify the laws that protected children and young people in the UK. This makes it clear to all who work with children what their duties are and how they should work together in the event of allegations of child abuse.

Case study: Paul is 10 years old. His teachers that he might be suffering from abuse at home have reported it to the Local authority. He will be starting secondary school in a month’s time. The local authority is due to put him in care temporarily whilst investigations take place.

The aim of this act is to simplify the laws that are already in place, which protect children and young people in the UK. It was seen as a “serious shake up” of children’s rights and protection, and also made it clear what the duties are for all who work with children and young people and how they should work as a team in the event of a child abuse allegation.

When assessing a child you must be careful to take into account confidentiality before carrying out an observation you must have parents and the settings permission and not to leave confidential material lying around they must be secured in a locked cabinet. Only talk to authorized personal about

* To decide if the child is in need ( Section 17(1) of the Children Act 1989 states that it shall be the

Respecting confidentiality and sharing information: seeking agreement to share information that is relevant and proportionate while safeguarding children and young people's right to confidentiality as defined in the DPA and in line with local policys

If an assessment exists and/or other practitioners are working with the child or young person, with the consent of the child or young

An unannounced monitoring inspection was conducted on 1/6/2016. I arrived at the operation which is located at 3422 Richmond Rd, Texarkana about 12:57 pm. I was greeted by Comekia Island, the person in charge while director was at lunch. I handed her business card and then explained the purpose of my inspection and reviewed the subchapters I would be observing. Roshonda Epps the director arrived approximately a hour later. When Epps arrived I handed her business card and then explained the purpose of my inspection and reviewed the subchapters I would be observing.

Second, we must look at the affects of being a witness not only on the legal system but also on the child as an individual. Children could be further traumatized emotionally and physically by involvement as a witness. Finally, we need to closely look at how the legal system is set up and how well children fit into this system. Are witness procedures set up in a way that children can understand and accurately give their testimony? These are the things that need to be looked at closely to determine if children can be reliable and credible witnesses in court.