Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
• protecting children from maltreatment;
• preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE): The sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive “something” (e.g., food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of their performing, and/or another or others performing on them, sexual activities
Child Protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
Staff refers to all those working for or on behalf of the academy, full or part time, temporary or permanent, in either a paid or voluntary capacity.
Parents: Refers to birth parents and other adults who are in a parenting role, for example step-parents, foster carers and adoptive parents.
Abuse A form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others (e.g. via the internet). They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children. (Definition provided by Working Together 2015)
Child: Anyone under 18 years of age. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently or is in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital or in custody in the secure estate, does not change his/her status or entitlements to services or protection
Barking and Dagenham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (BDSCP): These are a statutory bodies established in each local authority area under Section 14 of the Children Act 2004. The purpose of BDSCPs is:
• to coordinate what is done by each person or body represented on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area; and
• to ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or body for those purposes.
Referral: A request for services to be provided by a local authority. A case can become current only after a referral has been made.
Early Help providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years. It is about providing support quickly whenever difficulties emerge to reduce the impact of problems.
Duty Team: A social work team providing an out of hours social care service for the county.
Read our Safeguarding Child Protection Strategy
- Educate against hate – https://educateagainsthate.com/
- ThinkUKnow – https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
- NSPCC Talking to children about terrorism – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/dedicated-helplines/protecting-children-from-radicalisation/
- Parentzone – https://www.parents.parentzone.org.uk/
- Ineqe Safeguarding group – https://ineqe.com/safeguarding-hub/
- BBC Newsround – https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround
- Simple Politics – https://www.simplepolitics.co.uk/