Safeguarding
What is Safeguarding?
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:
- protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
- preventing harm to children’s health or development
- ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
(From NSPCC)
Guidance for the Voluntary Sector
Voluntary and community organisations that work with children need to ensure they have a Safeguarding policy and procedure in place, as described in the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children‘ document This is to ensure that your group understands safeguarding processes, enabling you to work effectively with the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board.
SCVYS are working with SSCB to replace any reference to Working together 2018 with Working Together 2023. SCVYS appreciate your patience while this work is under way.
If, as an organisation you work in schools then you will also need to adhere to the Keeping Children Safe in Education legislation.
What is the Safeguarding Children Board?
The Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how local organisations will co-operate, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people living in Staffordshire.
It is an inter-agency forum for agreeing how the different services and professional groups should co-operate to safeguard children and for ensuring that arrangements work effectively, to promote better outcomes for children. SSCB membership includes:
• Staffordshire Police
• Health
• Staffordshire County Council
Where does SCVYS fit?
SCVYS represents the voluntary sector on the Staffordshire Safeguarding Scrutiny & Assurance Group which sits under the Safeguarding Board, our role is to advise and support the Board, disseminate information to the sector, raise emerging issues and ensure relevant, accessible training is available and a priority to our member groups.
SCVYS works closely with other voluntary sector representatives and NSPCC who provide a regional and national perspective from the sector.
SCVYS promotes good practice by ensuring members evidence a number of quality standards around safeguarding which are included within the SCVYS Safeguarding policy and procedure template including:
- Information on the responsibilities of a designated lead
- Guidance for staff and volunteers in terms of what to look for
- Recognising signs of abuse
- Who to refer to should a child be at risk of significant harm
- Code of conduct for workers
- How to deal with complaints
- Information for parents and carers.
SCVYS is also supporting the Safeguarding Children Partnership to consider the views and opinions of children and young people in setting its priorities.