The legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety

The Children Act 1989 – This act identifies about the parents and professionals different responsibilities to make sure the safety of the child. It focuses on the child protection that gives the Local authority to investigate if they suspect that the child is suffering. And the services as well to promote the welfare of the children in need within the area.

The Children Act 2004 – This provides the legal framework for Every Child Matters. This act aims to improve and integrate children’s services and assessment of children’s needs. And establishes shared data information which is a very relevant database to welfare and safety of the children and young people.

The Education Act 2002 – Responsibilities of Local Education Authorities, the role of all those working in schools in protecting the children from any harm and abuse.

Every school created policies that prioritise the safety & security of their students. They indicate the responsibilities of staff and the procedures that they must follow. It covers about the issue of safeguarding, procedures for reporting, e-safety, bullying, including cyber-bullying as well.

And the Department for Education (DfE) provides guidance for local authorities like schools to develop their own policy and procedures which must be strictly followed. Two of these are:

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 -This is the guidance that set out on how the organisations and agencies to work together to promote the welfare of the children.

What To Do If You’re Worried That A Child is Being Abused (2006)- this is also the guidance to those who involved with the children and families in everyday basis of their lives including other practitioners who has no definite role of safeguarding the children, to be concern in promoting welfare that protects the children from any harm and the avoidance to aggravate the abuse.

Describe the roles of different agencies involved in safeguarding the welfare of children and young people

The safety and welfare of the children is highly depend on how the different agencies work together to achieve their main goal. They must work hand-in-hand without any delay to save the children from any form of abuse.

Education-Schools/Colleges – they are responsible to be more conscious and aware about the proper behaviour of the child including the use of the new way of surfing

like internet and observation of the different signs of abuse. The school must also provide a relevant professional training about the knowledge in safeguarding, security systems for e-learning applications. It’s very essential for the school to know how to protect and support who is known to be in a greater risk of abuse and by monitoring and keeping the records, the other agencies could get more information to the child related to the specific situation.

Children’s Social Care – they work in partnership with the parents and other agencies, they decide the action to take if there is the risk of abuse or harm on the child by doing an initial assessment of the child, conduct interviews to the parents as well and gathering all the related information from other agencies.

Police – They have a Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) that works closely to the Children’s Social Care, they are responsible for criminal investigation if the decision is the crime had been committed, their role is to gather relative information to the different agencies and the people involved on this case and testify in the court about the crime. They can also take an immediate action if the child is in a very critical situation.

Health Professionals – When the GP’s and Doctors suspect that their examination to the injuries of the child is non-accidental they need to inform the Children’s Social Care that it might be a result of an abuse. They need to continue to have a medical examination to the child; they could also give medical information as evidence in the court if the crime has been in a final decision that it is committed.

The National Society for The Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)-provides different ways to stop the cruelty to the Children in UK. They provide services to the children and families who have experienced, or on the risk of abused, and they created the ChildLine for children who needs advice and support. And a helpline for general enquiries of an adults who is concerned about the protection of the child. And also NSPCC creates a campaign or an advertisement to raise the consciousness regarding on how to end any form of abusive acts to children. They also have a various connections to work and share with different organisations and professional groups in protecting the children and they have given a statutory power.

E-Safety- The internet has become a very useful tool in everyday life that has an easy access from the computer, mobile phone and other technology devices. The term E-safety is concerned about safeguarding and ensuring the children in accessing the world of digital and new technology. In 2008 The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) was launched to develop an awareness strategy for internet safety in protecting the children from any inappropriate websites & illegal activities.

The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) - The board were established by the Children Act 2004, the key system in a partnership working together in every locality of the country to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children, they review, coordinate, and oversee efforts to improve services in safeguarding children activities in different agencies that they partner & work with.