Cypcore33-1 Understand the Main Legislation, Guidelines, Policies and Procedures for Safeguarding Children and Young People.

Current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within Northern Ireland affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedure within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

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.

In order to not only promote the welfare of children within a setting but also to protect them from harm and abuse there are a number of pieces of legislation and statutory guidance that must be adhered to. Both laws and statutory guidance are mandatory and so legally enforceable and must act as a foundation of which policies and procedures within any setting can be based upon.

There are many policies and procedures within the UK that outline the current legislation and guidelines to help with safeguarding children and young people.

It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children – This means every single staff member within a setting; irrelevant of what role they may have there. This also includes non-staff members, such as volunteers, student’s third-party companies (visitors, service providers etc). Each setting should therefore adopt their own safeguarding policy, of which has to be kept up to date and followed at all times.

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

Any childcare setting should have clear policies and procedures that cover all aspects of safeguarding. This should include policies and procedures for:

A significant element of a practitioner’s role in protecting themselves would be to read policies and procedures that are put in place to safeguard them and children or young people in their care. In a care setting a professional can protect themselves by:

Analyze how national and local guidelines, policies, and procedures for safeguarding affect day-to-day work with children and young people.

The main current legislation guidelines policies and procedures within own UK home nation for safeguarding children and young people.

To be able to safeguard children effectively we need to be aware of the following policies:

Legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures affecting the safeguarding of children and young people would be:-

1. Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Children develop and learn best when they form good relationships with the adults in their care and when their individual needs are met. We must ensure that we keep all the children safe and secure when they are at the setting. We do this by following all policies and procedures including safety and safeguarding.