Child welfare policies and initiatives target the care, health and well-being of children. There is no single piece of legislation that covers children’s right, but rather a multitude of laws and guidance that are continually amended, updated and revoked. Most of policies and procedures for Safeguarding and Child Protection are the result of the Children Act 1989.
Legislation and guidelines related to safeguarding children and young people
Children Act 1989
The aim of this act is to simplify the laws, which protect children and young people in the UK. It provided details on children’s rights and protection, and also states that any individual who comes into contact with children and their families in their daily work, even if they don’t
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Schools use this guidance to develop their own policy and procedures which must be followed. Two of these are listed below
Working together to safeguard children (2015)
A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
The Department for Education published an updated version of the key statutory guidance for anyone working with children in England in March 2015. It sets out how organisations and individuals should work together and how practitioners should conduct the assessment of children. This latest guidance updates the previous version published in 2013. Which includes following changes:
• Referral of allegations against those who work with children
• Clarification of requirements on local authorities to notify serious incidents
• A definition of serious harm for the purposes of serious case reviews.
It also incorporates legislation and statutory guidance published over the last two years.
This release is one of a draft of new and updated guidance released by the Department for Education in recent days. Further amendments include the specification that LSCBs, local authorities and their partners should be commissioning and providing services for children at risk of sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and