Child
Protection Policy
Aim of policy
To
protect the welfare of every child in our care.
We
aim to comply with the local child protection procedures approved by the Surrey
Safeguarding Children Board and make sure that all adults working with, and
looking after children are able to put these procedures into practice.
The
current Surrey Safeguarding Board procedures manual is available at:
Points to consider
The following policies should be used alongside the
Child Protection policy to form a full safeguarding procedure:
·
Child
Protection/ Safeguarding
·
Current
safeguarding training
·
Suitable
people
·
Whistle
Blowing
·
Social
Networking
·
The Mobile phone and using images policy
·
Anti-bullying
policy
·
Lost/missing child policy
·
Late/non collection of child
·
Arrival and departure procedure
·
Non-attendance policy
·
Intoxicated persons policy
·
Multi agency working
and information sharing policy
·
Confidentiality
policy
If we have
a concern about a child we will share these concerns with parents/carers.
However, if sharing these concerns puts the child at risk of significant or
further harm we will seek advice from the duty manager at Surrey County
Council’s Safeguarding team
Child Protection/
Safeguarding
When starting at the Nursery we record the following information for
each child:
·
Child’s name
·
Child’s address/es
·
Gender
·
Date of birth
·
People with parental responsibility
·
Legal contacts
·
Who the child normally lives with
·
Any other setting the child attends
·
If a EHA, Early Help Assessment, formally known as
a Common Assessment Framework CAF, has ever been done on the child.
The Manager is responsible for ensuring this information is updated
annually.
Information relating to individual children with regards to child protection
concerns or cases will be kept in a secure location with access limited to
those deemed suitable.
Child protection is an extremely sensitive and complex area. However, during the course of their work,
staff may be concerned about a child’s welfare.
All agencies that work with children have a duty and responsibility to
report and assist in child protection investigations.
Identification of child abuse is difficult and will normally be a
combination of both social and medical assessment. No list of signs or symptoms can be
exhaustive. The following are for
guidance only. It must be remembered
that alternative medical or social explanations may exist for the problems
listed here. However, if anyone has a concern about a child, they must report it to
the Manager (or Duty Manager) so a referral can be made.
It would be normal to look for evidence of abuse in 2 categories:
·
Physical signs
·
Behavioural symptoms
Signs
and symptoms
Significant harm can be the result of:
1. Neglect
2. Physical abuse
3. Sexual abuse
4. Emotional abuse
1. Neglect
Neglect
results from failure to meet basic needs of the child. This may include failure to provide food,
warmth, clothing or consistent caring.
Signs and
symptoms may include:
·
Inappropriate or inadequate clothing
·
Poor hygiene
·
Developmental delay, poor speech and play skills
·
A child whose parents persistently fail to seek or
follow medical advice
·
Some cases of failure to thrive have a basis of
neglect
·
A child whose parents persistently fail to ensure
the child’s safety
2. Physical abuse
Most
injuries to children are accidental and can be explained.
Factors
associated with injuries, which may arouse suspicion that they are not
accidental, may include:
·
Where the explanation is not consistent with the
injury or with the stage of development of the child
·
Where there are changes of explanation or no
explanation
·
Where there is a history of frequently repeated
injury
·
Where there has been considerable delay in seeking
medical advice
·
Where there are bruises of different ages on the
child at any one time, other than on the common sites of accidental injury in a
child of that age (e.g. on shins and forehead)
·
Where there is facial bruising, other than over the
bony prominences, particularly around the mouth, eyes or ears
·
Where there are unexplained burns, bite marks,
severe bruising or any combination of these
·
Where there are bruises on the buttocks or thighs
·
Any bruising in a baby not yet mobile, reluctance
to move limbs or tenderness on handling
3. Sexual abuse
While
there are many signs associated with sexual abuse, many of these are also
associated with other problems. It is
rare for sexual abuse to be recognised by one symptom rather it is a matter of
developing a full picture of the child.
A child who is or has been sexually abused does not always display
behavioural disturbance.
Factors
that may arouse suspicion of sexual abuse may include:
·
Over sexualised behaviour
·
Sexual awareness and knowledge in advance of
developmental age
·
Withdrawn behaviour
·
Drawings or play activity which are explicitly
sexual
·
Compulsive masturbation
·
Wetting and soiling (once toilet trained)
·
Recurrent urinary tract infections
·
Sexually transmitted disease
·
Genital or anal inflammation or irritation
·
Genital or anal bleeding or lacerations
·
Change in behaviour
·
Anxiety during nappy or toileting times
4. Emotional abuse
There is
an element of emotional abuse in all forms of abuse, but some children may be
very well physically cared for whilst being emotionally abused. An emotionally abused child may be subjected
to constant criticism and scapegoating.
There may on the one hand be continuous withholding of approval and
affection, accompanied by severe discipline, or on the other hand a total lack
of appropriate control. Alternatively a
child may be exploited to fulfil the parents’ emotional needs.
The child may:
·
Have an impaired ability for enjoyment and play
·
Lack curiosity and natural exploratory behaviour
·
Be delayed in language development and play skills
·
Have low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness
·
Show eating disturbances or growth failure
If you suspect abuse you must
follow the relevant policies and flow chart on page 12
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