Safeguarding Children

This training course is designed to provide learners with an awareness of the legislation and an understanding of their role in relation to child protection. It covers important areas such as abuse and neglect, alerting and disclosure, assessing risk and sharing information. The aims and purpose of the Every Child Matters policy are covered, as are those of the Common Assessment Framework. Four in-depth case studies in the final unit round off the course which also contains several scenarios in other units.

CPD Certificate: 5 hours

Unit Titles and Descriptions

Unit 1 - How to Use the Course

Unit 2 - Basic Principals
This unit provides learners with the Government's official definition of the term 'safeguarding children' and provides learners with a clear understanding of the principles of safeguarding. After completing this unit learners will know what they can do to help ensure these principles are applied in their professional and domestic roles.

Unit 3 - What to do
Completing this unit helps learners understand how to decide on the best course of action if they suspect a child may have been abused and how they should deal with disclosure. Learners will understand that procedures will depend on local protocols although there are some key principles underpinning all reporting procedure. The unit concludes by providing guidance on what should be done when their is a suspicion that abuse has occurred or is still taking place.

Unit 4 - Introduction to the Common Assessment Framework
This unit sets the scene for the use of the CAF, presents the main principles and key aims, and covers the context for and rationale behind its introduction. The unit explains that wherever possible, it is better to prevent problems developing rather than dealing with a crisis after it has arisen. After completing this unit learners will understand that for this approach to be feasible, there needs to be particular emphasis on skilled support for parents and carers at the first point of concern, along with recognition of the value of early intervention and preventative support services.

Unit 5 - Sharing Information
This unit emphasises the importance of sharing information as a vital part of the overall Integrated Working strategy and the drive to meet the five key outcomes of Every Child Matters. The unit investigates real life case studies to explain why effective information sharing is so important to ensure children and young people with additional needs are identified at an early stage. The unit concludes by providing guidance on how to balance the need for sharing information with the right to privacy for children and families.

Unit 6 - Case Studies
This unit can be used in three main ways:

• as the basis for staff training sessions
• for individual learning and continuing professional development
• as a day-to-day reference for staff.

The unit contains four scenarios that require learners to make decisions about safeguarding children; in each case, there are clear concerns about their welfare. Learners are required to read the descriptions and see what all the characters have to say by clicking on them. Once they have all the relevant information, learners are asked to decide on the course of action they should take.

There are specific learning objectives for each unit. Amongst other outcomes, students will be able to:

• Describe the four principal types of child abuse and identify their signs and symptoms
• Identify the underlying factors which increase the likelihood of abuse
• List the three principle Acts providing the legal framework for child protection
• Give reasons for the difficulties in obtaining information from children
• Identify the particular vulnerability of children with additional needs
• Define ‘alerting’ and describe the role of the alerter
• Record and report on cases of abuse or concerns about abuse
• Explain the benefits of the standardized approach of the CAF
• Explain why information sharing is important and where it fits with integrated Working processes
• Deal appropriately with disclosure by a child
• Advise a child what to do in potential risk situations.

A Safeguarding Adults course is also available.