Essential Safeguards for Children Living Away From Home
Working Together (Paragraph 11.5) identifies the following as essential safeguards:
- children feel valued and respected and their self-esteem is promoted
- there is an openness on the part of the institution to the external world and to external scrutiny, including contact with families and the wider community
- staff and foster carers are trained in all aspects of safeguarding children, alert to children’s vulnerabilities and risks of harm, and knowledgeable about how to implement safeguarding children procedures
- children who live away from home are listened to, and their views and concerns responded to
- children have ready access to a trusted adult outside the institution – e.g. a family member, the child’s social worker, independent visitor or children’s advocate. Children should be made aware of the help they could receive from independent advocacy services, external mentors and ChildLine
- staff recognise the importance of ascertaining the wishes and feelings of children and understand how individual children communicate by verbal or non-verbal means
- there are clear procedures for referring safeguarding concerns about a child to the relevant local authority (LA)
- complaints procedures are clear, effective, user-friendly and are readily accessible to children and young people, including those with disabilities and those for whom English is not their preferred language. Procedures should address informal as well as formal complaints. Systems that do not promote open communication about ‘minor’ complaints will not be responsive to major ones, and a pattern of ‘minor’ complaints may indicate more deeply seated problems in management and culture that need to be addressed. Records of complaints should be kept by providers of children’s services – e.g. there should be a complaints register in every children’s home that records all representations or complaints, the action taken to address them and the outcomes. Children should genuinely be able to raise concerns and make suggestions for changes and improvements, which should be taken seriously
- bullying is effectively countered
- recruitment and selection procedures are rigorous and create a high threshold of entry to deter abusers
- there is effective supervision and support that extends to temporary staff and volunteers
- contractor staff are effectively checked and supervised when on site or in contact with children
- clear procedures and support systems are in place for dealing with expressions of concern by staff and carers about other staff or carers. Organisations should have a code of conduct, instructing staff on their duty to their employer and their professional obligation to raise legitimate concerns about the conduct of colleagues or managers. There should be a guarantee that procedures can be invoked in ways that do not prejudice the ‘whistle-blower’s’ own position and prospects
- there is respect for diversity, and sensitivity to race, culture, religion, gender, sexuality and disability
- staff and carers are alert to the risks of harm to children in the external environment from people prepared to exploit the additional vulnerability of children living away from home.