Safeguarding Children and Referring Safeguarding Concerns
Scope of this chapter
This chapter explains the procedure to be followed where there are concerns that a child placed with you has suffered, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.
You should have been made aware of these procedures for responding to concerns about the safety of a child, and these procedures must be followed in all cases. You should have up to date training in place around how to prevent, recognise and respond to allegation of abuse and neglect.
Standards and Regulations
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011:
- Regulation 11 - Independent fostering agencies—duty to secure welfare.
- Regulation 12 - Arrangements for the protection of children.
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards
Related guidance
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and, in particular protecting them from abuse and harm, is everyone's responsibility and relies on effective joint working between foster carers, and relevant agencies and practitioners.
The Fostering Service is committed to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of children who are placed in our care, so that they can experience a healthy and happy childhood free from abuse and neglect.
The local authority has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, and to investigate and take action as necessary to protect children when there are concerns that they have been abused or neglected.
You have a responsibility to report any concerns of abuse or neglect and to take all allegations seriously and report them to the local Safeguarding team and follow the advice given.
If it is an emergency situation then the police will need to be called. The child’s social worker should be contacted without delay, and if it is out of hours then the Emergency Duty Team should be contacted on 01483 517898. You should also talk to your supervising social worker, or the fostering out of hours service as soon as you can.
The procedures in this chapter are mandatory and any failure to comply with them will be addressed through appropriate procedures.
The Fostering Service will ensure that arrangements are made for you and children placed by the Fostering Service to be provided with contact details for the child’s social worker.
All foster carers have to complete mandatory safeguarding training which helps you recognise abuse, understand what to do to safeguard children and how to respond.
Children should feel and be safe, understand how to protect themselves and be protected from significant harm, including (but not limited to) neglect, abuse, sexual and criminal exploitation, accidents, bullying, self-harm, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, homophobic behaviour, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and radicalisation. Any discriminatory behaviours must be challenged, and help and support given to children about how to treat others with respect.
When children raise concerns, it is essential that you listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond and report appropriately.
Good care and placement planning should ensure that any risks associated with children such as offending, misusing drugs or alcohol, self-harming, going missing, being affiliated with gangs, being subject to sexual or criminal exploitation, extremism or radicalism are known and understood by you. Plans should be in place to identify and manage the risk of harm.
You must actively safeguard and promote the welfare of foster children. You must make positive relationships with children, generate a culture of openness and trust and be aware of and alert to any signs or symptoms that might indicate a child is at risk of harm. Training is provided on appropriate safer-care practice, including skills to care for children who have been abused. For foster carers who offer placements to disabled children, this includes training specifically on issues affecting disabled children. See also: Children with a Disability and those with Complex Health Needs.
Children must be helped to understand how to keep themselves safe, including when outside of the household or when using the internet or social media see Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure and Extremism and Radicalisation Procedure.
Proactive and creative safeguarding practice means that all children, including the most vulnerable, develop a strong sense of safety and well-being which reduces the risk of them being missing from care on a regular basis. Children who do go missing should experience well-coordinated responses that reduce the harm or risk of harm to them, risks are well understood and minimised, there is a clear plan of urgent action in place to protect them and to reduce further harm or risk of harm. See Missing Children Procedure.
As a foster carer, you should be prepared through training and support to manage situations and behaviour, and provide clear and consistent boundaries which contribute to a feeling of well-being and security for children. Children should be involved in creating ways to de-escalate situations and finding creative alternative strategies that are effective. See Positive Relationships and Behaviour Management Procedure.
Children must be supported to take age-appropriate risks, as a normal part of growing up, that are considered by you, placing social workers (as appropriate) and the children themselves. The Fostering Service implements a proportionate approach to risk assessments to ensure that these work in practice, are fit for purpose and provide enough information to all relevant people so that they can care for the children safely and appropriately. Individual up-to-date risk assessments must address any known vulnerabilities for each child effectively and set out what action should be taken to address and minimise the risks and reduce harm or the risk of harm (see Risk Assessment and Planning).
You and the Fostering Service must work effectively in partnership with other agencies concerned with child protection and have good links with these agencies, e.g. the child’s social work team, schools, hospitals, general practitioners, etc., and do not work in isolation from them.
Allegations or suspicion of harm must be shared with the child’s social worker (and police in an emergency) and be handled fairly, quickly and in accordance with statutory guidance. Children must be supported and protected. Support must be given both to the person making the allegation and the person who is the subject of the allegation. The Fostering Service makes sensitive and carefully assessed decisions if children need to be removed from carers if a carer is subject to an allegation (see What happens if an allegation is made against me or my family?).
If you have any child protection concerns, you must immediately tell the child’s social worker and a record of that referral be retained.
Outside office hours, the Emergency Duty Team should be contacted.
Allegations that another child, a visitor, a person in the community, teacher, social worker, parent or any other person has harmed the child should also be reported to, your Supervising Social Worker or the fostering Out of Hours Service.
Where a concern or allegation about historical or non-recent abuse is made this must still also be shared with the child's allocated social worker and your Supervising Social Worker - there should not be an assumption that the concern has been dealt with.
All actions should be recorded in full by you.
Where there is an immediate risk to a child, you must take the immediate necessary steps to protect the child, which may include calling the Emergency Services e.g. the Police or Ambulance Service.
If the child is taken to hospital or the Police are called, you must inform them of any concerns in relation to possible abuse or neglect.
Wherever possible, the child's allocated social worker and the carer's Supervising Social Worker should be contacted as soon as you become aware of the child's need for emergency attention. However you should not delay taking action in order to do so. If the child's allocated social worker and your Supervising Social Worker is not contacted before the Emergency Services are called, they should be notified as soon as practicable afterwards.
All actions should be recorded in full by you.
Children rarely lie about being seriously abused. It is difficult for them to talk about it and when they do, the adult who they are trusting must listen attentively to their story. Often, the effect that the abuse has on them in later life depends on the reaction of the person they told first.
So, it is vital that you:
- Listen to the child;
- Be careful not to ask leading questions. A good suggestion is to simply ask “what happened next?”
- Reassure them that it is not their fault;
- Tell them that they are brave to talk about it;
- Tell the child that action will be taken to protect them.
The child may ask that you keep what they have told you confidential. It is impossible to agree to this so it may be helpful to say before the child starts that you can’t keep it a secret because to do so would not protect them so you will have to do something about it.
It is most important to remember exactly what the child says. You should write detailed notes as soon after the discussion as possible. You should tell the Social Worker as soon as possible. You may also find it helpful to talk things over with the Emergency Duty Social Workers if the child talks to you out of office hours.
If you have any concerns about how the council responds to any concern about child welfare or safety to Ofsted can also be contacted on 0300 123 1231. This does not replace any safeguarding procedures for an individual child, and they do no investigate allegations.
Last Updated: October 31, 2022
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