Safeguarding Help Please

[dizgrace]

I know that this sounds really silly but I wondered if somebody could give me a definintion of "safeguarding" - I seem to have a bit of a problem getting my head around this. I of course understand that this all involves protecting children from abuse and or neglect etc. But when I had my inspection, I felt like the Inspector wanted a bit more information from me and I am getting worried as my Inspection Date approaches that I will not be able to verbalise what it is specifically.

Please help ! Laymans terms please for an exhausted Mummy and Childminder!

xxx

[karen m]

You will need to cover what you would do if you thought a child was being neglected, if the child was being abused, physically or mentally , what you think the signs of abuse are. How you protect yourself and family from allegations . Also include numbers of children social care office, police , Ofsted helpline, nspcc helpline, children's safeguarding operations unit. I had my inspection 2 weeks ago and she told me this was a good policy as it contained plenty of information. Hope this helps

[mrs robbie williams]

What is safeguarding? | Safeguarding legislation and guidance | The Safe Network

[sing-low]

As I see it, there's two parts to it - guarding children's safety while they're in your care and guarding children's safety by being alert to signs of abuse.

[Optimalstar]

Other than general clarification of some things in my paperwork this was the only thing I was questioned about by Ofsted. They wanted to know what the signs of abuse are and what I'd do if I suspected abuse.

[sarah707]

You should have all this in your safeguarding policy and procedures! If you don't then I suggest you research by Googling for more information, put it all together and write your policy very carefully.

The average safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures is normally about 4 pages long!! It covers everything you might need to know and do in an emergency including following the requirements of the EYFS and the Childcare Registers which both say different things.

Do you have a Local Safeguarding Children Board contact who can help you? A lot of Local Authorities have a standard procedure you need to adopt - then you would write your own to fill in the gaps.

If you are a gold member of Childcare.co.uk you will find some guidance in your member area

[bunyip]

Definition of "safeguarding" from the level 3 CYPW diploma course workbook (Tassoni et al):

Promoting children's welfare and putting measures in place to improve children's safety and prevent abuse.

Definition from my pre-reg induction course notes:

Keeping children safe at all times.

Is this not being covered in the current pre-reg CYPOP5 course? Deeply worrying if it's not.

[munch149]

I got a safeguarding booklet when I started up with all relevant information and numbers in. This is kept with my policies and I would say if there was anything I was unsure about I would have a look at it, find the relevant number if necessary and ring for advice