WELCOME

What is the difference between adult and child safeguarding? One of the first questions I am often asked is ‘what’s the difference?', or 'why is there a difference? Surely its all the same?’ My answer is that issues to consider when working with safeguarding adults is the difference between children and adults.   Much is published about safeguarding children, and we have many stories in the public eye to remind us of the sadness and complexity of this issue.   However, safeguarding adults does not attract as much attention, and we have to rely on cases such as Stephen Hoskins from 2006 and care homes such as Whorlton Hall in May of this year to remind us of the terrible abuse that some adults endure. So, to answer the question, the difference between adult safeguarding and child safeguarding is very basic, and is dependent on age.   Children, by their very definition, are unable to make decisions for themselves and therefore will always be reliant on adults to make

The Ever-Changing World of Teaching Children How to be Safe Online Having joined Education Child Protection Ltd in January 2012, my role very quickly developed from not just training professionals on Child Protection, but also on how the internet was becoming such a huge factor in many different areas of safeguarding. And very quickly after that, schools were asking if I would be willing to teach their pupils how to stay safe online. Late in 2012 I visited my first school and spoke to children about what they do online, and how they might go about keeping themselves safe. Thinking back to their responses and looking back to the websites and games they were using, compared to now in late 2019, it is obvious how quickly and how much things have changed.  Back in 2012 games like Club Penguin, Minecraft, Moshi Monsters and Moviestar Planet were dominating the primary school scene, and services like Skype and YouTube wer

Protecting our hearts in a job where they're needed It’s like a running joke with social workers, that if you are ever sitting in a pub and asked what you do for a job, the words that are unlikely to come out at any cost are, ‘ social worker.’ Many a time I have sat outside of a difficult meeting or court hearing that I am about to go into and fantasized with my colleagues about what we would do for ‘ our dream job .’ All the classics are in there; an actor, a singer, a travel writer, a fashion designer (we don't all wear socks and sandals you know) but then we go in and we do the business that we came to do - to protect the children assigned to our care and ensure that everything is done to make sure they are safe.  Can I tell you the truth? I always really struggled to answer that question. And I struggled to join in the conversation about the pub, because honestly? For all of its challenges, sacrifices, stress and trauma - I couldn't see myself doing anything

The Prevent Duty – the radicalisation of the ‘Bethnal Green Three’ – and could this happen again??   Back in Easter 2015, when the Prevent duty came to fruition, we were inundated with requests for training to bring Designated Staff up to speed with government requirements. Ofsted announced that they would be ‘tolerant’ around procedures being in place until December 2015, but from January 2016, would expect all schools and early years setting to be fully compliant. There was a huge variety of interpretations of the ‘British Values’ guidance, with some establishments believing that putting pictures of the Queen and including Union Jack bunting would suffice. We heard tales of using pictures of the Spice Girls, fish and chips and even Downton Abbey as examples! Eventually, there seemed to be an epiphany when there was a universal understanding of ‘Democracy, Respect & Tolerance, Individual Liberty and the Rule of Law’. The embedment of these values into everyday l

Knife Crime - The Ripple Effect There are estimated to be approximately 27,000 children between 10 – 17 years involved in gangs as stated by the Home Secretary in a recent interview.  Earlier this month we saw Former Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe feature on ‘Britain’s Knife Crisis: Young Armed & Dangerous’ (Channel 4, 2019) working with Dispatches, who shared very alarming statistics in that there has been a 93% rise in 16-year olds and under being treated for stab wounds in the last 5 years, and 400 reported stabbings this year already.  In 2018, 76 people are alleged to have been stabbed in the capital, 306 in the UK with 23 of those being children. It has been highlighted in reports including Breaking the cycle of youth violence | Local Government Association that ‘county lines’ is an underlying cause in the surge in knife crime. County lines is the reference of drug selling gangs from urban areas such as London, Birmingham and Manchester, exploiting child