The Children’s Wellness Centre Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy has been developed in accordance with the principles established by The Children Act 1989 and 2004, Keeping children safe in Education 2019, The Education Act 2002, Data Protection Act 2018, Sexual Offences Act 2003 and related guidance including The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (1999), Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023) and What to do if You’re Worried a Child is Being Abused (2015).

Any concerns will be taken seriously and acted upon sensitively, professionally, and appropriately; paying full attention to what children and young people say and feel. This may mean making a referral to social services.

The Children’s Wellness Centre recognise that:

• The welfare of the child / young person is paramount
• All children, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse
• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents/carers, as well as other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare

We will seek to safeguard children and young people by:

• Valuing them
• Listening to them
• Respecting them
• Providing a safe and secure environment
• Building positive attachments
• Providing high quality therapeutic and assessment services
• Recruiting professionals and volunteers safely
• Sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children, as appropriate

Our responsibilities

We will be rigorous and vigilant in protecting the children and young people who use the Centre from abuse, bullying and intimidation. We will do this through a careful recruitment and selection process, an anti-bullying policy, ongoing supervision and monitoring arrangements and training and guidance on forms of abuse, legislation, and appropriate behaviour.

Children with special educational needs and disabilities

The Children’s Wellness Centre understands that children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges. Additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect in this group of children. This may include:

• Assumptions that indicators of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child’s disability without further exploration
• Children with SEN and disabilities being disproportionally impacted by things like bulling, without necessarily outwardly showing signs
• Communication barriers and difficulties in overcoming these barriers

What is Child Abuse?

Abuse is any behaviour, action, or inaction, which significantly harms the physical and/or emotional development of a child. A child may be abused by parents, other relatives or carers, professionals, and other children, and can occur in any family, in any area of society, regardless of social class or geographical location.

Abuse falls into four main categories (The following definitions are from Working Together to safeguard Children 2018):

1. Physical Abuse

Physical Abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to the child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of or deliberately induces injury in a child.

2. Emotional Abuse / Verbal Abuse

The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.

It may involve:

• Conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person
• Not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate
• Age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children
• Interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction
• Seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another
• Serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.

Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone (Working Together 2018). Domestic Abuse is generally treated as falling under emotional abuse.

The cross-government definition (2014) of domestic violence and abuse is as follows: Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to psychological, physical, sexual, financial, and emotional.

If children witness or hear domestic abuse, this must be treated as a child protection matter, even if they are not directly involved in the incidents. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 states that impairment can be caused by seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another.

3. Sexual Abuse

Sexual Abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (i.e., rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or the production of, pornographic material, or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

Grooming a child in preparation for abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children (Working Together 2018).

4. Neglect

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. It may occur in pregnancy, as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born it may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-takers or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.

The following descriptions of abuse are additionally important for all those working with children to be aware of.

Child Criminal Exploitation

As set out in the Serious Violence Strategy, published by the Home Office, where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or (c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual. Child criminal exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator. The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

County Lines

As set out in the Serious Violence Strategy, published by the Home Office, county lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of ‘deal line’. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs and money, and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons.

Extremism and PREVENT Duty

Any concerns about radicalisation and extremist views or behaviours in children and young people must be reported as a child protection concern. ‘Extremism goes beyond terrorism and includes people who target the vulnerable – including the young – by seeking to sow division between communities, based on race, faith or denomination; justify discrimination towards women and girls; persuade others that minorities are inferior; or argue against the primacy of democracy and the rule of law in our society. Extremism is defined in the Counter Extremism Strategy 2015 as the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also regard calls for the death of members of our armed forces as extremist’. (Working Together 2018).

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs. It is illegal in the UK and a form of child abuse, and any concerns that a child has been, or may be about to be, subjected to FGM, fall under this policy and must also be reported as a child protection concern.

Forced Marriage

In forced marriage, one or both spouses do not consent to the marriage and some element of duress is involved. Duress includes both physical and emotional pressure and abuse. This is primarily, but not exclusively, an issue of violence against females. Most cases involve young women and girls aged between 13 and 30, although there is evidence to suggest that as many as 15 per cent of victims are male. These procedures are aimed at dealing with forced marriage for a child / young person under 18 years of age.

‘So-called’ Honour-Based Violence

The term “honour crime” or “honour-based violence” embraces a variety of crimes of violence (mainly but not exclusively against women), including assault, imprisonment, and murder where their family or their community is punishing the person. They are being punished for (actually or allegedly) undermining what the family or community believes to be the correct code of behaviour. In transgressing this correct code of behaviour, the person shows that they have not been properly controlled to conform by their family, and this is to the “shame” or “dishonour” of the family.

Peer on Peer Abuse Peer on peer abuse can manifest itself in many ways, including but not limited to bullying, online abuse, gender-based abuse, ‘sexting’ or sexually harmful behaviour.

Responsibilities
We are all responsible for the protection of children and at The Children’s Wellness Centre any concerns about a child’s safety or wellbeing will be followed up and dealt with quickly and as sensitively as possible. 

The Children’s Wellness Centre will always seek to ensure a safe environment for children, young people and their families. We accept and recognise our responsibilities to be aware of the issues which cause children harm.

A fuller, more detailed Safeguarding Policy is accessible for all staff and Clinicians.