Aluna
Behaviour
Consultancy
Newsletter Number 27, June 2024
Safeguarding is Everyone's Responsibility
In the UK safeguarding is subject to law, so practitioners and those supporting children undergo mandatory safeguarding training. The law regarding child protection is found in The Children Act 1989. Practitioners should be aware and alert to any potential risks facing children that might cause them harm, follow the correct protocols and procedures to ensure those in your care are kept safe and secure.
For the benefit of their health and development, every child should receive safe and effective care, regardless of their background or circumstances. Practitioners have a duty of care to protect children. Ultimately, safeguarding is to ensure that children feel safe and are safe, with lives that are free from abuse, harm and neglect. Ideally, practitioners and settings will work together with parents to ensure that safeguarding is being considered at home.
Safeguarding is defined as:
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Action taken to promote the welfare of children
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Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
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Preventing harm to their health and development
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Ensuring the provision of safe and effective care
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Taking action to enable them to have the best outcomes
Child Protection determines that providers should:
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Keep children safe from harm
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Be alert to any issues of concern in their life at home or elsewhere
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Implement robust policies and procedures to safeguard them at all times
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Have policies that align with the local Children’s Safeguarding Board
Among the most documented cases of child abuse relates to multi-agency failures in the case of eight year old Victoria Climbié. In November 1998 Victoria arrived in London from the Ivory Coast. In April to June 1999 Victoria was on a bus with her aunt Marie-Therese Kouao when they met Carl Manning, the driver, for the first time. A short time later they moved into Carl Manning's home and within days Victoria was suffering abuse at the hands of Manning.
In July Victoria attended hospital where Kouao said she had inflicted the visible wounds on her face and body by scratching at scabies sores. Children's services were informed and a social worker and a police officer were assigned to the case but cancelled a home visit after hearing about the scabies.
In the same month Victoria was taken to hospital with scalding to her head and face. Doctors were told that hot water was poured over Victoria to stop her scratching her scalp. In October Manning forced Victoria to sleep in a bin liner with her excrement in the bath each night.
The following year Victoria was rushed to hospital suffering from malnutrition, hypothermia and multiple external injuries. She was transferred to intensive care and on 25th February at 3:15 pm Victoria was declared dead. She weighed 3 stone 10 pounds; the cause of death was multiple organ failure along with hypothermia and malnutrition. She had been repeatedly bound, burned, scalded, starved and beaten. Dr Nathaniel Carey, the Home Office pathologist who examined her body, found 128 separate injuries and scars, many of them cigarette burns and described them as "the worst case of child abuse I've encountered".
This graphic shows the number of professionals who were in some way involved in Victoria's case. There were significant failings in recording and communicating inform-ation, as well as taking her aunt's explanations as truthful.
We would like to think that as professionals in the 2020s we would have "learned the lessons" of this case that needn't have resulted in the horrifying torture and death of a defenceless and vulnerable child. However, the list of children in just the first two years of this decade so far is long:
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Ava Mae Collard, aged 5 month died on 1st March 2020
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Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, aged 6 years died on 17th June 2020
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Lola James, aged 2 years died on 21st July 2020.
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Star Hobson, aged 16 months died on 22nd September 2020
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Kaylea Titford, aged 16 years died on 10th October 2020
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Finlay Boden, aged 10 months on 25th December 2020
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Jacob Crouch, aged 10 months died on 30th December 2020
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Logan Mwangi, aged 5 years died on 31st July 2021
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Dylan Freeman, aged 10 years on 16th August 2021
What can be established in most of these cases is that the children sustained multiple injuries over months if not years and died as a result during the outbreak of Covid and subsequent lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. However, we cannot let cases like these to continue to mount. School holidays, periods of bad weather or national disasters do not allow us to "take our eye off the ball"; in fact we should be scrutinising the safety of these vulnerable children and their parents even more.
Professional curiosity has saved children's lives and even if we're not the lead practitioner we must share our concerns and communicate effectively with others in a position to be proactive.
To discuss safeguarding and/or child protection training, email me at: zelpher@aluna-abc.co.uk or message me here: Contact | Aluna Behaviour Consultancy (aluna-abc.co.uk)
Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
