Do you need to get your Child Safeguarding paperwork in place but don't know where to begin? Is time against you with this process? At the Early Years Shop, services can avail of the Child Safeguarding Pack that includes an 18 page Child Safeguarding Statement as well as a comprehensive 55 page Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures document.
Both documents are provided as Word documents in a downloadable version so that they can immediately be edited for the specific circumstances of your own service. Canavan Byrne has provided guidelines throughout to make it clear where services are required to make edits. These documents will save services many hours of administration work with only a small portion of administration time required to ensure the documents are relevant to your service.
Child Safeguarding Risk Assessment
Under the Children First Act 2015, services must undertake a risk assessment before developing a Child Safeguarding Statement. The risk assessment in this context refers to the risk of abuse and not general health and safety risk. Risks can include: risk of harm from bullying a child (inc. cyber bullying) by a member of staff/volunteer/peer; risk of sexual abuse of a child by a member of staff/volunteer; risk of physical/psychological/emotional harm of a child by a member of staff/volunteer; risk of harm from an unauthorised visitor/contractor; risk of a lost child, accidents caused by neglect and medical neglect.
The risk assessment is carried out to examine all aspects of an early years service from a safeguarding perspective in order to:
- Identify any potential risks to children
- Establish policies and procedures to minimise risks
- Ensure appropriate precautions have been taken to eliminate or reduce these risks
Developing a Statement and Policy
Once the risk assessment has been carried out, services are required to develop a Child Safeguarding Statement. This statement should outline the policies and procedures that are in place to manage any risks that have been identified in the Risk Assessment.
The statement aims to complement your full Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures and should be reviewed every 24 months (or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers). The Child Safeguarding Statement must be displayed publicly and made available to parents and guardians, Tusla and members of the public upon request.
The Child Safeguarding Policy outlines the principles and procedures that your service has in place to safeguard children from harm. As part of this policy services should appoint a Designated Liaison Person (DLP) for dealing with any child protection concerns. Similarly, a Deputy Liaison Person (in the event of absence from the DLP) should be appointed.
The appointed staff members should undertake the new Child First E-Learning Training Programme that was developed by Tusla, HSE and DCYA. The certificates of completion should be displayed in your Service. Both DLP's should keep up to date with any new training that becomes available and update information and advice on child protection, safeguarding and training within the Service.
The policy should be communicated to parents and guardians and all relevant staff members should receive training on the policy so that they clearly understand their roles and responsibilities. Both the Child Safeguarding Statement and Policy are included in the Child Safeguarding Pack! Remember if you are a member of The Early Years Resource Factory you automatically receive a 15% discount on this pack!
