What is Child Safeguarding?

A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts, such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing, and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Sexual 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

Neglect is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 as: 

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. Neglect may occur during pregnancy or once a child is born.  

As well as the statutory definition, it is important to have regard to the specific needs of children that are often subsumed under the term ‘failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological (and/ or emotional) needs regarding the following 6 forms of neglect:

• Medical neglect – minimizing or denying children’s health needs and failing to seek appropriate medical attention or administer medication/treatments
• Nutritional neglect – failure to thrive/childhood obesity
• Emotional neglect – unresponsive to a child’s basic emotional needs
• Educational neglect – failure to provide a stimulating environment, support learning or ensure school attendance
• Physical neglect – not providing appropriate clothing, food, cleanliness and living conditions
• Lack of supervision and guidance – failure to provide an adequate level of guidance and supervision

The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child so 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. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them, or making fun of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.

These may include 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. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve 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, though it may occur alone

Domestic abuse affects the whole family. In the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 it was finally recognised that children who experience domestic abuse are victims in their own right.