A method of supporting children who have disclosed abuse is though they way the professional communicates, this is important as you need to support the child and build trust with them, you need to listen effectively and go along with the pace that the child wants to talk at, It’s also important to ensure that you are taking the child seriously and being non-judgemental as this could damage the child’s self esteem and they could end up not talking about the issues that are happening and return them to an abusive environment. It’s also important to reassure the child and tell them they are doing the right thing in telling you, and that you believe them and it’s not their fault of what’s happened to them. This piece of legislation in important in the Human rights act, as it promotes the welfare of children and young in their right to be in a safe environment, and protected from harm, also Jake’s has human right to “freedom from torture and degrading treatment” and isn’t likely he is getting this at home and, this by listening to him people can be aware of what’s happening so they can act on in, and ensure his human rights received.
Another method is though encouraging the child to take part in after school clubs and get involved in things, this could prevent Jake from becoming isolated and let him meet new people and this could also build Jake’s self confidence and self esteem. Another way can be though sending Jake’s step dad to therapy together where He can confront issues or stress and will help Jake though creating a calmer family environment. This can be linked in with the every child matters aspects as if Jake starts to take part in clubs and involved things it fulfils the outcome of ‘making a positive contribution’ and also helping him ‘enjoy and achieve’ as his being a part of something and becoming more involved in things, which can improve self esteem, and build on skills and his knowledge.
A final key method that’s vitally important when there is a disclosure of suspicions of abuse is to follow the procedures and policies in the professionals workplace, In the case study Jake goes to ‘Ambleside Primary school’ and in their safeguarding policy it mentions that “all staff must be aware that they cannot make a promise to a child or keep secrets”* this is something that the teaching assistant should be aware of when Jake disclosed information, also the policy mentions records and monitoring in case this needs to be looked over so, this will need to be passed on to agencies that become involved with Jake, also the case study mentioned ‘He has missed school on several occasions’ which should be recording and be used when his case is built up when social services are involved. This method links in with the primary schools policy, in not keeping secrets and also though protecting the wellbeing of Jake, as he appears to be at risk at home, due to his step dad.
* = reference to Ambleside Primary schools safeguarding policy – written by Embleside Primary school.
Strategies used to minimise risk to children
There are a number of strategies to minimise the risk to children and young people, one of these is known as ‘providing active support’ and this means empowering the child and young person, this can be though supporting their needs, giving them information, or being ready to listen when they are prepared to talk, this is vital and is a really good way to minimise the future problems they may face when dealing with exploitive situations or becoming abusive themselves, also with child and young people who have been abused they may find it hard to trust people or have extremely low confidence, By providing active support it show the child or young person people care about them are will listen and value what they have to say.
The negative side to active support could be that children and young people may become defensive or aggressive as they don’t want to talk to people or they may find it hard coming to terms with what’s happened to them.
Children and young people may also feel like their being pressured or ‘suffocated’ because they go into counselling or people keep saying to them that they can talk to them, so that could be the negative to ‘providing active support’ however it’s a really good method to provide support to children and young people though empowering them.
The strategy of therapy and counselling is important can be linked into the Every child matters (2003) because it applies to one of the 5 aspects or outcome and that is to stay and also to enjoy and achieve and to be able to achieve the outcomes of the ECM legislation the counselling can help a child to achieve all outcomes by dealing with and overcoming the possible effects of abuse
A second way to minimise the risk to children is though a person-centred approach this is ensuring that the child of young person is at the centre of the professionals practice; this means that they should be able to have say in what happens to them and be able to have some control over their own life and know what’s going to be happening and this can build a trusting relationship with the individual, this should happen while them still be supported and also legislation should be followed, meaning that with the child protection policy that the child’s safety needs to be put first; so that if they are in an abusive situation which they don’t want to leave, the legislation would override this if their welfare is at stake.
A good point with the person centred approach is that it puts the child’s views in perspective and are counted, this will have a massive impact on of the child as they could get improved self-confidence or self esteem, this will empower the individual and reduce the impact abusive situations have had on them. On the over hand it can also cause the individual distress and sometimes they may need to be removed from a family home, under the children act 1989. This can cause them to work against professionals, and create an untrustworthy relationship.
Another key strategy in minimising risks to children and young people is though sharing information and not keeping secrets from service users, this will build trust and make them feel involved in what’s going on instead of creating ‘worries’ or ‘fears’ for the child. Also though sharing information it can make it easier for the child to deal with situations, though telling something like a child’s school then the teachers can support the child in a different setting, however professionals need to be aware of what information is shared, whether they have permission and if its needed to be shared, so professionals need to know about confidentially and the data protection act, the information should not be shared with people who aren’t involved or who shouldn’t have access to it. This is justified in the Data Protection act (1998) as the main principals are things such as information stored on an individual need to kept no longer than necessary, it’s needs to be kept secured and not transferred without protection, in case someone tries to access it.
A negative side to sharing information is that there’s a risk that other people who the information is not suppose to be shared with might find it easier to get hold of information about the child.
A final strategy is though providing information to children according to age, needs and ability; this could be done though assessing the child’s ability and whether they are capable to understand what’s happening. This is a positive strategy as it can help professionals decide whether it’s appropriate to tell a child information or example whether a young child would be able to understand fully what their told, this is important and can be justified though the child need to be kept aware of what’s going to happen to reduce the stress and worrying that may occur, as some children may be taken away from family but still want to with them, this is also part of the rights of the child because is a child is deemed and competent the they have a right to any information about them or stored them and have a right to request that information, also in the united nation convention on the rights on children (1989) it states that the Childs views need to be taken into accounts, this means that the views of the child need to be listened and decisions need to involve them, so even though it’s the professionals duty to ensure the child’s safe, it’s also important for them to beware that by law the child’s opinion and views need to be taken and involved in the decisions being made.
In conclusion, the teaching assistant could response to jakes situation in a number of ways, using the safeguarding policy he or she should take the evidence, which would be the changes in behaviour and attendance concerns to the designated person which is either the head teacher or child protection officer, who will then keep a record of reports and should then refer the pupil to protection agencies. A way that Jake could be supported in the aftermath is also important some of things that could be put in place to help him cope with the effects of abuse are things like play therapy and counselling to help him overcome with low self esteem and talk about what’s happened and how he feels about it so he has closure on the situation, This is used because by him talking about what’s happened, how it’s made him feel, and the impact it’s had on him, he can look at ways of moving on from this and not letting the situation stay with him with negative and angry emotions because as he gets older the emotions that his felt towards his step-dad and maybe his mum may appear.
Bibliography
BTEC national Health and social care level 3 text book 1 by Heinemann
Notes from class
Ambleside primary school safeguarding policy
Child Protection Factsheet – An introduction to child protection legislation in the Uk By The NSPCC
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/yourrightsandresponsibilities/dg_4002951