Describe the legislation that promotes the protection of children.

by shalako (student)

According to the NSPCC one child will get killed every week by their parents or carer in England and Wales.7 % of children experience severe physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers. Every week one to two children will die following cruelty. Babies under one are 4 times more likely to die of a violent death than the average person in England and Wales. 6% of children experience frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood .16 % experience serious maltreatment by parents of whom one third experience more than one type of maltreatment.18% of children experience some absence of care during childhood.1% of children experience sexual abuse by their parents or carer and 3% by a relative .11% experience sexual abuse by people known to them but not related and a further 5% by an adult stranger or someone whom they just met [lantern project 2008] Neglect is the most common form of child abuse in the Uk.

Neglect can be defined 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 .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 or the failure to insure access to appropriate medical care or treatment .It may also include neglect of or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs [DOH ET AL 1999]P6].

The effects of neglect and physical abuse in children can vary and can have long term effect. Children who have abused and neglected display significant developmental delays ,have poor speech and learning ability ,may lack the ability to interact socially and are prone to accidents due inadequate protection and supervision.[Hanks and Stratton2007] Later effect of neglect can result in criminal and risky behaviour such as substance and alcohol abuse and self-harm[.www action for children .org]In extreme cases abuse and neglect may result in the death of a child like the case of Victoria Climbie .who was an 8 year old girl who was abused by her aunt and aunts boyfriend which led to her death ,which led to a public inquiry headed by Lord Lemming and resulted in the green paper Every child matters and the introduction of Children’s Act 2004 .[citation] IN England and Wales the Children’s Act 2004 provides the legal framework for the every child matters paper which focuses in the five outcomes for all children .these five outcomes are being healthy ,stay safe ,enjoy and achieve ,make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being [citation]The Act also places a duty children’s services to make arrangements for key professionals to work together to promote the well-being of the child.

The existing child protection system is centred on the Childrens Act 1989 this places a duty on councils with Social Services Responsibilities to promote and safeguard the children in need in their area it contains the following principals :the paramountcy principal which states that the child’s welfare must be the paramount consideration and the racial ,cultural religious and linguistic needs should be considered when making any decisions about the child’s upbringing Participation: the court must ascertain the feelings and wishes of the child so that they can contribute appropriately and shall not make an order unless this is better for the child than making no Order at all’’(section 1)Parental responsibility :which is defined as the duties ,rights, responsibility which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property’’ (section 3)Partnership: professionals and families are to work together for the welfare of the children .Provision: local authorities are also charged with with a duty to provide services for children in need, their families and others’’(section 17)Protection :it charges local authorities with the duty to investigate …if they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives ,or is found ,in their area is suffering ,or likely to suffer ,significant harm ‘’(section 47)

This is a preview of the whole essay

In relation to the green paper every child matters, Robbie in his current home situation Robbie is not being given the opportunity to achieve as he is being excluded from school ,also he is not healthy as he is not given regular meals or safe as his mother hits him and leaves bruises on his body and he stays out late at night which is not safe for a boy that age .Robbie has not been given the opportunity to express his wishes and feelings about where he should live as his social worker has not consulted when the decision was made about where he should live .Robbie should have been consulted about it before the decision was made in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989 .Robbie has disclosed to his teacher that he has been racially abused and under the Equality Act 2010 racial descrimination is a criminal offence, the school has a duty to protect pupils from racial discrimination , his teacher because she has not reported Robbie’s discrimination could be liable prosecution as she has not reported the allegations of abuse to responsible body and not taken reasonable steps to prevent Robbie being discriminated against. The Act also states that schools must not discriminate against pupils by excluding them from school. Robbie has disclosed to the youth worker that he is being abused and has shown evidence of abuse .The youth worker should have followed the procedure set out in Framework for assessment for children in need and their families recorded full information about Robbie about his name(s) gender date of birth name of person with parental responsibility .where concerns arise as a result of information given by a child it important to reassure the child but not promise confidentiality. Record in writing all your concerns, talk to your manager and other professionals always share your concerns. Always follow up oral communication to other professionals in writing within 48 hours and insure your message is clear. If your concerns are about a child who is already known to children’s social care the allocated social worker should be informed about your concerns’’.(what to do if you are worried a child is being abused2007)

ELEMENT 2

The report misspent youth 1996 from the Audit commissions and the white paper No more excuses, also highly publicised the murder of two year old James Bulger by two ten year old boys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson which led to a full blown moral panic about children as perpetrators of crime led to the government introducing The Crime and Disorders Act 1998 .The Misspent youth reported that the legislation at that time relating to young people who offend were was inefficient ,uneconomic as it cost 1billion per year and ineffective. It also proposed that court processes be speeded up persistent offenders be more closely monitored, programmes involving victims and addressing offending behaviour be used as an alternative to the court process, parenting programmes, structured education for under five, support for dealing for teachers with badly behaving pupils and positive leisure opportunities to be developed and evaluated . the report also recommended that there should be better information sharing ,and local authorities ,should lead,multi agency work’’ (yjb1)The white paper No more excuses proposed that a clear strategy to prevent offending and re offending ,parents and offenders should take responsibility for and face up ,up to offending behaviour earlier and more effective interventions when young people offend, final warning’s instead of repeat cautions ,new action plan ,reparations and parenting orders faster more efficient procedures from arrest to sentence and reform of youth court procedures a new national network of of youth offending teams providing programmes to stop offending behaviour (yjb2)

.The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 received royal ascent in July 1998.This was widely praised at the time it came out .Section 37 of the Act establishes that preventing offending by children and young people as the principal aim of the youth justice system .The provisions of the Crime and disorder Act 1998 are as follows :Pre-empitive interventions which include The local child curfews and Child safety Order aimed at protecting children from getting into trouble by restricting the time they can be unaccompanied at certain places during certain times children under the age of 10 years old who has committed an act that is considered criminal if they had been over ten. ,Parenting Order which is court order given to parents setting out rules about what a parent and a child can and cannot do ,Anti-Social Behaviour Order are civil orders that exist to protect the public from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment alarm or distress ,Pre-Crime Risk panel 2003whose duty was to investigate and intervene with under age pre delinquents(pitts221).Pre-court preventative interventions which include the following :reprimands(once only)where there is evidence the a young person has committed an offence and has admitted the offence but it is not in the public interest for the young offender to be prosecuted. Final Warning( once only)aims to prevent re-offending by making the young offender by making him aware of the consequence’s and impact of his actions . Non-custodial preventative disposals which included the following :Referral Order aims at dealing with young offenders who have appeared in court for the first time and pleads guilty of the offence, Action plan ,reparation Order ,Supervision order ,Probation Order ,Community Services Order ,Combination Order ,Incarceration ,detention training Order and secure training centre’s

The English approach children who do wrong falls far short of convention expectations (Freeman 2002) Since the Crime and Disorder Act came into place has been highly criticised and condemned for breaching The United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child which is an international human rights treaty that applies to all children and young people under the age of 17 it was ratified by the UK government in 1991 only 2 eligible countries have not ratified the convention :America and Somalia .Article 37 (b) of the convention states that ,where a child is detained or imprisoned it should only be as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time ‘’in the UK Children as young as 10 can be locked up for up to 24 months and be charged with grave offences, before the Act the only grave offence children under the age of 14 could be charged was murder . The UK has been asked on numerous occasion to raise its age of criminal responsibilities from 10 to be more in line with other European countries with the exception of Scotland the UK has the lowest age of criminal responsibility(Franklyn 2002)( Article 37 )states that no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel ,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .The UK has been condemned for using physical restraints on children in custody such as nose distractions ,thumb distraction and rib distraction also forced searches which were found to be degrading. Physical restraints such as the double seated embrace which was used on Gareth Myatt aged 15 who weighed 6 stones who died after after being restrained by 3 members of staff one who weighed over sixteen stones the double seated embrace methods has now been withdrawn from use from juvenile custody Another boy who died in custody was Adam Rickwood who was 14 year old boy with a history of self-harm ,he had previously harmed himself 17 times Adam committed suicide after having the nose distraction applied on him by staff. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons has criticised the conditions of Y.O.I as unacceptable in a civilised country’ ’. Article 16 states that no child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, correspondence ,nor unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation .The Un committee has condemned the UK for ASBO on children and that it should not be used on children at all because children do not understand their requirements ,breaching an ASBO can result in a fine and imprisonment in some cases children can be named and shamed which also contravenes the 1933 Children Act that all court proceeding for children and young people should be held in camera .ASBO are also used inappropriately .Children with autism and mental health problems are being given ASBOs ,in one instance a boy with Asperger’s syndrome has been given an ASBO for staring over his neighbours fence one of the characteristics of Asperger’s syndrome is obsessive behaviour and repetitive routines .In another case a 12 year old girl with Asperger’s had been found swearing in the street and was given an ASBO ,it turned out that the girl overheard her parents arguing and was simply repeating what she had overheard repeating conversation is one of the symptoms of autism.

In 2004 a report by the audit commission a review of the youth justice system found that re conviction rates for final warnings, reparation orders and action plans were 7 to 10 % lower than 1997 but with higher tariff persistent offender’s there was no difference in re-conviction rate .Young offenders are dealt with more quickly .The audit also found that young offenders were less likely to offend while on bail in 1994 1 in 3 offenders committed a crime while on bail in 2003 it was 1 In 5.The report found that ISSPs were more constructive and cost effective option for persistent young offenders than time in custody for 6 months cost 25 400 and ISSP for 6 months cost8 500.However in 2004 a report by Oxford university on ISSP found that 85% reconvicted 12 months after starting .The report ten years of labour justice reforms :an independent audit centre for crime and justice found that the YJB achievement in in reducing crime is at best mixed ‘’(p7) and that there has been little difference in offending by young people since 1997.Initially the government claimed that had achieved a reduction of reconviction by 22.2% against the 5% target but was later changed to 7.7% however doubts were raised by criminologist Anthony Bottoms and James Dignan about the methods used .An investigation by the Home Office revealed the actual figure was only 2.4%

If the crime and disorder act was removed there would be less young people in juvenile custody .UK would be in compliance with the uncrc there would be less violation of human rights .the evidence suggest that the act is not working effectively in tackling youth crime but merely creating more criminals and that it would beneficial to young people if the act was removed from uk law

References

B.Franklin 2002 ed The new handbook of children’s rights Rutledge .London

Pitts.J 2001 .The new politics of youth crime Palgrave

Brown. S .2005 Understanding youth and crime .Open University press Berkshire

Bright M .2005.Charity pleads for tolerance as autistic youngsters face ASBOs.THE OBSERVER .Sunday 22 May

accesed on 15/01/12

www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/youth-justice/courts-and-orders/youth-offending-teams/summary-of-crime-and-disorder-act-1998---statutory-functions-of-a-yot.htm