Blogs ...

With the recent and upsetting child abuse news stories you cannot but wonder where the finger is going to be pointed next. There is now, without a doubt, a media witch hunt beneath the cover of public concern over child abuse and, unfortunately for them, social services, Ofsted and now even the police are bearing the brunt of this.

What is more worrying about this however is that many members of the public appear to believe what they read and hear, and have become complacent about their role in society. It is all too easy to blame the ‘authorities’ and highlight their shortcomings, and what better way to purge ourselves of our apathy and lack of community engagement than to do so?

As with all anti-social behaviour, (and of course with child abuse), raising awareness and challenging inappropriate and dangerous behaviour must start at grass-roots level. In a complex society we are all responsible and have a duty of care for all in our community, and absolutely and categorically for the children and most vulnerable within it. It is quite simply not enough to say, ‘Well I called social services and they did nothing”.

Our response should not stop there though. How much did we do in the circumstances? We should ask ourselves: How much more could we have done? Who else could we have raised the alarm with? Could we have forced the issue? These are the questions we should be asking, and not trying to absolve ourselves from responsibility for out fellow citizens, and passing our guilt on when things go wrong.

The bottom line is that all organisations that work with children share a commitment to safeguard and promote their welfare and for many organisations that is underpinned by a statutory duty or duties.

If you are a children’s services professional or carer you will already have available to you the specified training to support you in this role, and if you are working in a role where you are working with children, or on behalf of children, and it is not your primary role; or you have any involvement with children in any situation it would certainly benefit you to attend Child Protection and Vulnerable Person’s training and in the process access advice and support putting in place the correct guidelines, procedures and policies.

But most of all it will benefit those that this guidance is there to protect. DF