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What are the principles of safeguarding? And why do we need them? These are valid questions for someone new to health and social care or a concerned individual.
Unfortunately, crimes and abuses happen every day. And some offenders are always there to win their play – both in modern or underdeveloped societies. Because of that, vulnerable adults and children become victims of their ferocious acts.
Since safety and security are fundamental human rights, everybody deserves to lead a secure life. So, what can we do for vulnerable people as a community and society? Or how can we protect them?
Ensuring safety and providing safeguarding to the vulnerable is pivotal. Also, we need to spread awareness about abuse and safeguarding. And this will help us recognise and report safeguarding concerns to the authorities.
In this article, you will get a more comprehensive understanding of what safeguarding is and the principles of safeguarding.
Safeguarding means protecting adults and children from harm, abuse, and neglect. It also entails preventing them from misbehaviour and maltreatment. It helps promote a community where everyone can grow in a healthy and safe environment.
We have to meet many people in workplaces, educational institutes, and public places. It’s tough to know the intention of the people. To ensure safety and security, authorities of these organisations need to take responsibility for providing a safeguarding officer. Alongside that, protecting children and older people from maltreatment is also essential.
Living a free and healthy life is desired by everyone. But can we always do that? Probably not, since unwanted circumstances are always happening in our society.
However, “prevention is better than cure”. That’s what we can do – prevent any harm and abuse by safeguarding ourselves, our loved ones or anyone in need.
Everyone wants to live a safe and secure life as a member of this society, young to elder. But people who are at high risk or already facing abuse need to be taken under the care of proper authorities.
Since children are more vulnerable and can’t express their emotions easily. it is the responsibility of the guardian to ensure their safety. Besides them, the people who need to be protected are –
Adult Safeguarding is defined as the act of ensuring the safety and well-being of the elder as well as preventing them from getting harmed. It also helps establish and improve the lifestyle of vulnerable adults, so everyone can have their basic rights.
We cannot cage ourselves for safety. Instead, we need to make sure we are safe by raising awareness and providing safeguarding to those in need.
“All children are born to grow, to develop, to live, to love, to articulate their needs and feelings for their self-protection” – Alice Miller
Children are the future of our society. They will hold power and lead the next generation. That is why our major responsibility is to nurture their talent and give them the best upbringing. Therefore, we need to create an environment where their mental development and physical growth can happen efficiently. A healthy environment helps them reach their potential.
So, what is child safeguarding, and why is it important? Child safeguarding means protecting children from any kind of abuse and maltreatment. It involves preventing harm to children’s health and overall development. Child safeguarding ensures children grow up in a safe environment with effective care.
But unfortunately, children are often victims of harassment and sexual abuse and cannot even protest against those repulsive acts. That is why it is the responsibility of the parents, guardians and adults to ensure their safety.
What is more, the maltreatment of children can have severe consequences, such as health disorders, depression, low self-esteem, low development, suicidal tendency and many more.
So, if we want the best care and a bright future for our youngsters, it is really important to create an environment where they can grow with a healthy mindset. Besides parental supervision at home, children also need safeguarding in the school and places where they usually visit. For example -parks, playgrounds, schools etc.
Can you have a sound sleep if you know that your home doesn’t have a security system? Maybe not. A small sound will make you think that something is wrong out there.
Undesirable crime can happen anytime, anywhere. So, we want to feel safe whether we are at the home, office, university, school or in any public place. Therefore, the authorities must implement a safeguarding policy to make us feel safe and sound every day.
Safeguarding is everyone’s right. It simply helps us to live and express ourselves freely. Our mental satisfaction and work productivity are improved when we feel protected. That is why every government, non-government, private, and non-profit organisation should ensure that their workplace is safe, that human rights are being provided, and that diversity is accepted. Securing these mentioned criteria could help us develop as a nation. So, all employers are accountable for safeguarding the employees and staff.
To achieve the aims of safeguarding, we have to follow some key Principles of Safeguarding. Let us discuss those Principles of Safeguarding. But, How many safeguarding principles are there?
There are 6 key Principles of Safeguarding. The 6 principles of safeguarding are as follows –
1. Empowerment
2. Prevention
3. Proportionality
4. Protection
5. Partnership
6. Accountability.
Safeguarding aims to protect everyone, including children and elders, from harm and improve their lifestyle. If a nation wants to develop, it has to make sure that the people of that state are safe and sound, including vulnerable individuals. For this reason, having some laws in place to safeguard the vulnerable is necessary.
The government has established 6 principles of safeguarding, particularly for those in health and social care sectors, to protect adults. Though these key principles were created for adults, they can also be applied to children as well because children need the same care and protection as adults. By applying these principles, the government wants to raise awareness in people to protect adults and children from harm, abuse and neglect.
These 6 Principles are crucial because they help safeguard children and vulnerable people. It not only guarantees the safety of the individuals but also promotes safety and empowers people.
Principles of Safeguarding aim to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm, abuse and neglect. It’s also important for the below mentioned purposes –
These are the reason why the government of the UK has created the 6 Principles of safeguarding.
Safeguarding should be all of our concerns. And we can address safeguarding issues by learning the six principles of Safeguarding. These are – Empowerment, Prevention, Proportionality, Prevention, Protection and Partnership. By adopting these six principles of safeguarding, we can make sure that we try our best to protect the vulnerable from abuse.
So, let’s get introduced to the six principles of safeguarding –
The motto of safeguarding is to keep everyone safe and enable them to live their life on their terms. Empowering means encouraging and inspiring the vulnerable to speak for themselves and take decisions on their own.
So, before getting any treatment or providing any service, we must take their consent and give them a choice to make their decision. However, sometimes they might not get the courage to do that. Therefore, safeguarding officers need to encourage and motivate vulnerable people so that they can properly take their own decisions.
There is a proverb that says – “Don’t cry over spilt milk” which means there is no point in crying over something that has already happened. So, it is always better to get prevention before any harm occurs. Prevention is one of the major principles of the 6 principles of safeguarding.
Every organisation and institutions need to proactively safeguard the individuals under their care. In order to achieve this, they must spread awareness, identify the risk, and introduce the signs of harm to the employees and personnel.
From the 6 principles of safeguarding – proportionality is another major one which ensures the actions that need to be taken on account of the risk. You will get to know about – what intrusive methods we are using, how the investigation is going, and what kind of action we are taking to safeguard the vulnerable. However, to implement this principle, monitoring and identifying the risk is also important.
One of the major focuses of safeguarding is to – protect adults, children and the vulnerable from harm, abuse and neglect. It ensures the welfare of every individual.
Under this principle, everyone should recognise the type of risk that can occur and acknowledge the methods of safeguarding in order to handle that situation. Additionally, to protect the vulnerable and children, every organisation should create awareness and impose a safeguarding system.
The partnership principle emphasises the collaboration between the different organisations and the local community. Many organisations are working with the vulnerable and ensuring their safety and well-being. A local community can keep contact with them to maintain the safety of the children and vulnerable.
If the local community can collaborate with them, they might understand how to identify risks, take action and provide security to their community.
Whether you are a safe keeper, carer, doctor, parent, relative or friend, you must recognise and identify abuse and keep the vulnerable person safe from harm. Whenever you witness any maltreatment or abuse, you need the courage to speak for each other and report that to the authorities. This will ensure the safety of the vulnerable people.
4 Rs in safeguarding are – Recognise, Record, Report and Refer. These 4 Rs will help us understand how to identify and act in a dangerous situation and safeguard vulnerable people accordingly. Let’s see the 4 Rs in safeguarding.
In the process of safeguarding, first, you need to recognise the risk of abuse. These risks could be physical abuse, mental or emotional harm etc. Without identifying the risk, you can’t proceed with the other Rs.
After you recognise the risk, it’s important that you record everything. In this section, some questions can arise. For example:
After identifying and recording the risk, what is the next thing you should do? Do you take care of it or take immediate action to protect the victims? You need to report that to the proper authorities so that they can take the necessary action to prevent the abuse.
These 3 R’s we have previously discussed above will go in vain if we don’t give any attention to ‘Refer’. This is defining that – after identifying, reporting and recording the abuse and maltreatment, you need to call the police, safeguard or any local adult social care team who can take the necessary steps to prevent these injustices.
The care act 2014 provides a legal structure for the local government and community to protect the vulnerable who are at a high risk of danger. The focus of this law is to ensure the well-being of children and the independence of vulnerable adults.
The care act covers the following issues –
Besides that, to ensure safety, it encourages people to identify potential abuse, report them to the authorities and will try to reduce the risk for vulnerable people.
Here are a few questions you might have regarding how to safeguard vulnerable people and the principles of safeguarding.
The safeguarding policy says – every organisation should provide security to the children and vulnerable and ensure their security. Additionally, they must identify abuse and take action accordingly. And educational institutions must pay extra attention to vulnerable children and work for their well-being.
‘Abuse’ means – an attempt to harm someone. Abuse can be physical, mental, verbal, or psychological. On the other hand, ‘Neglect’ means the failure to provide basic rights – food, clothes, and shelter and to protect someone from maltreatment.
The DBS checks is a policy that checks the criminal record of the person who is willing to work for vulnerable adults and children. However, DBS checks are mandatory for employers while recruiting and firing personnel. Employers should pay attention to the criminal record of employees.
The 4 Ps in Safeguarding are – Prevention, Proportionality, Protection and Partnership. These 4 Ps are taken from the 6 principles of safeguarding which have been established by the government of the UK to ensure the safety and welfare of vulnerable people.
The emphasis of this topic is – the 6 principles of safeguarding, which focuses on the fact that safety and security is the most vital thing that needs to be provided to vulnerable people. From children to the elderly, everyone deserves to be protected from harm, abuse, and neglect. That’s why the 6 principles of safeguarding were introduced.
If you want to learn more about safeguarding adults and children, you can join our Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Training and Safeguard Children – Level 2 course. These courses will help you to understand the importance of safeguarding adults and children. It will also allow you to promote safeguarding and benefit from this training in your personal and professional life.
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