Safeguarding Introduction

Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people is everyone's responsibility.

The Children and Families’ Plan 2024 - 2027 is the Government’s strategic plan for children and young people, ensuring system alignment and interconnections across Government and partner agencies. The shared vision is that all children should have an equal opportunity to be safe, flourish and fulfil their potential. This vision will be achieved by focusing on 5 ‘Big Picture Outcomes’, all children and young people in Jersey will be enabled to:

1. Live healthy, happy lives
2. Learn and achieve.
3. Enjoy a decent standard of living.
4. Grow up safely.
5. Be included, respected and valued.

It is a mandatory requirement that Practitioners work together effectively to meet wellbeing, health and development needs and to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people.

These Child Protection Procedures are for everyone who works with or cares for children and young people who may be at risk of harm or significant harm, and this includes paid or unpaid practitioners, carers, family members and members of the public.

Safeguarding means acting to protect children, young people and adult’s rights to live a life in safety, free from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. 

Promoting Wellbeing and Safeguarding children, young people and adults is a collective responsibility and is an integral part of providing high quality care.

Arrangements to promote wellbeing and safeguard welfare are most effective when people are united around a shared vision – this means being clear about what is individually required of them.

Abuse, neglect and exploitation can happen to anyone, anywhere and at any time. The responsibility for identifying and taking steps to protect from harm lies with all of us. Where Jersey has set statutory responsibilities.

There are specific roles and responsibilities for organisations and all staff whether they are:

• Working in client facing roles (including those who volunteer);
• Members of senior management committees or boards of trustees;
• Corporate Parents (see Statutory Guidance).

This introduction should be read alongside the Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 and the commensurate Statutory Guidance, the Jersey Children’s First (JCF) Framework.

JCF is the overarching framework which sets out how practitioners must  work together to ensure children, young people and their families can access the right help at the right time from the right services. It aligns with the statutory guidance for the Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and sets out a seamless multi-agency approach so that resources, information and support move with the child as they grow and develop.

At the heart of JCF is a commitment to early intervention and prevention coordinated around children, young people and their families when needed. Early intervention means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child and young person’s life. Intervening early is more effective than reacting later, once a problem has become entrenched or has reached crisis point. There is a range of  guidance and training for Jersey's Children First (gov.je) including tools and resources, in the  use of the JCF practice framework. A set of e-learning training modules are available to explain key areas of the statutory guidance and help practitioners apply this to practice: Guidance and training for Jersey's Children First including statutory guidance training.

Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 commensurate Statutory Guidance, and the Continuum of Children’s Needs identifies four levels of vulnerability, risk and need. This is to  assist practitioners to identify the most appropriate service response for children and their families. These are:

The table below summarises the presentation for each of these levels and the response. 

A child’s level of need can move between the levels. This highlights the importance of practitioners working together using the JCF practice model to provide a seamless process that gives continuity of care when a child moves between different levels of support, with a lead worker co-ordinating the team around the child and family with a single integrated plan when a multi-agency response is required. 

The Continuum of Children's Needs Guidance provides a set of indicators for use by partner agencies to develop a shared understanding of levels of need, risk and vulnerability and provide an evidence base for professional judgement and decision making.

Safeguarding welfare includes:

• Protecting children from maltreatment;
• Preventing impairment of children's health or development;
• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
• Taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances.

Child abuse can take many forms. You should be aware of, and alert to, different forms of harm and abuse including physical, emotional, sexual abuse, child exploitation and neglect. 

Practitioners working with children and families must follow the SPB Jersey Child Protection Procedures, the Children and Young People Safeguarding Referrals Procedure and submit a referral to the Children and Families Hub if they have concerns that a child has a health or development need or a safeguarding need. 

If a child is at immediate risk of harm, they must call the Police.

Sharing information is a key part of promoting the wellbeing of children and safeguarding their welfare. The Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 Statutory Guidance sets out information sharing arrangements. The lawful basis for sharing information related to the promotion and support of wellbeing is consent. At this level of need, the practitioner should ask the child and/or parents for consent to share information before making a submission to the Children and Families Hub.

The lawful basis for sharing information necessary to meet a health or development need or a safeguarding need is the performance of a public function. At these levels of need, you should not ask the child or parents for consent to share information when you make a submission to the Children and Families Hub because you have another legal basis to do so. You should, however, inform the child and parents of what information you are sharing with the Children and Families Hub and the reason you are sharing it prior to making a submission unless to do so would increase or create a risk of harm to the child. This is required to meet the lawful, fairness and transparency principle of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018. You should give the child and parents the opportunity to say what they think about their information being shared and this should be recorded on the request for support form. 

There are some situations where being transparent about information sharing may put children at increased risk. You must consider whether it is appropriate to be transparent about the sharing in these circumstances and, if not, document your reasons for not telling individuals that their information is to be shared. In high-risk cases where there may be a resultant Police investigation, the timing of when to inform those with parental responsibility about the concerns may be taken at a strategy discussion. Further guidance on information sharing is provided in the Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2022 Statutory Guidance.