Ethics and Safeguarding - Week 1- Lecture Notes

"Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined...as:

• 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 outcomes." (HM Government, 2015)

Types of Safeguarding 

• Universal: to keep all children safe, safe environments-e.g. in settings, play areas and roads, internet, health.
• Targeted: some groups more at risk; e.g. excluded from school, SEN, children in poverty
• Responsive: timely and sufficient support for children who do suffer harm - and learn lessons from errors

Targeted Safeguarding
More Vulnerable Groups:

• Excluded from school
• Children with special needs/ disabilities
• In poverty/ poor housing
• Parents with mental health issues
• Alcohol issues
• Drug using parents
• Young carers
• Looked-after children
• Asylum seekers
• Young runaways
• Trafficked children 
• Children growing up in deprived areas
• Traveller children 

Ethical Principles
"...standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues." (Velasquez, 2010)

• Safeguarding
• Justice
• Accountability
• Partnership
• Privacy
• Transparency 
• Honesty

Reference List
HM Government (2015) Working Together to Safeguard Children, Available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2 (Accessed: 29th August 2015)
Velasquez, M et al. (2010)What is Ethics? Santa Clara University.Available at: http://www.scu.edu/ethics//practicing/decision/whatisethics.html (Accessed: 25th August 2013)