The government describe safeguarding as:
"The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully."
Some facts that you might not have known- 7 per cent of children suffer serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents and carers.
- 52 per cent of one-year-olds are hit weekly, or more frequently, by their parents.
- 11 per cent of children aged under 16 experienced penetrative sex, oral sex or attempts at these, against their will, by people known but unrelated to them.
- Each week at least one child dies from cruelty.
The safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act (1989) and (2004) which also features in the United Nations Convection on the Rights of the Child. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 provides a list of people who are barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
