How to Safeguard the Well-Being of Youth - Essay Example

Understand How to Safeguard the Well-being of Children and Young People Table of Contents Introduction 3 Understand The Importance Of Ensuring Children And Young Peoples’ Safety And Protection In The Work Setting. 4 2) Understand How To Respond To Evidence Or Concerns That A Child Or Young Person Has Been Abused Or Harmed. 7 4) Understand How to Work With Children and Young People to Support Their Safety and Well-Being 10 5) Understand the Importance of E-Safety for Children and Young People 12 Conclusion 13 References 15 Appendices 18 Introduction The modern-day scenario has witnessed a constant increase in a number of issues associated with ensuring the safety and protection of people as well as children in the workplace environment. In many situations, people fail to realize the importance of wellbeing of the people as well as the children. Children have to face several issues in their schools and colleges, such as bullying, which have a negative impact upon their well-being. People, who face discrimination and lack of recognition, have a strong influence upon their overall well-being (Elliott, 2013). Hence, there is a need to mitigate the issues that hamper the well-being of people in their working atmosphere and those that have a negative impact upon the children studying in schools and colleges. The paper aims at providing a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that are concerned with providing welfare to people and children. Furthermore, the paper aims at discussing the significance of protection as well as safety of people and children in the workplace atmosphere, apart from gaining knowledge on how a person must respond to such evidences, in case they have encountered situations wherein a child or a person is harmed or abused. Furthermore, the study would illuminate upon gaining an understanding on how to respond to situations when a person or child is bullied. Finally, the paper would elaborate providing a detailed insight on how one can support people and children towards ensuring their well-being as well as safety and gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the significance of e-safety for children as well as people round the globe. 1. Understand The Importance Of Ensuring Children And Young Peoples’ Safety And Protection In The Work Setting. Ensuring the safety of people and children in the workplace and school atmosphere is helpful in ensuring their protection and promotion of the welfare related with their cognitive development. For development of well being, there is a need to promote child development and ensuring that the child has access to healthy foodstuffs, exercise and gain access to several opportunities in the personal lives. There is a need to guarantee the well being since it helps in developing the abilities of the people and children to take decisions on their own and are able to live independent lives, with due consideration to their age and development. In addition, there is a need to develop well being since, many of the children requires added support throughout their lives, which are either deprived to the basic amenities or else are their needs are not met. Furthermore, well being is necessary since many people and children around the globe face situations of domestic violence as well as several other health difficulties. There also exists the need to protect people and children, since there are many people who face continuous harm from changes in their personal lives. Many of the children face constant problems from physical abuses conducted by their parents, apart from sexual harassment, amongst others. In many cases, agencies works together towards mitigation of these problems, however, the conditions of the children and people can be improved through psychological, medical and developmental evaluations at periodic times (Munro, 2008). Formulation and application of a number of policies and procedures in the workplace settings would allow development of well being amongst the children as well as people. Policies must be framed with respect to fire and emergency evacuation along with provision of first aid in case of emergency. Furthermore, a number of policies such as sharing concerns and working in a transparent way can surely help in responding to the health issues faced by children. In addition, policies concerned with administration of medicines in case of severe conditions, must be designed, apart from procedures on responding to child welfare as well as safety. The designed policies would include the list of services being provided to people and children, which are adjoined with the regulatory guidelines of the nation in association with child protection and safety in schools. Furthermore, policies must inhibit activities that prevent from situations of neglect and abuse. In addition, the framed policies must include guidelines on proper recruitment of staff members, who are concerned with providing services to the children, and have reasonable level of experience to establish relationship with parents and work towards the betterment of children (Elliott, 2013). In most of the situations, development of well being fails owing to existence of poor practices, such as allegations made against staffs concerned with development of well being among the children and people. A number of incidences occur where children and people are being harmed and abused by the staffs, which have been alleged of taking indecent images of the children or else are involved in situations of their sexual harassment. Sometimes adults are observed to be having an ill-mannered behaviour with children. Owing to which, a child feels distracted and terrified of a particular staff member who have been indulged into such misdeeds. In addition, situations of establishment of close relationship of staffs with the children can be observed, wherein, the safeguarding duties allocated to a staff are neglected and parents are unable to rely on the staffs. Hence, policies must also be framed in a manner that focuses on resolving such allegations and development of formal association amongst the staff and children. Since the well-being of the people and children is of utmost importance, hence, there must be a scope of discussion, which enables children to talk with the parents and others regarding such problems. Effective policies safeguarding children through appropriate staff selection and mentioning the specific job roles to the staff can help in prohibiting emergence of such cases to the maximum possible extent (Rogers, 2010). Protection of whistleblowers is another important area that must be considered while designing and implementing effective policies to ensure children and people wellbeing. It must be made mandatory to the internal staff and external members such as parents to indulge themselves in activities such as whistle blowing, which would help in identifying the wrong doings in the workplace. The people who have ‘blown the whistle’, can protect themselves from being discriminated and harmed or bullied, it they have conducted the activity in response of an issue and in good faith. Whistle blowing must be made obligatory and must be encouraged amongst the people so that they are able to raise their voice without the scope of apprehension (Wilson & James, 2007). The new staff members must follow a set of established responsibilities that are designed to ensure wellbeing of people and children. While making off-site visits and going for outside tours, the new staffs carry the responsibilities to take care of themselves as well as the children, in cooperation with the parents and as per the guidelines set by statutory boards. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the new staff to ensure that they are able to facilitate the children and people in maintaining health and safety, and must not be hesitant of whistle blowing in case of witnessing wrong and uncouth affairs. In addition, the new staffs have the responsibility of acting as a parent for the children to ensure safety even when they are not under the guidance of their parents. Moreover, it must be ensured that they work in adherence to the established norms and guidelines and do not indulge themselves in situations of misunderstanding and abusiveness towards children and people (Hull, 2011). 2) Understand How To Respond To Evidence Or Concerns That A Child Or Young Person Has Been Abused Or Harmed. A number of symptoms, indicators and behaviour in the context of safeguarding of people and children, can help in assessment of whether a child or person has been harmed or abused. This could be facilitated with the help of gaining an understanding of the concept that are aligned with such instances of abuses. Abuse can be understood as ill-treatment of people or child, which includes sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Furthermore, neglect of children and people and the inability of the parents and staff to provide adequate wellbeing to the children, is another possible issue in relation to safeguarding. Identification of the changes in behaviour and indicators can be facilitated by keeping a close watch over the children and their activities. Behaviour such as increased crying, wearing dirty clothes, strong mood swings, advanced use of sexual language and domestic violence, must be recognized in order to ensure facilitation of well being and even address the backlogs of cognitive development (Scott & Ward, 2005). In case a child alleges harm or abuse, a person must engage themselves in careful listening of the problems and must show high level of concern and involvement. In addition, the alleged staff member must take into consideration, the responses such as no action, if a parent is able to disclose the reason behind harm. Essentially, cross-examination of a child’s wordings must be prohibited and the staff must take an appropriate note of the comments made by people. Furthermore, discussion must emerge as part of taking emergency and necessary action towards those involved in discriminating people and bullying children (Meadow & et. al., 2009). Children, parents as well as caretakers have a number of rights, which they can use to defend themselves in situations of suspected abuse. Children have the ‘right of be listened’, which provides them with the ability to share their views Children and carers have the ‘right to be believed’, which ensures that their views are justified Children, Carers and Parents reserve the Right of sharing opinions in the ‘process of decision-making’. This allows them to participate in the decision making process to determine the results Furthermore, caretakers and children have the ‘The right to be respected’, in terms of their opinions Children and people have the ‘Right to feel safe’ from unfair circumstances Children and Parents further have the ‘right to have their situations investigated’ and ‘to complain and appeal’ (Meadow & et. al., 2009) 3) Understand How to Respond To Evidence or Concerns That a Child or Young Person Has Been Bullied Bullying is considered as the display of an aggressive behaviour of an individual or group towards others, which is characterized by repetition and inability of victims to defend themselves. Bullying can be classified based upon physical, verbal and indirect bullying, which have severe consequences upon the bullied child or people. In addition, bullying is also practised with the help of technological advancements, including the use of cyber bullying via internet individual, gender-based, racist, amongst others (Kowalski & et. al., 2012). In case of suspected and alleged bullying, a number of procedures can be followed by the staff members concerned with establishment of well being of people and children. This would include development of a cultural framework that considers the ability of the people as well as children to share their feelings, apart from establishment of cordial relationships and communications with parents. Furthermore, the procedures would include specifying children regarding their behaviour and taking a firm action, whenever it is necessary to do so. Children or people may further be supported with the use of local policies to defend bullying, providing reassurance to children and their parents regarding elimination of bullying and emphasizing on team building efforts. In addition, activities such as providing encouragement to the children, listening to their difficulties and discussing such difficulties with seniors and guardians must be initiated to deal with bullying. In case issues involving bullying emerge, they can be dealt with the help of gaining an understanding of the strategies to deal with the wrongful behaviour of the persons engaged in the same, apart from excluding them from indulging in providing further services. Discussions, peer counselling and working with the staff member to promote prevention of bullying, can be considered as another effective step towards mitigation instances of bullying among children (Clark, 2014). 4) Understand How to Work With Children and Young People to Support Their Safety and Well-Being A number of strategies can be formulated for ensuring development of children and people by ensuring their well being and safety. This could be understood with the help of analyzing the steps that must be incorporated in the process of developing self-confidence as well as self-esteem amongst the children. This would be ensured with the use of a personalized approaching in the process of safeguarding the children and people who are being abused at the different fields of their life. Staff members concerned with providing child and people welfare has the responsibility to identify the factors having a negative impact over the children or people, and develop sustainable relationships to ensure that the child is able to share the problems (Owen & Hughes, 2009). In addition, self-esteem amongst the children and people can be established by enabling them to express their emotions, which would further build up their level of commitment. By enhancing and strengthening assurance can play a major role in ensuring the development of well being, which could be facilitated by indulging in development of genuine interest in the feelings depicted by children and people. Furthermore, appropriate steps must be taken concerning record keeping of the changes in behaviour of people or child. Working with the guardians, such as assisting the parents in motivating their children and providing them the required support, can surely help in ensuring that self-confidence and self-esteem are maximized (Tassoni, 2014). Resilience amongst the children and young people can be developed with the help of devising techniques to supervise stressful situations, apart from dealing with traumatic problems. Furthermore, resilience can be promoted to cope with everyday concerns, which would be supported via use of counselling and management of the supporting consequences that would further ensure development of a long-term wellbeing (Wade, 2011). People and children in order to safeguard themselves from the effect of bullying or being harmed, can adopt a number of strategies, such as disclosing hidden concerns regarding misconduct and gaining an understanding of the behaviour that is expected from them. The children and people can further develop resilience and awareness amongst themselves, with the cooperation of their parents and preparing themselves in a manner to deal with the rising concerns. Furthermore, the decisions regarding safety can be facilitated with the help of ensuring implementation of a number of provisions, such as ‘provision for decision-making’, ‘provision to support overall development’, ‘provision to enjoy independence’ and ‘provision for empowerment’ (Walker, 2012). In addition, provisions regarding assessment of risks must be identified to develop the feeling of self-protection amongst people and children and ensuring that they possess the capability to formulate appropriate decisions regarding safety. The additional services would include providing necessary knowledge on how to deal with the problems associated with bullying and discrimination, apart from emphasising upon the development of inner trust of the people and children can play a positive role to mitigate the issues hindering the path of wellbeing. Development of risk-taking abilities and ensuring indecent lives in future can be other services provided by the caretakers, which would help in establishment of a strong bonding with the children and ensure successful implementation of measures taken to ensure their well-being. Children as well as people must inhibit the knowledge of seeking help in case they encounter any issue, and must have the knowledge of having a command over their respective responsibilities and sharing their problems with the guardians as well as other members. Encouragement can be built amongst the members to ensure that the issues of abuse, neglect and bullying are prohibited within schools, colleges and workplaces (Powell, 2007). A number of ways can be formulated to empower people and children, which would enable them to take positive and informed choices regarding development of their wellbeing as well as safety. One of the ways that would ensure development of wellbeing among the people and children is the use of reflective as well as active listening skills. Another way of empowering children and people is by ensuring that there exists scope of self-expression and establishment of a certain spaces that would facilitate sharing of concerns by children as well as people. In addition, taking steps to mitigate the rising concerns, apart from encouraging consideration of children and people safety and observing their behaviour, can play a key role in development of wellbeing of the people and children (Ward & et. al., 2012). 5) Understand the Importance of E-Safety for Children and Young People To reduce the concerns associated with neglect and abuse of children and people, there is a need to ensure that gaining access to appropriate website and having a proper use of mobile devices, since, issues regarding internet safety and cyber-bulling are on a rise. Issues such as cyber-bulling and internet safety can be minimized by establishment of a clear e-policy, apart from developing appropriate internet filters to ensure inability to gain access to unethical websites. In addition, a number of measures can be taken to promote e-safety through identification of the privacy setting on computers having access to internet and monitoring the payment mechanism in order to avoid the thefts associated with financial losses (Howe, 2005). Measures can be taken to prohibit the issues of cyber-bullying, grooming, exploitation, site blocking, amongst others. This would be facilitated by ensuring that personal information is not distributed over the websites and the computers upon which tasks are being performed, are possessing required softwares that can prohibit the flow of valuable information. In addition, it must be made sure that the people and children are unable to share their valuable information such as photographs, contact numbers and email addresses, which would further help in ensuring that there does not exists situations involving theft of information. Furthermore, in order to identity theft, credit card fraud and trade of unregulated and illegal items, monitoring as well as blocking techniques such as use of antivirus and password lockers can be helpful. While making online purchases, it must be ensured that people have an idea of identifying instances of thefts and other concerns. Furthermore, people and children must involve in making purchases from verified websites having authenticated links and set a strong and secure password, which would be accompanied by gaining access to printout of the orders placed (Barker & Hodes, 2004). Conclusion It can be inferred from the above study that there has been a steady increase in the issues concerned with safeguarding the well-being of people as well as children. The study provides an idea of the steps such as promoting child development and ensuring psychological, medical and developmental evaluations, which could be helpful to ensure that children and young people are protected from harm within the workplace settings. Display of wrong behaviour such as wearing dirty clothes, strong mood swings, advanced use of sexual language and domestic violence are possible symptoms, which were outlined in the study, in the context of safeguarding children and people. The study also revealed the rights occupied by the children and parents in case they encountered situations of suspected abuse, such as the ‘right of be listened’ and ‘right to be believed’. The study also highlighted the steps that must be taken to prevent bullying, such as providing reassurance to the children and their parents. In addition, the study also gave a valuable knowledge on the importance of whistle blowing and the protections of whistleblowers. It also illuminated upon the importance of developing self-esteem among the people and children by keeping a record of the changes in behaviour of people and working with guardians. Furthermore, the study provided a comprehensive knowledge of the various provisions, such as ‘provision to support overall development’, ‘provision to enjoy independence’, which can play an important role in ensuring safety of children and people. The study also focused on how to develop resilience, such as use of counselling, and finally discussed the steps such as establishment of a clear e-policy that must be taken to ensure prevention of internet safety and cyber-bulling. References Barker, J. & Hodes, D. T., 2004. The Child in Mind: A Child Protection Handbook. Psychology Press. Clark, K. M., 2014. Play Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice. Guilford Publications. Elliott, M., 2013. The Essential Guide to Tackling Bullying: Practical Skills for Teachers. Pearson UK. Howe, D., 2005. Child Abuse and Neglect: Attachment, Development and Intervention. Palgrave Macmillan. Hull, K. B., 2011. Play Therapy and Aspergers Syndrome: Helping Children and Adolescents Grow, Connect, and Heal Through the Art of Play. Jason Aronson. Kowalski, R. M. & et. al., 2012. Cyberbullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. John Wiley & Sons. Meadow, S. R. & et. al., 2009. ABC of Child Protection. John Wiley & Sons. Munro, E., 2008. Effective Child Protection. SAGE. Owen, H. & Hughes, L., 2009. Good Practice in Safeguarding Children: Working Effectively in Child Protection. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Powell, C., 2007. Safeguarding Children and Young People: A Guide for Nurses and Midwives. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Rogers, V., 2010. Cyberbullying: Activities to Help Children and Teens to Stay Safe in a Texting, Twittering, Social Networking World. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Scott, J. & Ward, H., 2005. Safeguarding and Promoting the Well-being of Children, Families and Communities. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Tassoni, P., 2014. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator for the Work-Based Learner. Hachette UK. Wade, J., 2011. Caring for Abused and Neglected Children: Making the Right Decisions for Reunification or Long-term Care. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Walker, S., 2012. Effective Social Work with Children, Young People and Families: Putting Systems Theory into Practice. SAGE. Ward, H. & et. al., 2012. Safeguarding Babies and Very Young Children from Abuse and Neglect, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Wilson, K. & James, A. L., 2007. The Child Protection Handbook: The Practitioners Guide to Safeguarding Children. Elsevier Health Sciences. Appendices Advice Leaflet Read More