Information to help foster care agencies identify and correctly approach child abuse.

1. SAFEGUARDING
Against Child Abuse in Foster
Care Agencies
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2. A guide to help you identify and challenge
child abuse within your foster care agency.
Ensuring that your agency is as safe as
possible.
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www.tcipathway.co.uk

3. What is Child Abuse?
‘Working Together to Safeguard Children – A Guide to Inter Agency working to
Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children’ (HM Government 2015) –
England, defines the four categories of abuse as follows:
• Physical
• Emotional/ Psychological
• Neglect
• Sexual
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4. Physical Abuse
Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or
scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child.
Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer feigns the
symptoms of, or causes ill health to a child whom they are looking after. This
is known as ‘Fabricated and Induced Illness’.
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5. Emotional/ Psychological Abuse
Emotional or psychological abuse is the persistent emotional ill treatment of a
child.
It may involve telling children that they are worthless or unloved. It may
include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately
silencing them or humiliating them through ‘making fun’ of what they say or
how they communicate.
It may involve seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another. It may involve
serious bullying (including cyber- bullying), causing children frequently to feel
frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some
level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of mistreatment of a child,
though it may occur alone.
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6. Neglect
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or
psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s
health or development. A carer may fail to:
• Provide adequate food, clothing and shelter.
• Protect a child from physical and emotional danger.
• Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care givers);
or
• Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.
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7. Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse involves the forcing or enticing a child or young person to take
part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence,
whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. They may include
non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the
production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children
to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also
commit acts of sexual abuse as can other children.
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8. Concerned About the Welfare of a Child?
Working in the foster care industry means that you have a special place in
society. It is important to prioritise the well-being of a child before anything
else.
If concerns relate to a foster carer/ worker reference should be made to the
appropriate procedure in your company.
If you fail to relay this information and also, make it available to the local
authority, you will be putting the child at further risk.
Your agency and your team will also be in breach of your fostering agreement,
making your business subject to a lot of dishevel.
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9. If a Child Makes a Disclosure
• Listen to what the child has to say and explain that they will need to speak
to a social worker about it.
• Write down as many facts delivered to you as possible.
• Record all telephone conversations in the child’s log and the time they
took place.
It is important to record all the information you have obtained. The foster
carer’s record will need to be available for the child’s social worker or those
undertaking the child protection enquiry.
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10. The Investigation Process
The investigation process will take place according to the responsible local
authority’s procedures in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Board’s
procedures.
The registered manager is responsible for ensuring each fostering household
has the information it will need.
You or somebody else from your agency may be required to attend a meeting,
if so, you will need to ensure you have all the information and ‘evidence’ at
hand.
Local authorities often have specific templates for agencies to use when
providing information to a range of meetings.
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11. Everything starts with a conversation, so let’s talk:
Safaraz Ali
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/safaraz
Twitter Handle: @SafarazAli
Tel: 0121 707 0550
Copyright © 2015 TCI Pathway
www.tcipathway.co.uk