Safeguarding children and young people: everyone’s business
The Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland’s Director of Operations, Sharon Beattie, provides an overview of its work and objectives.
The creation of the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) followed the recommendations by Lord Laming as a result of the Victoria Climbie and Baby P cases.
Laming’s conclusions − that multi-agency child protection committees (a feature of child protection for a decade or more) needed to be revamped and modernised − warranted new arrangements. Laming recommended the creation of Local Safeguarding Boards populated by senior staff in organisations and chaired by individuals independent of the system.
The SBNI was thus established through statute by the Safeguarding Board (Northern Ireland) Act 2011 and officially launched on the 18 September 2012 by the three Ministers for Health, Social Services and Public Safety; Justice; and Education.
The SBNI is directly accountable to the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and subject to the scrutiny of the Assembly’s Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety. The task given to the SBNI is to co-ordinate the activities of its member agencies in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. The central task of the SBNI Board is for the membership to take a view that is beyond the narrow interests of the organisations, to be a Safeguarding Board for children and young people, not organisations or professionals.
Functions
SBNI has the following key functions:
• develop policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Northern Ireland;
• promote an awareness of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
• undertake Case Management Reviews (CMRs) and review such information as may be prescribed in relation to the deaths of children in Northern Ireland;
• advise the Health and Social Care Board and local commissioning groups in relation to safeguarding and promote communication between the Board itself and with children and young people.
The SBNI has now produced its Strategic Plan for 2013-2017 following wide public consultation and direct engagement with children and young people in accordance with the ‘Ask First’ principles. The recently completed SBNI Business Plan 2013-2015 sets out the key milestones to be achieved. On completion, the SBNI’s first annual report will be laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly, setting out the progress it has made and identifying any emerging trends or concerns.
From the outset, two key issues identified as strategic priorities for SBNI have been the new and emerging concerns of child sexual exploitation and e-safety.
Both these areas have recently received high levels of public interest and media attention due to the recognised threats to children and young people.
Approaching the publication of its first CMR, the Board will also concentrate on learning and disseminating lessons from this and future CMRs where matters have gone wrong with serious consequences for the children involved.
At the time of writing, Terms of Reference are being developed in respect of the Direction by Minister Edwin Poots under Article 3 of the Safeguarding Board (Northern Ireland) Act 2011 to undertake a review of the recent cases of 22 children and young people in care subjected to child sexual exploitation. This SBNI review will link closely with the Ministerial Inquiry chaired by Professor Kathleen Marshall.
SBNI’s priority is to keep children safe by focusing on the most vulnerable children and families and specific groups and communities. ‘Safeguarding’ incorporates all preventable harm. It is linked directly to the ‘Living in Safety and with Stability’ outcome of the 10 Year Strategy for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland 2006-2016 and that of the Children and Young Person’s Strategic Partnership (CYSYP).
Through a Memorandum of Understanding, the SBNI and CYSYP will work to promote high standards of practice in relation to the safeguarding of children and the promotion of their welfare. The SBNI will also look to develop effective ways to influence commissioning to ensure positive safeguarding outcomes for the specific groups of children and young people affected by Hidden Harm, Domestic Violence and on the Child Care/Mental Health interfaces through the CYPSP.
Supporting the SBNI and its Independent Chair, Hugh Connor, is a team of professional and administrative staff led by the Director, Sharon Beattie. In addition, there are the part-time Chairs of the Safeguarding Panels and the Case Management Review Panel, and three lay members who have been appointed to ensure that the organisation has independent challenge in its work.
The creation of the Board symbolises a central tenet of the child protection service, that child protection is everyone’s concern. The safeguarding of vulnerable children cannot rest with any one organisation or profession. Engaging children and young people, parents and carers, professionals and the general public in understanding how we can better protect children is a core task for the new Board.
Research shows that the United Kingdom has one of the lowest non-accidental child death rates in the developed world, and that three quarters of children on the child protection register experience a positive outcome. The remaining twenty-five percent deserve the same.
Each year, numerous books, newspaper inches and hours of broadcasting time are given over to examining issues of child rearing, child abuse and the risks to which young people are exposed. From time to time, the media will report the latest terrible story of a child dying at the hands of their parents or carers. In spite of the perceptions created, massive improvements in child protection have been achieved but there is still some way to go.
The decision to create the SBNI in its current form is novel. There are many organisations that have a regulatory function to audit and inspect the work of the member agencies which make up the SBNI. This is not the role of the Board. The SBNI works collaboratively to ensure that member agencies are effective in what they do.
The role of the SBNI is strategic. It is about planning, learning, working and reviewing together. The task is to work with those organisations, professions and the wider community, who are concerned about the protection, well-being and positive outcomes for children. The creation of the SBNI is a tangible demonstration of our society’s commitment to protecting the rights and well-being of children and young people.
Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland
18 Ormeau Avenue
Belfast, BT2 8HS
Tel: 028 9031 1611
Web: www.safeguardingni.org
Email: sbnisupport@hscni.net
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