Rules relaxed on new staff vetting scheme

Authors who visit schools won't now have to register under the Government's vetting and barring scheme.

People who go to different schools to work with different groups of children have been exempted after the Government asked the scheme's boss Sir Roger Singleton to review the rules.

The Vetting and Barring scheme aims to stop paedophiles and other unsafe people from working with children. It is run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority which keeps a list of individuals who are barred from working with children, and makes decisions about whether someone should be included in the list, or removed from it.

Also excused from registering under the changed rules is anyone who works with children less than once a week, or for less than four days a month. Previously people who worked with children once a month or more were told they would have to register.

Everyone else who works with children will eventually have to register under the scheme. New employees and people changing jobs can apply after July 2010. From 2011 everyone working with children, including those who have CRB checks, will have to be registered.

Child database goes live

Head teachers will soon be able to get information about any child in England from a national database.
The massive database, called ContactPoint, will give authorised professionals access to details of every child in England. It will contain their name, address, date of birth, GP and school – and also the name and contact details of any professional working with that particular child.
Two staff from every local authority in England are now being trained to operate the system. In the North West social workers and other professionals will start training and using ContacPoint over the next few months, followed by the rest of the country later in the year.
The government says ContactPoint will help social services, health, police, and head teachers help keep children safe.
According to a statement from the Department for Schools, Children and Families, “Under current arrangements if a professional believes a child is at risk they may have no immediate way of knowing whether other services are already in contact with that child.
“The Government believes a fully operational system could save at least five million hours of professionals’ time, currently wasted trying to track down who else, if anyone, is helping the child.”
But some children’s rights organisations have protested that the database will not necessarily protect children. They fear it infringes children’s and their families privacy, and are concerned that the information on the database may not be secure.
Watch Action on Rights for Children talk about ContactPoint on YouTube.
Youtube

"One child in ten is abused"

One child in ten in the UK is experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse or is neglected, say experts.
Research published in the Lancet medical journal says that most maltreated children are never referred to social services. People who have contact with children such as teachers and teaching assistants lack awareness of the signs of maltreatment, and the procedures for reporting any concerns to child protection agencies. Many professionals also have little confidence that telling social workers will help children or fear their lives will be made even worse if they are taken into care, say the researchers.
Using a range of different studies, the Lancet claims that every year between four and 16 per cent of children are physically abused, and one in ten is neglected or emotionally abused.
During children, up to one in ten girls and one in twenty boys experience penetrative sexual abuse. Up to three times as many are sexually abused in non-penetrative ways.
The researchers say that neglect is at least as damaging as physical or sexual abuse in the long term, but has received least attention.
Lancet editor Richard Horton said the findings showed that child maltreatment was very complex. Trying to blame individual professionals or think there was a simple solution was to “completely misrepresent the extent and depth of the problem”, he said.

TV parenting programmes "harming children"

Child protection charity the NSPCC has issued a warning about the welfare of children on reality TV shows about parenting.
After a TV nanny on the Channel 4 series Bringing Up Baby advised parents to resist cuddling a crying baby, the charity is to set up a panel of experts to advise TV companies on how to look after the safety and well being of children in parenting programmes.
The NSPCC says it is worried that "the rapid growth in reality parenting TV is exposing young children to potential harm.
"Recent programmes have shown the promotion of limited cuddling, infants left to cry alone for long periods, babies being subjected to strict, inflexible routines regardless of their distress, and a complete disregard to the wealth of research that shows the importance of early, sensitive care for health and well being."
The charity is also concerned about the BBC3 series The Baby Borrowers in which it says babies are left in the care of inexperienced teenagers, and both babies and teenagers are put in "stressful situations designed to provoke for the purposes of entertainment".
NSPCC boss Mary Marsh says a group of professional experts is needed to advise on standards for parenting programmes.