Children

Worried About a Child?

If you are worried about a child or young person please report it immediately. Further information can be found on the Oxfordshire Children's Safeguarding Board website.  Primary Care Professionals should refer to the referral pathway.

Further information and frequently asked questions from professionals are detailed below:


Training

What Safeguarding Training do I Need?

Details of the roles and competencies for health care staff are included in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health publication Safeguarding Children and Young People.

What Safeguarding Training can I Access?

Both Safeguarding Boards offer face to face and online training which will contribute towards your level 3 safeguarding training requirements. OCCG also run regular safeguarding workshops which are open to all practice staff and are advertised via the practice safeguarding leads and practice managers.

http://training.oscb.org.uk/

Oxon Safeguarding Training 

Supplementary guide to training requirements RCGPs

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Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP)

Deaths of all children, up to the age of 18 years, need to be reviewed, taking into account all available information for each death.  The principles underlying the review of all child deaths are:

Every child death is a tragedy for the family and the wider community.  By reviewing child deaths we can learn lessons to prevent future child deaths.  Joint agency working draws on the skills and particular responses of each professional group. Child Death Reviews should lead to positive action to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The overarching goal of this process is to reduce the number of child deaths. The review aims to ensure that there is a full understanding off the events leading to the child's death. The recommendations arising from a review should lead to improved services for children and their families, both at local and national level.

In Oxfordshire the CDOP panel includes professionals from Health and Social Care, the Police, Ambulance Service, Bereavement Support, lay members and the Coroner's Office and is chaired by a representative of OCCG.  For specialist advice, additional professionals are co-opted to join the panel. The CDOP meets bi-monthly. On concluding each review, the panel makes recommendations which can include matters affecting the safety and welfare of children in Oxfordshire and wider public health concerns.

Any member of the community, i.e. family members, can complete and submit a Form A notification.  When a child dies their registered GP will be contacted to complete an electronic form B and to attend an Early Response meeting within 72 hours of the death, if it is unexpected.  Details will be sent by the OCCG Safeguarding Team.

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Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

1. I think a child may be being sexually exploited, what should I do?

The Spotting the Signs questionnaire will help when exploring consent with young people. If this bears out your concern, refer to the multiagency team working with CSE and part of the Phoenix team.  Please consider if consent needs to be sought.

Once completed the questionnaire needs to be uploaded onto the patent's record and and coded 'at risk of sexual exploitation' 13VX or 'victim of child sexual exploitation' 14XH.

The Horizon Team supports young people and families affected by sexual abuse. 

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Recording Safeguarding Information

Managing Safeguarding Information may be helpful for safeguarding administrators. Safeguarding codes in EMIS which are linked to a flag can be removed using these instructions. SNOWMED codes can be found here

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Suggested Child Safeguarding Policy

Practices might find the template Child Safeguarding Policy

 Contacting Children's Social Care

Details of contacts for Children's Social Care are available from the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board.

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Extremism and Radicalisation 

If you are worried about radicalisation, or would like information about training on Prevent for your staff visit the https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/fire-and-public-safety/safeguarding-extremism website.

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Domestic Abuse

If you are worried about a child in a domestic abuse household visit the Oxfordshire Children's Safeguarding Board website.  

Further useful information can be found at the Reducing the Risk website.

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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

If you are worried about a child at risk of FGM follow the procedure. If you are aware that FGM has occurred in a young person under the age of 18 (either through first hand disclosure or examination - you do NOT need to examine to confirm) then you have a mandatory reporting duty to report this directly to the Police by ringing 101.  This is not a transferable duty.  

Neglect Practitioner Portal

In Oxfordshire, neglect is the most common reason for children becoming subject to a child protection plan.  It is a common feature in the county's recent serious case reviews.  From the Neglect Practitioner Portal you can access four other pages which include guidance, tools, information and links around working with neglect.  

There is also an offline version available to download from the portal homepage.Recognising that neglect can be difficult to quantify, work with and improve, The Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board has created the Neglect Practitioner Portal - a one-stop shop for practitioners from all agencies to find guidance, tools and resources which help to identify and address neglect concerns.

 

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