Victoria Climbie Case Essay

There are many procedures, policies, legislations and statutory guidance to support the safety and welfare of children and young people. They have been developed over many years to recognise the rights of children and young people, protect vulnerable children and young people and after independent inquiries of fatal abuse cases, to recognise the failures of multi agencies and support services.

Children Act 1989 – Determines the duty of early year’s practitioners to identify and meet the separate and distinctive needs of children and to keep them safe. It initiated the belief that the child ought to be at the centre of planning and that a child’s well-being and safety are vital when judgements are made concerning them. This act also recognises the accountabilities of parents in keeping their offspring safe. In this act there are two particular segments that relate to the duty of local authority with concern to child protection, these are-

Current legislation is the result of The children Act 1989 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and was clear about their responsibility’s and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made.Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded.The Laming report led to the governments Every Child Matters paper and The Children Act 2004. In the last year this has now been renamed Every

Lord lemmings report on the death of Victoria Climbie brought into force the children act 2004 which requires all local authorities across England and Wales to set up a local safeguarding children board. This states that each area should promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people. LSCB replaced the Area Child Protection Committees and stated all agencies should work together to protect children. An assessment is carried out annually to make sure all agencies are working to promote safeguarding and welfare of children. EVERY CHILD MATTERS.

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

The Children Act 2004 has information about the different services that children and young people are entitled to. Local authorities and other bodies and requires that they work together in improving the well-being of children in the local area (Childrensrightswales.org.uk, 2015). This legislation came into place after the incident with involved Victoria Climbie who was abused by an older man. Her non-accidental injuries were reported to child protection authorizes, however an investigation was not fully carried out. There were many occasions that show the failings of the system, different people let her down. As a result of this case, The Children Act 2004 came about. The GPs had a responsibility to keep in contact with the social services

During the 1980’s and to the mid 1990’s, the provision for looked after children underwent a massive overhaul. After the abuse and deaths of another three children in the early 80‘s, a number of parliamentary reports led to the development of The Children Act 1989. This act “marked a watershed in legislation on children” and “tried to balance two sets of contradictory pressures; greater child protection with greater parental rights” (Glennerster, 2007). Also, an alarming number of reports into institutional abuse of children in care in the1990‘s came to light, and following a frenzied media coverage, and yet another public outcry, the government commissioned Sir William Utting, Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate to

Staff were not aware of who they could talk to, this critic’s poor management and lack of training. Staff have a duty of care according to section 11 of Children Act 2004 and yet they could not protect Daniels safety and wellbeing and failed to take any action to save his

Working together to safeguard children 2006 sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989 and the Children’s Act 2004. It is important that all practitioners within settings and environments looking and caring after children and young people must know their responsibilities and duties in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, following their legislations, policies and procedures.

The death of Victoria Climbie was largely responsible for the introduction of ‘Every Child Matters’, Children’s Act 2004, the creation of Contact Point project, and the creation of a Childrens Commissioner for England.

The structural changes involved making the post of a director of children’s services in council who would be in charge for the safety of all children in their area. Furthermore, there an assessment framework that was created so practitioners such as doctors and expects in the health, education and the police could instigate better support for families not thought and believe to reach child protection thresholds. The local safeguarding children boards were also arrangement by taking on the duties for multi-agency child protection training and investigating the causes of deaths and incidents of serious harm that could been preventable in their area. This means that after the case of Victoria Climbie death, there were a new model to work in all

The following is an outline of current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK Home Nation for safeguarding children

There was also the case of Victoria Climbié (2000), who was killed by her caregivers when she was eight years old, her death led to some of these key changes. There were many opportunities, at least 12, (Telegraph, 2002) missed by professionals during her short life and if these had been picked up and investigated thoroughly could have prevented her death. After her death there was an inquiry led by Lord Lamming, (2003) ‘to make recommendations as to how such an event may, as far as possible, be avoided in the future.’ After his report was produced, a paper, ‘Every child matter’ was published by the government and the Children Act 2004 was also passed. One of the key aspects of this act was to make sure that any agencies involved with cases

This essay will show how and why children’s services have evolved into their current form in the UK. It will explore children’s services from the 19th to the 21st century and show how they have changed and developed. This essay will look at the welfare state in relation to the Beveridge report, the creation of the NHS and other children’s services, political ideologies and policies and legislation. It will conclude with modern day future challenges of children’s services including the five social evils. Children’s services support and protect vulnerable children, young people, their families and carers. (nhs.co.uk) According to Malcolm Hill (2012), “if as societies are to achieve the best for all children and particularly who are in need, it will require providing them with the best possible services.”

Prior to 1998, individuals reported to FACS if they suspected if a child is at ‘risk of harm’. The CPH was overwhelmed by many calls that did now warrant the exercise of ‘considerable statutory powers’ (Wood, 2014) that led to a surfeit of cases that required investigation. Administrative resources were split between sorting and referring allegations to FACS. The introduction of CWUs led to an 11.1% reduction of calls to CPH and a 6.1% decrease in total Helpline demand (total calls, faxes and eReports)(NSW Family and Community Services Annual Statistical Report 2012/13, p52). With this decrease in calls, there should be a decrease in child abuse/neglect but this is not the case. Even after raising the threshold of mandatory reporting, statistics reveal that the CPH is failing to protect the rights of children WHAT RIGHTS. It is evident that the CPH has provided inadequate protection of children, particularly when considering the deaths of children identified as being at risk. In 2012, 41 children died as a result of abuse or neglect and six of the dead children had been reported to FACS more than 20 times (Wood, 2013). Additionally in 2013, 37 700 children were victims of abuse or neglect and the numbers rose to 42 457(2015)("Child Wellbeing Units | Keep Them Safe", 2016). These statistics demonstrates that whilst the number of calls to CPH has decreased, the number of reported children has increased which means that there is a failure to protect and care for