SOVA & SOCA Level 3 | Instructions

1. Read through the information

2. Pay particular attention to highlighted areas as they are the key learning points that you will be asked in the test

3. Take the test at the end of the section

Vulnerability and Protection

What is safeguarding?

[highlight color=”yellow”]“Safeguarding is the recognition, and the prevention, of abusive behaviour in practice”[/highlight]

How do we define a vulnerable adult or child?

A vulnerable adult is an individual over the age of 18….”who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation”

A child as stated in the Children Act 1989, is “a person under the age of 18” and under section 115(4) of the Police Act 1997 “a person considered vulnerable if they are substantially dependent upon others in performing basic functions, or their ability to communicate with those providing services, or to communicate with others is severely impaired”

In summary a ‘vulnerable’ person, adult or child, may be unable to protect themselves from assault, abuse or neglect and that is why safeguarding measures need to be in place and adhered to at all times.

Vulnerability and Protection

Vulnerable adults and children interact with different people in a variety of agency settings.

They live, work and play in a wide range of environments where adults provide education, care, leisure and support for them. Examples of these agencies include schools, sports centres, hospitals, youth organisations and their own family homes.

By law all of these agencies have a legal responsibility to protect any children or vulnerable adults in their care.

We can divide these agencies into three categories:

[highlight color=”yellow”]Recreational[/highlight] – youth clubs, church groups, sports clubs and organisations such as Brownies, Scouts and Boys Brigade.
[highlight color=”yellow”]Health & Social Care[/highlight] – Hospitals, Doctors and Dental Surgeries, registered children’s homes and foster homes.
[highlight color=”yellow”]Educational[/highlight] – Nurseries, primary and secondary schools and after school clubs.

A vulnerable adult or child does not understand or accept their vulnerability and therefore plays a key role in them being at greater risk of being mistreated or harmed.

Vulnerability and Protection

Protection is a method of guarding against harm, danger and mistreatment. It is also a way to ensure any vulnerable person is safe and free from risk of ‘significant harm’. Significant harm is defined as “the ill-treatment or the impairment of heath or development including, for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another”.

Protection begins with the early recognition of vulnerability. Everyone should be protected from harm but it is even more important if the child or adult is vulnerable.

A sign that something is amiss could be a change in the persons behaviour such as:

• nightmares,
• trouble sleeping,
• sudden fear of the dark,
• loss of appetite,
• sudden mood swings or total withdrawal,
• persistent stomach upsets, with no recognisable reason.

A single change does not necessarily indicate that something is wrong, the situation would need to be monitored closely over a period of time to identify if the possibility of abuse or harm is present.

The protection of children and other vulnerable people is everybody’s concern because of the terrible consequences abuse has on all ages and the far reaching damage it causes not only to the victim but to the care providers and professionals involved.

Any suspicion that a vulnerable person is being harmed must be reported to protect that individual

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

HARM

We have already defined what Significant Harm is in the last section but you need to understand that there is not clear criteria to measure what constitutes significant harm. The concept is based on a number of factors:

• Severity of the ill-treatment
• Degree and extent of physical harm
• Duration and frequency
• Amount of Premeditation
• Degree of threat and coercion
• Presence of sexual abuse.

Sometimes one traumatic incident may constitute significant harm such as a violent assault but more often than not it is a collection of events which can interrupt, damage or change the persons physical and emotional development and well-being.

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

ABUSE

[highlight color=”yellow”]Abuse is any behaviour towards a person that deliberately or unknowingly causes harm, endangers life or violates their rights.[/highlight]

It may be:

• Physical
• Sexual
• Psychological
• Financial
• Discriminatory
• Neglect
• Bullying

In relationships between a child and/or a vulnerable person and an adult there is usually a dependence on the adult which can place them in a position of power over the child and/or vulnerable person. It is extremely inappropriate and serious if that adult chooses to abuse this imbalance of power within that relationship.

Whether abuse occurs due to ignorance or is a deliberate act the impact is the same, devastating.

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Deliberate Abuse

Carried out on purpose and is usually planned.

Non-deliberate

Carried out by accident or without intention of doing wrong. Usually due to the person knowing no different.

Mistreatment

Treating someone badly in general, either mentally or physically.

It is extremely serious and totally unacceptable for someone in a position of power to use that position to abuse others.

The variety of people who carry out abuse has been known to include:

• Carer
• Teacher
• Friend
• Relative/Partner
• Employee
• Volunteer (such as youth group leader)
• Parent

One of the biggest issues with any type of harm or abuse is so much of it is unnoticed or unreported.

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

The child or the vulnerable person can think that what the ‘adult’ does is ‘normal’ behaviour and do not understand it is inappropriate. Abuse rarely happens in the open and so is unseen. Third parties often do not want to believe or accept that the abuse is taking place.

By understanding the various forms that harm and abuse can take will help you to effectively recognise when it is happening and what action must be taken to protect the vulnerable adult or child.

Abuse and harm have been defined for you earlier in this learning but to recap the four main types are:

• [highlight color=”yellow”]Physical abuse[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Psychological abuse[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Sexual abuse[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Neglect[/highlight]

Any abuse can put a vulnerable adult or child’s safety, self-esteem, growth, development and survival at risk.

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Physical Abuse – mistreatment which will damage the health, well-being, development or emotions of the individual although it may or may not cause injury.

• Slapping, punching, pushing or hitting
• Smothering
• Burning scalding
• Force-feeding
• Poisoning

Behavioural and Physical Indicators to be aware of include:

• No memory of how injury occurred
• Flinching when touched unexpectedly
• Appearing frightened of parents
• Being afraid to go home
• Wariness of adults
• Extremes of aggressive behaviour or passive/withdrawn behaviour
• Injuries inconsistent with normal daily activities or child’s play
• Slap or finger marks on the body
• Unexplained bruising or cuts to various areas of the body and face

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Psychological (emotional) Abuse – this form of abuse attacks the vulnerable adult or child’s confidence, trust in their own judgement and sense of self worth. Continuous threats, mocking or criticism can lead to emotional abuse. As a result of psychological abuse the sufferer loses all sense of importance and personal value. Scars from emotional abuse can be far deeper, more painful and longer lasting than physical ones.

Emotional abuse can include:

• [highlight color=”yellow”]Overuse of bad language[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Hostility[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Total lack of interest in the individual resulting in them feeling unloved, unwanted and worthless[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Stopping the individual joining in normal activities or mixing with other adults or children[/highlight]

Behavioural and Physical Indicators can include:

• Depression
• Excessive cleanliness and neatness §Unexplained fearfulness
• Learning or sleeping disorders
• Habit disorders such as bed wetting, rocking and thumb sucking
• Nausea / Change in appetite

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Sexual Abuse – is when a child, youth or vulnerable adult is forced, tricked or pressurised into any type of sexual act with an adult, youth or another child.

Activities can include:

• [highlight color=”yellow”]Kissing[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Oral Sex[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Touching breasts or genitals[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Sexual intercourse[/highlight]

Examples of Sexual Abuse:

• Physical sexual contact
• Rape
• Prostitution
• Inappropriate touching
• Exposing genitalia
• Encouraging or involving a vulnerable adult or child to look at pornographic materials or to watch sexual acts.

Behavioural and Physical Indicators can include:

• Inappropriate or unusual sexual knowledge
• Delinquency
• Self-mutilation
• Injuries to the vaginal or anal area
• Pregnancy

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Neglect – failure to provide or for withholding help, care or support necessary , (intentional or unintentional), for a vulnerable adult or child that impairs their development and welfare. It also includes a failure to intervene in dangerous situations and often the effect of neglect goes unnoticed as it may be more emotional than physical.

Examples may include:

• [highlight color=”yellow”]A woman smoking, using alcohol or drugs during pregnancy §Lack of response or protection to emotional needs[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Lack of encouragement to develop[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Inadequate supervision[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Lack of food, clothing, shelter or money[/highlight]

Behavioural and Physical Indicators can include:

• Frequent absence from school or place of work §Inappropriate acts
• Misuse of alcohol or drugs
• Stealing
• Poor hygiene
• Lack of energy
• Scruffy, dirty, worn or inappropriate clothing

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Bullying – [highlight color=”yellow””]to use intimidation, violence or the threat of violence to hurt another person in a number of emotional or physical ways with the intention to cause pain and suffering.[/highlight]

Bullying can be carried out by both children and adults and is often wrongly linked to ‘growing up’ or symptom of different cultures and not identified as a form of abuse.

Bullying happens at school, work, community, home or via the internet. Recent evidence has shown bullying taking place by telephone, text messaging and email.

There are three main characteristics to bullying:

• Usually occurs over time and is generally a repetitive act although it can also be a one off aggressive act
• An imbalance of power is usually present where the powerful attack the less powerful whether an individual or a group
• Can take the form of psychological, verbal, emotional or physical

Bullying can be devastating and have serious lasting effects on those who are bullied, children and adults.

RECOGNISING TYPES OF HARM AND ABUSE

Examples of bullying may include being:

• Called names
• Ignored
• Attacked
• Robbed of money or possessions

Excuses for bullying may include:

• [highlight color=”yellow”]Race[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Learning or physical disability[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Gender[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Sexuality[/highlight]
• [highlight color=”yellow”]Physical traits[/highlight]

Signs of bullying may include:

• Becoming withdrawn or easily upset
• Reluctance to go to school or work
• Reluctance to socialise
• Evidence of stealing money or other valuables
• Recoiling at raised voices, telephone or doorbell ringing

Safeguarding vulnerable adults and children is not covered by a single law or piece of legislation . The law in relation to this area can be divided into three categories:

Criminal Law – relates to a person or persons who have broken the law in connection with the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children and who would, given the chance, be a danger to their safety. Criminal laws deal with the punishment of offenders.

Civil Law – covers both private and public law. Private law governs the relationship between the state and individuals and lays out what is required to protect and reduce risk of harm to vulnerable adults and children.

Case Law – is the decisions and interpretations made by Judges while deciding on the legal
issues before them. Once the law has been interpreted in a certain way it will be recorded and may be referred to in the future as a precedent. Case laws are used to influence the law and future decisions made in court or by Judges.

Statutory guidance relating to the Safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children includes:

The Children Act 1989 and 2004

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

Mental Capacity Act 2005

All decisions taken in the safeguarding process must comply with this legislation. This legislation is in place to prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable or ‘at risk’ adults and children.

It also ensures that anyone with responsibilities for the health, safety, education, well-being and care of vulnerable adults and children are fully trained and understand their responsibilities. They need to understand the legal requirements expected of them and that they have a ‘duty of care’ to ensure the adult and child’s protection.

The legislation has been developed over many years as a result of the increase in allegations about abuse and neglect. It aims to provide a framework for the protection and safeguarding of ‘at risk’ adults and children.

The next few pages will provide a brief overview of specific legislation.

Key The Children Act (1989)

At the core of this legislation is the concept ‘what is best for the child’ and this takes priority over what the parent or carer wants for the child.

The act applies to all people and organisations that have a responsibility to manage and ensure adequate child protection measures are in place for those who work with children. It is assumed that the best outcomes for children are achieved when they remain within parental responsibility and, if necessary, have additional support in place to allow parents to provide appropriate care and a safe environment for their children.

Parental responsibility is defined as ‘..all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law, a parent has in relation to a child and his or her property.’

For children in care, the parent retains parental responsibility in one of two ways:

• Shares responsibility with the local authority where the child is subject to a ‘Care Order’
• Entire responsibility where a voluntary agreement is drawn up between the parent(s) and the local authority for the child to be in care.

A ‘Care Order’ is made by a court and places a child under the care of a local authority. It places

Barred lists allow the ISA to keep a record of individuals who;

• Are not allowed to work in regulated activity with vulnerable adults and children.
• Can only work with vulnerable adults and children in organised activities with safeguards.

Automatic Barring is a serious measure which the ISA will use where there is robust evidence in the form of a conviction or caution for a serious offence. All individuals (aged eighteen or over) who have committed sexual offences against children and other specified sexual or violent offences are placed automatically on the relevant Barred List.

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005

This act provides the framework to empower and protect people, ‘adults at risk’, who may lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves. Issues of mental capacity and the ability to give informed consent are central to all decisions and actions in the safeguarding process.

The Act says “..a person lacks capacity in relation to a matter if at the material time he is unable to make a decision for himself in relation to the matter because of an impairment of, or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain.”

It is presumed that adults have mental capacity to make informed choices about their own safety and how they live their lives. All interventions need to take into account the ability of adults to make informed choices about the way they want to live and the risks they want to take.

The Children Act (2004)

The Governments ‘Every Child Matters’ green paper led to the introduction of the Children Act 2004 in November 2004. This legislation builds on the legal framework detailed in the Children Act 1989 however it does not change it.

The focus of the Children Act 2004 is on local authorities using a multi-agency approach to assist in the protection of children, resulting in a more extensive and cost effective use of the shared expertise available. By working and communicating together they do not miss information or evidence that could allow abuse to go undetected.

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

This act established the legal basis for the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) which operates totally independently from the government. The act also puts a statutory duty on all those working with vulnerable groups to register and undergo an advanced vetting process with criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

Through this act the new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) was set up and has replaced:

• List 99
• The protection of Children Act (PoCA) 1999

The ISA decides who is unsuitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable groups. It bases its decisions on information held by various agencies.

The new Vetting and Barring Scheme involving the Independent Safeguarding Authority has a major impact on the recruitment and monitoring practices of people working or volunteering with vulnerable adults and children.

SAFEGUARDING PROCEDURES

There are statutory procedures that all people and organisations have a responsibility to follow regarding the safety of vulnerable adults and children. There will also be specific local policies and procedures that you will need to become familiar with. On commencing each new placement you will need to ensure you have access to all the relevant procedures, if in doubt please speak to your designated line manager.

As part of your role you may have access to confidential and highly sensitive information about adults and children. This information must be kept confidential at all times and only shared when it is in the interest of the adult or child to do so. You must never use such information to intimidate, humiliate or embarrass the adult or child concerned.

If you are in any doubt about whether to share information or keep it confidential, you need to seek guidance from a senior member of your team or the designated Safeguarding person in your organisation. Any action you take must be in line with locally agreed procedures.

Any harm or abuse needs to be identified as early as possible to help prevent it continuing or becoming worse. In any case you must fully understand your responsibilities and procedures to be followed in relation to:

• Disclosure
• Recording

An occasion may arise when a vulnerable adult or child discloses abuse or ‘significant’ harm that he or she has suffered to you.

It is a natural reaction to want to ask the vulnerable adult or child lots of questions about the alleged abuse they have disclosed, however you need to refrain from doing so. Your role in this situation is to find out just enough information to make a decision whether or not the disclosure should be referred. There are specialist police officers and social workers trained to investigate such disclosures

It is acceptable to clarify what is being said but you must not use questions that would lead the person into giving you a certain response. Open questions such as “Can you explain to me what happened…?”, “Can you try to explain a little more….” need to be used in this situation.

Any evidence given by the vulnerable adult or child must be in their own words and not tainted by leading statements from you, this could jeopardise their case if it culminates in a court case.

For an individual to choose to disclose to you it will be because they perceive you to be a trustworthy and sympathetic person. You need to be supportive and never push the individual to ‘tell all’ instead you need to provide a safe and supportive environment that allows the vulnerable adult or child the opportunity to disclose in their own time.

It is essential if an individual discloses to you, that you:

• Convey that you are taking what is being said to you very seriously
• Ensure the individual does not feel that they are to blame
• Remain calm and reassuring
• Explain that you cannot promise to keep what you have been told a secret and that you may need to inform a social worker or police officer to protect and keep them safe
• Record complete, accurate, factual and legible notes

Recording

It is important to note that any records made at the time of disclosure could eventually become court evidence.

Any records need to be clear, unbiased, factual and a true reflection of what happened.

It will help when you come to record your full notes later if you jot down key words or phrases used by the individual at the time of disclosure. You must only do this if the individual consents to you doing so.

Immediately following the disclosure is when you need to record exactly what was said in as much detail as you can remember. It is very important that you use the individuals own words and vocabulary even if they do not make complete sense as it s essential the record is of what was actually said and not your own interpretation.

You also need to record your own responses both verbal and non verbal accurately to demonstrate that your method in no way led the individual to provide certain responses. It may also help in later investigations if you also record the emotional and environmental setting of the disclosure, for example, was the individual in a location or participating in a specific activity and that triggered their disclosure and were they very distressed, upset or trying to make a joke of what they were disclosing.

Referring

The easy option more often than not is to make excuses not to refer the case of actual or suspected harm or abuse. This subject is shrouded in a veil of secrecy damaging lives so only when the veil is lifted and the silence broken do those affected have a chance of protection.

It takes courage to initiate the process on behalf of a vulnerable adult or child but that referral could be the only thing that breaks the cycle and makes a positive difference on their lives.

As mentioned earlier, the organisation you work in will have their own local procedures with clear guidelines to follow on how to make a referral to social services and the police in your area. All referrals must be made to the local authority.

As the referrer you can remain anonymous however by providing your details more information can be given as and when needed during any investigations.

Immediate action will be taken to protect the vulnerable adult or child which may involve legal proceedings and/or medical examinations.

Key stages in the post referral process are:

• ’Professionals Only’ meeting
• Investigation
• Vulnerable Adult/Child Protection Conferences (as appropriate)
• Medical Assessment (Paediatric assessment in child cases)
• Adult or Child Interview

SUMMARY

•Be prepared to accept the possibility of harm or abuse when you don’t expect it
•Always listen and believe those who tell you they have been abused
•Know your organisations safeguarding adults and children procedures and follow them strictly
•Never underestimate the importance of sharing information
•Protecting adults and children at risk should be your first priority
•Never allow abusive behaviour to go unchallenged
•Don’t deal with abuse alone. There is always support available within your own organisation
•Remember that people who disclose abuse want it to STOP.

THINK, ACT and REPORT!