Regarding the Education and Skills Committee Report on the Children’s Hearings System – Taking Stock of Recent Reforms – in response to the key recommendation 4. Advocacy and Safeguarders:
4.2 On Safeguarders, the Committee welcomes the progress that has been made. The Committee is aware of some of the problems in the past relating to the quality of person appointed. The Committee welcomes the work being carried out by Children 1st to improve the recruitment and training of Safeguarders.
The Committee does, however, recognises the call by some, such as the social work profession, for greater clarity on the role of Safeguarders and better sharing of information produced by Safeguarders with the other professions.
The following documents are now available here on the CHIP website:
Practice Standards for Safeguarders
Performance Support and Monitoring Framework
Practice Note for Safeguarders: the Role of the Safeguarder – which includes guidance on the parameters of the role.
These documents are also available on the Children 1st website.
Please note the Practice Standard 4 Reports, which includes information regarding sharing of recommendations:
Recommendations to be made by a Safeguarder are shared appropriately with children, parents, relevant persons and representatives from services and agencies in advance of hearings, to allow appropriate preparation and minimise potential distress and delay, in particular for the child.
Practice Notes on Reports
The Practice Notes on reports is now accessible here. The notes were coproduced with Safeguarders and we also received contributions from SCRA, CHS and the government team. These notes reflect the current position on dealing with non-disclosure, sharing information and Safeguarder reports. The notes reflect the expectations of the Practice Standards and the current legislative framework.