Helping children to stay safe is fundamental to their well-being. Safe can mean different things for young people and staff.
Young people often concentrate on their immediate safety.
Because of the importance of safeguarding young people, staff are required to concentrate, for example, on 'risk' and 'child protection'. Having these professional concerns can sometimes prevent you from hearing the concerns of young people.
This section will help you focus on the concerns of young people and staff. You might think that some are shared concerns - and you would be right!
Look at the list. Can you decide which of these areas: a) children worry about b) staff worry about?
Bullying from peers
Verbal bullying by adults' hurtful remarks
Being out alone in the dark
Drugs and drug dealers
Risk of sports injury
Being mugged or attacked
High crime areas
Identifying and preventing abuse, including child sexual abuse
Identifying and preventing child neglect
Preventing self-harm
Children who misuse drugs
Internet/chat rooms
You may be surprised at the list of things that worry young people and make them feel apprehensive. Children and young people may have many insecurities and this almost certainly reflects their worries in situations where they have little or no control and unexpected things can happen.
They are not as anxious about child abuse in general as adults are, although they did feel that abuse is 'more likely when you are looked after by people you don't know'. (Ref: Morgan, p. 17). Although this fear is not borne out by the evidence, as we know that most perpetrators of abuse are previously known to the child, it does tell us about the anxiety that children may have when coming to live in residential care and live in close proximity with adults not previously known to them.
Knowing this, what more can you do to promote feelings of safety and security among the young people you care for?
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