SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN COMPETENCIES
Appendix 1

LEVEL 1 COMPETENCIES
For staff in contact with children, young people and adults who are parents/carers

• Understand what is meant by safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and the different ways in which children and young people can be harmed.

• Aware of the statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in accordance with the Children Act 2004.

• Familiar with What to do if you are worried a child is being abused national guidance and Cambridgeshire Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures.

• Appreciate own role and responsibilities and those of others in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

• Able to make judgements about how to act to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child in line with What to do if…

• Aware of Cambridgeshire LSCB and its remit.

• Understand statutory requirements governing consent, confidentiality and information sharing.

• Understand the necessity for information sharing and accurate recording within the context of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of a particular child.

• Able to provide appropriate, succinct information to enable other practitioners to deliver support to the child and family.

• Know the boundaries of personal competence and responsibility, when to involve others and where to seek advice and support.

• Understand when you are required to consult with a manager/designated person.

• Able to identify concerns about possible maltreatment arising from completion of a Common Assessment Framework.

• Know when and how to respond to immediate safety issues in relation to a particular child and other children within the household.

• Aware of the increased vulnerability of disabled children.

• Are aware of the impact of aggression, anger and violence from carers on practice and know how to manage this.

• Know what to do when there is an insufficient response from other organisations and agencies, while maintaining a focus on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child.

LEVEL 2 COMPETENCIES
For staff who work regularly with children, young people and adults who are parents/carers

• Understand the safeguarding roles of parents and carers and recognise factors that can impact on parenting capacity.

• Have confidence to challenge own and other’s practice.

• Understand boundaries of personal competence and responsibility; know when to involve others and where to get advice and support.

• Able to communicate effectively and develop working relationships with other practitioners and professionals, children and families to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

• Understand the role of other practitioners and agencies in supporting and advising families and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and the impact of own interviewing style, decisions and actions on others.

• Aware of, and understands the reasons behind the increased vulnerability of disabled children.

• Work together with others as outlined in the What to do if…guidance and Cambridgeshire LSCB procedures.

• Have a sound understanding of the principles and processes for effective collaboration and be able to forge and sustain relationships with other practitioners and families to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

• Know who to share information with, when and how to record information related to assessment, planning, intervention and review.

• Appreciate the effect of cultural and religious beliefs on practice when working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

• Have the skills to work with others to address issues of aggression and/or non-compliance by service users that may impinge on practitioners’ ability to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and know when and how to seek support/advice.

• Understand the role of assessment, planning and review in effective service provision and the change process.

• Understand when you are required to consult with a manager or designated person.

• Able to write clear evidence based and outcome focused reports.

LEVEL 3 COMPETENCIES
For staff who have a particular responsibility for safeguarding children

• Work together with others as outlined in the What to do if…guidance and Cambridgeshire LSCB procedures, protocols and practice guidance.

• Able to work with other practitioners, children and families on complex tasks or particular areas of practice that have specific knowledge or skill requirement. For example, joint enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

• Have the knowledge, skills and confidence to challenge the factors that contribute to the increased vulnerability of disabled children.

• Have confidence to challenge decisions in complex situations by looking beyond immediate role and asking questions.

• Able to assess the relevance and status of information and to pass it on when appropriate.

• Be able to establish and maintain working relationships of trust and mutual respect whilst recognising ways in which group process can influence and distort decision-making.

• Understand and be able to make an effective contribution through report writing and verbal communication to multi-disciplinary case planning and review meetings.

• Know how to manage conflict and disagreement between professionals when working together on complex cases.

• Have the skills to work with others to address issues of aggression and /or non-compliance that may impinge on practitioners’ ability to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child in complex cases.

• Have an understanding of factors at an inter-personal, intra-personal and systemic level which influence the possibility of change.