*THE WORD ‘PARENTS’ REFERS TO PARENTS & GUARDIANS OF CHILDREN.
The safety and welfare of children is a main priority for early years services. Early years services include Early Learning and Care Services, School Age Services and Childminders. Early years services in Ireland have obligations under both the Children First Act, 2015 and the Children First National Guidance. Some of these obligations are outlined below.
Early Learning and Care settings have a number of legal obligations under the Children First Act (2015) and these are:
Child Safeguarding Statement
What is Child SafeguardingUnder the Children First Act, 2015, early years services are ‘Relevant Services’ and the
person in charge is the ’Provider of a Relevant Service’. As such, early years services must
have:
The Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment are available to parents, on
request, from early years services and if parents have any queries relating to the Child
Safeguarding Statement, they should contact the ‘Relevant Person’ in the service. The
‘Relevant Person’ is the person appointed by the Provider of the Relevant Service to be the
first point of contact for the service’s Child Safeguarding Statement.
In early years services, the following people are Mandated Persons:
Under the Children First Act, 2015, mandated persons have 2 legal obligations;
While all workers in early years services have obligations to know how to recognise and respond to child protection and welfare concerns, mandated persons have additional, legal responsibilities to report if a child is being harmed, has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed, to the point where the child’s health, development or welfare have been or are being seriously affected, or are likely to be seriously affected.
A key principle of the Children First National Guidance is that ‘the best interests of the child should be paramount’ in all matters relating to them.
The Children First National Guidance provides information on how everybody in society has obligations to keep children safe from harm. It also outlines how concerns about children can be reported to Tusla’s Duty Social Work Department.
The Children First Guidance describes the four main types of abuse and sets out the steps which should be taken to ensure that children are protected from harm.
The Guidance also outlines the roles of the main statutory bodies involved in child welfare and protection: Tusla - Child and Family Agency, and An Garda Síochána. It contains details of how to report a concern about a child and what happens once the report is received by Tusla.
The Children First National Guidance sets out the threshold at which all people will report a child protection or welfare concern under the Children First: National Guidance. A
reasonable concern exists where the child’s health and/or development is, may be or has
been damaged. All concerns about possible sexual abuse would also constitute a
reasonable concern.
Reasonable Grounds for Concern
This is the baseline, for all people, at which reports about the safety or welfare of a child
should be made to Tusla.
Further Information and Resources for Parents of Children in Early Years Services
Domestic Violence, also known as domestic abuse can happen in the form of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse. Domestic abuse can happen against children, men and women and can happen in all kinds of relationships.
There are many resources available to those experiencing domestic abuse and some are listed:
There are many times when parents may require support. Being able to access supports in one place can make something that may initially seem daunting, a lot easier to figure put. Tusla provide wrap around support for parents including the provision of parenting programmes and intervention at an early stage to prevent situations getting worse. For more information see:
Tusla has developed the Meitheal approach to help children where they may need the support of more than one service. Meitheal is a case co-ordination process for families with additional needs who require multi-agency intervention but who do not meet the threshold for referral to the Social Work Department under Children First. Practitioners in different agencies can use and lead on Meitheal so that they can communicate and work together more effectively to bring together a range of expertise, knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the child and family within their community. Meitheal is an early intervention, multi-agency (when necessary) response tailored to the needs of an individual child or young person.
Parents should speak to the Manager in their child’s Early Learning and Care setting about their Child Safeguarding Statement and Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures. Parents and stakeholders can request copies of these documents and answers to all questions and queries relating to Child Safeguarding and Child Protection and Welfare should be provided by Management of the setting.
