Safeguarding Children with Disabilities 25/26

Target Group 

This training is targeted at:

• Professionals in direct contact with children who undertake or contribute to risk assessments and multi-agency meetings including social workers, family support workers, health professionals, schools, police and others who work with children at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation who work for the London Borough of Sutton.  

Competency level: 

• Group Level 2 (regular contact with children, young people and/or parent/carer) or Level 3 (predominantly working with children) or above (including strategic leads), and NHS Inter-Collegiate Standards 2 and above for health professionals. 

Aim

The aims of this session are:

• To improve practitioner’s knowledge and skills as they relate to safeguarding and supporting children with disabilities.
• To explore the legal framework for safeguarding disabled children, how professional attitudes, assumptions and barriers can increase risk and lessen protection for disabled children and related groups of children, as well as the impact specific impairments/disabilities might have on a child’s exposure to risk.

Learning Outcomes

By attending this course, participants will have:

• An increased knowledge around the statutory basis for referral, assessment and intervention and application of the LSCP threshold criteria; 
• An increased knowledge around key messages from research and Serious Case Reviews (SCR) and the importance to capture the voice of the child in all stages of the child protection process; 
• An increased knowledge around different models of disability and how they might impact on the process of assessing risk; 
• An ability to examine how societal beliefs and attitudes can impact on the protection of disabled children; 
• An increased knowledge around additional vulnerabilities of disabled children to the different categories of abuse; 
• An increased knowledge around indicators of neglect and abuse, undertaken risk assessments, and preparing reports for safeguarding meetings; 
• An increased knowledge around the communication skills necessary when working with disabled children in order to ascertain their experiences; 
• An increased knowledge around personal safety skills activities in direct work with disabled children and their parents/carers;
• An increased knowledge around how child protection systems are used effectively to safeguard disabled children; 
• An increased knowledge around the impact on parents when caring for a disabled child and what types of support they may need; 
• An increased knowledge on how multi-agency responses can contribute to promoting the safety and welfare of disabled children;
• An increased knowledge on how transitional safeguarding can support a positive transition to adulthood.