Safeguarding

Liz Quayle is the Designated Safeguarding Lead at Crofton Infant School.  If you have any Safeguarding Concerns, please email at croftoninfantsafeguarding@crofton-inf.bromley.sch.uk.  

This email will be monitored over school breaks.

BCSP – Bromley Children’s Safeguarding Panel

CAMHS - Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (tackling child sex abuse and providing advice)

CHF – Children and Families Hub (previous MASH)

CLA – Child Looked After (previously LAC)

COUNTY LINES – Exploitation of young children by gangs to move and sell drugs across country.

CP – Child Protection

CSA - Child Sexual Abuse

CSC – Children’s Social Care

CCE – Child Criminal Exploitation

CSE – Child Sexual Exploitation (one aspect of CSA)

DA – Domestic Abuse (Also known as DV/ DVA)

DASH - Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment and Honour-Based Violence (HBV).

DASV - Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence

DBS – Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS checks were previously known as CRB checks)

DfE – Department for Education

DSL – Designated Safeguarding Lead. The member of staff that co-ordinates child safeguarding concerns and makes notifications and referrals (DDSL – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead)

DV – Domestic Violence (one aspect of DA)

EH - Early Help – “providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years”. Also known as Early Intervention and EHH – Early Help Hub

FGM - Female Genital Mutilation

HBV - Honour-Based Violence

HR – Human Resources

ICPCC – Initial Child Protection Case Conference

LA - Local Authority

LSCB – Local Safeguarding Children Board

MARAC - Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference

MARU – Multi-Agency Referral Unit

PoCA – Protection of Children Act

PNC record – Police National Computer record PR - Parental Responsibility

PREVENT – The prevention of adults and/ or children from being radicalised into extremism and terrorism

SARC – Sexual Assault Referral Centre (St Mary’s)

SCB - Safeguarding Children Board

SCR - Serious Case Review

SDQ – Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire - a brief behavioural screening questionnaire about 3-16 year olds

SEXT/SEXTING - sending sexually explicit photographs or messages via devices connected to the internet, particularly mobile phones

SGO – Special Guardianship Order

TAC – Team Around a Child (part of Early Help)

TAF – Team Around the Family (part of Early Help)

UKCCIS – UK Council for Child Internet Safety

UPSKIRTING – The taking of a photograph up somebody’s skirt without their consent.

By law, the council must know about all children in Bromley who are being privately fostered and children who are about to be privately fostered. We have a duty to ensure the child’s safety and that the private foster carer has the support they need to meet the child’s needs.

What is private fostering?

A private fostering (PF) arrangement is essentially one that is made privately (i.e. without the involvement of a local authority) for the care of a child under the age of 16 (under 18, if disabled), by someone other than a parent or close relative, with the intention that it should last for 28 days or more.

A person who is a close relative under the Children Act 1989 i.e. a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether biologically related or by marriage) or a stepparent will not be a private foster carer. However, private foster carers may be a cousin, a great aunt, friend of the family, parent of a friend of the child. The period for which the child is cared for by the private foster carer should be continuous.

Arrangements for private fostering were updated in the Children Act 2004 and the Children (Private Arrangement for Fostering) Regulations 2005, which set out the duties of local authorities in their arrangements for private fostering. The National Minimum Standards (NMS) for Local Authorities were published in 2005 alongside this.

Examples of private fostering

Private fostering can happen in a range of different circumstances. The list below gives some examples:

· Children sent from abroad to live with other families, or extended family members, in the UK.

· Children whose parents have paid someone to care for them whilst they are away working or studying.

· Unaccompanied minors who are living with friends or strangers.

· Teenagers living with the family of a boyfriend or girlfriend.

· Children who are attending boarding schools and who live with a host family during the holidays.

· Children brought to the UK for adoption.

· Children and young people who have to live away from their own family as a result of parental separation, divorce or arguments at home.

In these situations, the local council’s children’s services must be informed to be in accordance with the law.

Birth parents, private foster carers and persons who are arranging for a child to be privately fostered are required by law to notify the local council’s children’s services of the arrangement. If you know someone in a personal or professional capacity who is privately fostering or is about to, you should encourage them to notify children’s services and if they are not able to do so then you should take responsibility for notifying them.

A social worker will visit the home to speak to the carer and the child to ensure the child is safe, carry out background checks and make sure support is being provided.

Support available for private foster carers may include:

Advice on benefits and possible funding for some essential items

Parenting support and advice.

Help in bringing families in crisis back together.

Further information can be obtained on the LB Bromley website