Organisations working with children and young people
Children First operates on the premise that it is the responsibility of everyone in society to keep children and young people safe from harm.
Watch below a short video about safeguarding:
Children First National Guidance outlines that all organisations working with children and young people to create a culture of safety that promotes the welfare of children and young people availing of their services. This responsibility includes keeping children safe from harm online. Most of these organisations will provide ‘relevant services’ as defined in the Children First Act 2015 and will have specific statutory obligations under the Act. The Guidance also outlines best practice procedures in child safeguarding that all organisations dealing with children and young people should consider. This is in addition to any statutory obligations under the Act. Tusla’s Children First Information and Advice Service has developed a Child Safeguarding Resources List, which you can download here.
Set out below are statutory obligations of relevant services and Safeguarding Best Practice Procedures for all organisations.
Statutory obligations of relevant services:
The Children First Act 2015 places specific obligations on organisations which provide services to children and young people, including the requirement to:
- Keep children safe from harm while they are using the service
- Carry out a risk assessment to identify whether a child or young person could be harmed while availing of the service
- Develop a Child Safeguarding Statement that outlines the policies and procedures which are in place to manage the risks that have been identified
- Appoint a relevant person to be the first point of contact in respect of the organisation’s Child Safeguarding Statement.
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Safeguarding Best Practice Procedures for all Organisations:
All organisations working with children and young people need to create a culture of safety that promotes the welfare of children and young people availing of their services.
The short video below provides an overview of some of the core child safeguarding policies and procedures your organisation should have in place.
All organisations that provide services to children should develop specific policies and procedures, in order to create a safe environment for children. Some of these policies and procedures include;
- Dealing with child protection concerns
- Reporting child protection concerns
- Working safely with children
- Recruiting and managing staff
- Child safeguarding awareness and training
- Involving parents and children
- Implementing and reviewing the safeguarding strategies
For more information about safeguarding best practice, see Tusla's Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice which is designed to help all providers of services to children and families to develop guiding principles and safeguarding procedures to keep children and young people using their services safe from harm.
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