F9FW 04 (GC2)Contribute to the Protection of Children from Abuse
Elements of competence
GC2.1 / Identify signs and symptoms of possible abuseGC2.2 / Respond to a child’s disclosure of abuse
About this Unit
This standard is about protecting children from abuse. It covers the identification of possible abuse, handling disclosures from a child, recording and reporting information about abuse and supporting children who may have been abused.
Abuse may be emotional, financial, neglect, physical, psychological or sexual.It includes how and to whom to report suspicion of abuse and where to turn for additional advice and personal support.
Target Group
This standard applies to those with responsibility for protecting children from abuse, including work with adults and young people who pose a risk of harm to children.
Evidence Requirements for the Unit
It is essential that you adhere to the Evidence Requirements for this Unit — please see details overleaf.
Specific Evidence Requirements for this UnitSimulation:
Simulation is not permitted for this Unit.
The following forms of evidence ARE mandatory:
Direct Observation:Your assessor or expert witness must observe you in real work activities which provide a significant amount of the Performance Criteria for most of the Elements in this Unit. For example your assessor may see you setting up or attending a meeting between yourself and other members of staff to explore any allegations of abuse. An observation of a meeting held to discuss how you have supported and or monitored a child, parents or their family who have been, or, at risk of abuse.
Reflective Account/professional discussion:These will be an explanation or a description of your practice in particular situations based on current working practices. For example an account of a meeting or contacts with a child’s family or carers where an allegation of abuse has been made and you have been involved in supporting and/or contributing to the disclosure of abuse. An account of the work you have undertaken to minimise the effects of abusive behaviour whilst working with a child and or their family. You should include in your account legislation and best practice affecting your work practice.
Competence of performance and knowledge could also be demonstrated using a variety of evidence from the following:
Questioning/professional discussion: May be used to provide evidence of knowledge, legislation, policies and procedures which cannot be fully evidenced through direct observation or reflective accounts. In addition the assessor/expert witness may also ask questions to clarify aspects of your practice.
Expert Witness: A designated expert witness may provide direct observation of practice, questioning, undertaking a professional discussion or providing feedback on a reflective account.
Working with Victims, Survivors and Witnesses can pose a number of challenges for Direct Observation of practice by assessors not based in the workplace and it is vital that expert witnesses are identified at the planning stage as they will be require to work closely with your Assessor in the Evidence gathering process.
Witness testimony:Can be a confirmation or authentication of the activities described in your evidence which your assessor has not seen. This could be provided by a work colleague or another key person. It is NOT appropriate to use witness testimony from any member of their family or circle of friends.
Products:These can be anonymised copies of local Child Protection recording and reporting procedures. Agency documentation and forms used to report allegations, to monitor occurrences, allegations, disclosure of abuse or abusive behaviour. Where Products have not been developed or compiled by the candidate you need to provide an explanation of the contribution you made to them or your reasoning for offering them to the staff or other organisations.
Due to the nature of this Unit considerable care should be given to the inclusion of any anonymised records in your Portfolio. They should remain where they are normally stored and checked for their authenticity by your assessor as well as occasionally by your Verifier. Where records are included great care should be taken to ensure they are anonymised to ensure confidentiality.
General guidance
Prior to commencing this Unit you should agree and complete an assessment plan with your assessor which details the assessment methods (including potential products) and the tasks you will be undertaking to demonstrate your competence.
Evidence must be provided for ALL of the Performance Criteria ALL of the knowledge and parts of the scope that are relevant to your job.
Candidates and assessors should ensure that knowledge evidence should be integrated into the reflective accounts, direct observations and if appropriate in professional discussions. Care should be taken to avoid assessment of knowledge through set or banks of questions as they generally do not reflect real work practice.
The evidence must reflect the policies and procedures of your workplace and be linked to the current legislation, values and principles of best practice within the Community Justice Sector and in particular those staff working with victims survivors and witnesses this will include the National Service Standards for your areas of work and the individuals you care for.
Candidates must follow the local Child Protection Committee recording and reporting procedures at all times during the process of gathering evidence.
ALL evidence must relate to your own work practice.
Knowledge Specification for this Unit
Competent practice is a combination of the application of skills and knowledge informed by values and ethics. This specification details the knowledge and understanding required to carry out competent practice in the performance described in this Unit.
When using this specification it is important to read the knowledge requirements in relation to expectations and requirements of your job role.
You need to provide evidence for ALL knowledge points listed below. There are a variety of ways this can be achieved so it is essential that you read the ‘knowledge evidence’ section of the Assessment Guidance.
You need to show that you know, understand and can apply in practice: / Enter Evidence NumbersLegislative, regulatory and organisational requirements
1Legal and organisational requirements which relate to the protection of individuals from abuse, and their impact for your area of operations.
2Legislation, policies and procedures relating to data protection, health and safety, diversity and their impact for your area of operations.
3The role of your organisation and the services which it provides in relation to minimising abuse, and the monitoring of individuals at risk from abuse.
4The organisation’s policy and procedures regarding confidentiality of information and the disclosure of information to third parties, and the specific circumstances under which disclosure may be made.
5Organisational requirements relating to allowing others to be present in discussions with victims/survivors, and the relative benefits and disadvantages that the presence of others can create.
6The limits of your authority and responsibility, and the actions to take if these are exceeded.
Contribute to the protection of children from abuse
7Children’s social, emotional, physical, intellectual and behavioural development, including their awareness of their body.
8Children’s rights and the importance of empowering children to exercise those rights, including the external factors and constraints that may make it difficult for children’s rights to be promoted
9How the quality of parent-child attachment affects child development.
10Characteristics and circumstances which make some children more vulnerable to abuse, and the contexts in which abusive behaviour occurs.
11The indicators of potential or actual abuse, including awareness of changes in a child’s behavior.
12The different forms of abusive behaviour which may occur.
13The effects of different forms of abuse in both the short term and the long term.
14Methods of preventing the occurrence of abuse.
15The opportunities provided within daily routines and different kinds of games and equipment that can help children become aware of their bodies and to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate touching, good and bad secrets.
16Ways of listening to, and communicating with children of different ages including indicators of readiness to communicate, and how to interpret both overt and covert messages.
17How to manage a controlled response to distressing disclosures, including the possible influence of cultural, racial, gender or other forms of stereotyping in response to a child who attempts to disclose abuse, and how to counteract this.
18The potential impact of disclosure of abuse on family members including how it affects parental rights as set out in child protection procedures.
19The importance of distinguishing between directly observed evidence, evidence from reliable sources, opinion and hearsay, and the significance of recording verbal information.
20How situations with a potential conflict of interests can be handled.
21The options for protecting children, and the reasoning process used in determining the most appropriate option for the child concerned.
22The sources of support available to you from other organisations when dealing with your own feelings aroused by the abuse concerned.
23The importance of acknowledging and dealing with your own feelings in relation to the abuse concerned, and the sources of support which may be available to you from other organisations in order to deal with these feelings.
GC2.1Identify signs and symptoms of possible abuse
Performance CriteriaDO / RA / EW / Q / P / WT
1Act in accordance with all relevant legal, professional, and organisational requirements and guidelines.
2Observe the child’s condition and behaviour during activities unobtrusively and with minimum disturbance and disruption to the child’s natural patterns of behaviour.
3Encourage children, through the creation of an appropriate environment,to express their fears, anxieties and feelings without fear of ridicule or rejection.
4Communicatewith the child or young person in a way that is appropriate to their age, understanding and preference.
5Maintain accurate and up-to-date records in line with your organisation’s requirements, and which are consistent with child protection procedures, of any:
significant changes from normal standards of health, cleanliness and physical care expected for that family and specific children
behaviour and behaviour patterns that are unusual and inconsistent with a child’s developmental level
injuries which are inconsistent with the history, the child’s age, development and level of activity
omissions of care
6Identify any indicators of potential abuse and, where possible and appropriate, discuss the possible reasons for presentation of these with relevant others involved in the child or young person’s care, to exclude any mistaken identification of abuse.
7Report any signs and indicators of possible abuse promptly, being sensitive to the child and circumstances.
DO = Direct ObservationRA = Reflective AccountQ = Questions
EW = Expert Witness P = Product (Work)WT = Witness Testimony
GC2.2Respond to a child’s disclosure of abuse
Performance CriteriaDO / RA / EW / Q / P / WT
1Respond calmly and promptly to a child’s disclosure of abuse in a reassuring and supportive manner.
2Communicate with the child or young person in a way that is appropriate to the nature of their disclosure, their age, understanding and preference.
3Ask only sufficient questions to confirm that there is an allegation or suspicion and not pressure the child to disclose, give any prompts or offer guarantees of confidentiality.
4Discuss your concerns with the child, and their parents, in a manner which is as open and honest as possible, whilst recognising the potential severity of the case, the risk to the child and the requirements of child protection procedures.
5Make clear to the child that other people appropriate to the situation will have to be made aware of their disclosure.
6Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of the disclosure, clearly distinguishing between directly observed evidence, information provided by the child, and that gathered from other sources, in line with your organisation’s requirements.
7Make appropriate referrals immediately following any disclosure.
8Provide reports which are complete, accurate and to time when you receive requests for reports on incidents, disclosures or suspicions of child abuse.
9Manage your own feelings aroused by the disclosure in a way which supports the right to such feelings whilst minimising any undue effects on the child concerned.
10Discuss cases as soon as possible with relevant people in your agency.
11Present the information to those who need to have access to it, maintaining confidentiality in line with your organisation’s requirements where appropriate.
DO = Direct ObservationRA = Reflective AccountQ = Questions
EW = Expert Witness P = Product (Work)WT = Witness Testimony
To be completed by the candidateI submit this as a complete Unit
Candidate’s name: ……………………………………………
Candidate’s signature: ………………………………………..
Date: …………………………………………………………..
To be completed by the assessor
It is a shared responsibility of both the candidate and assessor to claim evidence, however, it is the responsibility of the assessor to ensure the accuracy/validity of each evidence claim and make the final decision.
I certify that sufficient evidence has been produced to meet all the Elements, PCs and Knowledge of this Unit.
Assessor’s name: …………………………………………….
Assessor’s signature: ………………………………………….
Date: …………………………………………………………..
Assessor/internal verifier feedback
To be completed by the internal verifier if applicable.
This section only needs to be completed if the Unit is sampled by the internal verifier.
Internal verifier’s name: ……………………………………………
Internal verifier’s signature: ………………………………………..
Date: ……………………………………..…………………………..
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F9FW 04 (GC2) Contribute to the Protection of Children from Abuse