The aim of this report is to outline key legislation and guidance in relation to safeguarding children, and to identify key actions relevant in early years settings; in order to evaluate the impact these actions have on practice.
Legislation
Legislation is defined as "a law or set of laws suggested by a government and made official by a parliament".
(Cambridge Dictionaries Online, 2006)
Legislation is applied within the early years sector in order to promote safeguarding and the welfare of children.
The Children Act 1989
One of the most often referred to set of laws is The Children Act (1989). The general philosophy of the Act is to promote the idea that it is best for a child to be brought up in their own family, and the act sets out guidelines for local authorities to support …show more content…
(Wessex Local Medical Committees, 2014)
Children Act 2004
The Children Act 2004 provides laws for how social services and other agencies look into and attempt to solve the issues relating to children. This guidance is important in order to ensure that all individuals working in the early years sector are aware of the legal requirements for looking after children. The key principles of the act are to allow children to: be healthy, remain safe, enjoy life, succeed, and have a stable future.
The act refers to Inter-Agency co-operation, and ensures that any agency that becomes aware of the mistreatment of a child should make their findings known to other agencies so that the child can be monitored.
(Claridge, 2016)
Children’s Trusts are local partnership arrangements to improve children’s wellbeing, and are underpinned by a ‘duty to cooperate’ in section 10 of the Children Act