Safeguarding Children is about protecting children and young people from abuse or neglect and ensuring that they grow up in a safe environment.

The Children Act 2004 says that each area must have a Safeguarding Children Board. Durham DSCP is made up by representatives from many organisations that have a role in safeguarding and protecting children across Durham.

Safeguarding Children Boards:

• Make sure that local organisations join up what they do to safeguard children
• Check what organisations are doing and how well they do it
• Check if the work being done makes a difference and if it is not, ask them to do something about it and provide the evidence of changes made

They do this by:

1. Work to prevent abuse and neglect and promote children’s safety:

• Making it clear to different organisations and their staff how they should be protecting children
• Work jointly to prevent things such as accidents, bullying, injuries and death
• Ensuring that children and young people, parents and carers who look after them know who they can contact when they have concerns about their own or other’s safety or welfare

2. Focus work on specific groups of children and young people who we worry about such as:

• Children in care
• Children who are privately fostered
• Children who are at risk of being sexually exploited

3. Undertake work to make sure that children and young people who are suffering or may be suffering harm are helped as early as possible.

This includes children living in situations where there is:

• Abuse or neglect by family, strangers or professional/volunteer carers or other children
• Living in households where there is domestic abuse, where adults abuse drugs or alcohol or have a mental illness