Thursday 17 March 2022
Sarah Elliott, the independent chair of the Islands Safeguarding Children Partnership (ISCP) has today launched the new Multi-Agency Child Neglect Strategy.
Sarah Elliott, said:
'The Strategy represents a huge amount of work that has taken place to get us to this point and I am delighted to be able to launch the Strategy in Guernsey today.
We know, as we emerge from the pandemic, that families have been facing considerable additional stressors due to reduced social contacts and pressures on household budgets which all add to the risk of children being neglected.'
Neglect is one of the most common forms of abuse. It can take a wide range of forms, tends to be cumulative and can have a significant impact on the physical, emotional, educational, and social wellbeing of children and young people.
Sarah said:
'The strategy highlights that although there are pockets of excellent practice in Guernsey, Alderney, and Herm, more needs to be done to make sure the Island's children are seen, listened to, and helped at an early enough stage to prevent them being neglected.
The strategy emphasises the multi-agency responsibility to identify the early signs of neglect so that support can be provided to improve the life chances of all children.'
As part of the strategy those front-line professionals who work with families will be trained to use an assessment tool which has been well researched and positively evaluated by the NSPCC. This is done by looking at the child's various needs (physical, safety, emotional, developmental) and then assessing the quality of each one is met and how to best target resources where there is concern.
Islanders are being reminded that they can play their part too and may notice early signs that a family is not coping if a child looks frequently sad, has poor hygiene, is maybe hungry or is inappropriately dressed for the weather.
