Building a bigger picture – effective recording

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. This tag line from government guidance (e.g. Working Together to Safeguard Children) is steeped in learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and reminds us that safeguarding is not just the role of one organisation or one person in an organisation, but the responsibility of us all, all of the time.

In settings responsible for educating and caring for children and young people, staff are reminded of the key messages from statutory guidance including Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children through regular training aimed at developing awareness of signs and symptoms of abuse.  These key messages include the importance of reporting and recording concerns. Whatever size of the organisation, it is imperative that there is a clear system for concerns to be recorded and reported to Designated Safeguarding Leads established and embedded within the setting.

However, we must remember that children protection is only a small proportion of the wider safeguarding work that we do, as safeguarding includes all of the preventative action we take to identify concerns as early as possible and the work entailed in providing early help as a way of intervention to prevent concerns escalating. DSLs cannot do this alone and the information from staff within the setting is crucial as this all helps to build a bigger picture.

In addition to this, the quality of the information recorded is also highly important and can make the difference between a child being appropriately safeguarded or left in a risky situation, aiding identification, support or intervention. With these thoughts in mind, we will explore what effective record keeping looks like and give thought to developing this as a skill as part of your safeguarding culture.