How well do we safeguard children?
The Safeguarding Board asks “are we doing the right thing” for children as opposed to “doing things right.”
The Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) was established with the task of co-ordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of safeguarding children. The process of safeguarding children is complex; roles and responsibilities for undertaking this task are shared among a wide range of professionals and agencies. Within this context it is the responsibility of SBNI to review effectiveness and promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement across organisations that work together.
One of the key priorities for the Safeguarding Board is to further develop organisational arrangements focused on evaluating and monitoring the impact of safeguarding work upon children and families.
The findings of the Munro review1 highlighted the importance of focusing the child’s safeguarding system on “doing the right thing” – checking whether children and young people are helped as opposed to “doing things right” – where traditionally the focus is on checking whether professionals involved in protecting children follow the prescribed process. Professor Eileen Munro2 stressed the need to move from a compliance culture to a learning culture where opportunities are developed to examine the effectiveness of the contribution of all services to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of the children, and ensuring the voice and experience of the child is heard and understood.
Within this context, the SBNI has been leading the development of an Effectiveness and Improvement Model for understanding and learning about the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements in Northern Ireland. The work has focused on developing a set of outcome measures and indicators which are evidence-based, reflect the needs and priorities of children at risk, and are agreed by all of the organisations who work together to protect them within Northern Ireland.
This work has been led by Barbara Campbell (South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust) supported by a Project Board with representatives from SBNI, voluntary and statutory sectors. On
27 January, SBNI hosted a workshop to consult with key partner organisations in relation to a proposed model of effectiveness and improvement.
At the workshop, Dr Aisling McElearney and Caroline Cunningham (both representing the NSPCC) presented a review of practice they led in order to explore and understand what works well for the Safeguarding Boards already established in England and Wales for some time. Key learning from this review will be applied in Northern Ireland, particularly the importance of all agencies working together to implement a cycle of review, reaching a shared understanding of safeguarding effectiveness, and agreeing a learning and improvement plan based on an understanding of existing performance information. In this way, SBNI will lead the development of a culture of continuous learning and improvement, with children at the centre of the process.
The workshop provided an exciting opportunity for significant dialogue and debate in relation to how agencies in Northern Ireland can work together to agree information sets and develop effective ways to engage children and their families in sharing their experiences and understanding how safeguarding arrangements made a difference to their lives.
The overwhelming discussion at the workshop was around the need for all agencies to have the same vision and agreement on how we reach conclusions about understanding the effectiveness of safeguarding in Northern Ireland. Ongoing consultations will be taking place with key stakeholders with a view to agreeing an Effective Practice and Improvement Model which will provide an overview of key issues prevalent in Northern Ireland.
For further information on the work of the Safeguarding Board go to www.safeguardingni.org or contact barbaracampbellad@setrust.hscni.net for information on the Effectiveness and Improvement Model.
The Safeguarding Board can be contacted
The Beeches
12 Hampton Manor Drive
Belfast
BT7 3EN
Tel: 028 9064 4811
Email: sbnisupport@hscni.net
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