Welcome to Medway Safeguarding Children Board website
SAFEGUARDING IS EVERYBODY'S RESPONSIBILITY
The Medway Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB) is a statutory multi-agency organisation which brings together a range of agencies who work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people up to the age of eighteen years in Medway. The Board meets regularly throughout the year to discuss a wide range of issues.
The MSCB is designed to help ensure that children are safeguarded properly by agencies working effectively together and our membership includes senior representatives from Medway Council, all Medway health bodies, Kent Police, Medway schools, voluntary organisations and many others. For details of the Board structure and membership please click here.
This site provides information for everyone in Medway who is concerned about safeguarding children and meeting their needs. That particularly includes children, parents, and everyone in Medway whose work brings them into contact with children and families. You will therefore find the following here:
Ofsted inspection of child protection services in Medway
* Kent and Medway Safeguarding Children procedures
The Kent and Medway Safeguarding Children Procedures are currently being updated.
*** NEW - Kent and Medway Interagency Threshold criteria for children in need ***
***NEW -Working Together 2013*** (pdf, 1mb)
*Practice guidance on Serious Case Reviews
*Information about CP Conferences, Core Groups and Child Protection Plans
*Child death information templates
*** Safeguarding in Sport - Dramatisation ***
'Crossing the Line' is an interactive theatre performance by Geese Theatre, which explores safeguarding issues in a sporting context.
This is a must-see event for anyone involved in delivering sport for young people, or anyone wanting to understand the realities of safeguarding in a youth activity context.
"Stunning. I was totally engaged and it was emotionally very powerful."
www.kentsport.org/CrossingtheLineTrafficking and Sexual Exploitation
Please see below three documents which have been produced by the KSCB and MSCB's Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Sub-group as part of our commitment to raise awareness and give practical support and advice to professionals around the issue of Child Trafficking.
This Guidance (pdf, 304kb) is a means of supporting the professionals in all agencies and the community in Kent and Medway, to identify and respond appropriately to safeguard children who are or are at risk of Sexual Exploitation. A risk assessment toolkit (pdf, 265kb) has been developed to help professionals in all agencies assess whether a child for whom they have a concern is at risk of harm through sexual exploitation.
The Abbreviated Toolkit (pdf, 322kb)which has been devised to offer support to professionals who have concerns that a child or young person may have been trafficked. It is intended for frontline staff who come into contact with children and young people and have concerns around this issue. It offers practical advice about steps to take and a checklist to help identify any concerns. A more detailed version of this Toolkit, including information relating to the National Referral Mechanism, can be found here (pdf, 662kb)
There is also Quick Reference Guide (pdf, 116kb) which is is intended to raise awareness of risk factors, and to signpost professionals to take practical action should any concerns be raised."
ECPAT UK National Training Centre: Trafficking
ECPAT UK is a registered charity that exists to end the commercial exploitation of children, and focuses on protecting children from both trafficking and exploitation in tourism. Since 1994, our multi-agency training programmes have enabled practitioners to reach a required standard of practice that helps them to identify and safeguard child victims of trafficking. Our main aim is to educate professionals to better enable them to protect children from exploitation.
ECPAT UK National Training Centre flyer (pdf, 121kb)
Domestic Abuse services in Medway
Domestic abuse services at a glance. (pdf, 2mb)
Kent and Medway Domestic Abuse Strategy Group December 2012 newsletter (pdf, 84kb)
The MSCB Annual Report
2012 Annual report (pdf, 2mb)
Safer Babies in Medway
As a recommendation from the Child Death Overview Panel the Medway Safeguarding Children Board has launched the "Safer Babies in Medway" campaign to help educate parents and professionals on the safest sleeping position for babies and promote the message "Back to sleep, front to play".
MSCB is urging parents of children under the age of one to follow these simple guidelines:
- never lie babies on their side or front - always their back, with their feet to the bottom of the cot
- have baby in a cot in your room for the first 6 months, but not in your bed
- give baby sheets and blankets, never duvets which can make them too hot
- keep their room temperature between 16c and 20c
- don't sleep with your baby on the sofa or armchair
- avoid exposing baby to cigarette smoke
Professionals Safer Sleeping Prompt Card (pdf, 71kb)
Parent's Temperature Advice (pdf, 217kb)
Visit www.fsid.org.uk for professional and parents advice, including bereavement support.
Young mums and dads can find information and advice at www.bubbalicious.co.uk
Breastfeeding can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Call Medway's Infant feeding Coordinator on 01634 331054 for support.
Get help to stop smoking. Call Medway Stop Smoking Service on 0800 234 6805 or visit www.smokefreemedway.co.uk
Keep them Safe this winter
Fire safety advice
Fire safety and the law
Fireworks often play a big part in celebrations – like Bonfire Night, Diwali and Chinese New Year. However, fireworks are explosives and burn at high temperatures, so they need careful handling and storage. Figures have shown that more children than adults get hurt by fireworks.
Find out about firework safety and the law about their use by clicking on the above title. You will find information and advice on firework safety and first aid links, fireworks and the law, organising firework displays and animal safety.
Child at Risk?
MSCB Worried about a child in Medway poster (pdf, 462kb)
If you have a concern about a child or children being at risk of abuse or neglect, please report this to Medway Customer first team by
Email : ss.access&info@medway.gov.uk
Tel: 01634 334466
What is abuse?
You'll find everything you need to know about abuse in young people's (or anyone's) relationships at the newly launched "This is abuse" website. The site aims to educate young people about recognising abuse and where to go for help.
Most parents don't think that abuse can take place in teen relationships, but it happens all the time. And it can happen to anybody.
http://spotteenabuse.direct.gov.uk/index.html
Review of the Kent and Medway Safeguarding Children Procedures
Medway Safeguarding Children Board are currently reviewing our Safeguarding Children Procedures. We would welcome any feedback you may have and so please complete the following questionnaire.
Munro review of Child Protection
The Munro Review - Summary
The final report
Independent Safeguarding Authority
The ISA "Vetting & Barring" scheme has been suspended by the new government and will not come into effect on July 26th as planned.
For more detail, please visit the the BBC news website.
Upcoming Training Events
LEVEL 1
Basic Awareness in Child Protection (pdf, 91kb)
17th April 2013
11th June 2013 - We are no longer receiving application forms for this training date, spaces are not available due to high demand'.
Please submit your application form for the next available training date.
8th July 2013
19th September 2013
15th January 2014
LEVEL 2
Intermediate Course in Child Protection (pdf, 93kb)
16th July 2013 - We are no longer receiving application forms for this training date, spaces are not available due to high demand'.
Please submit your application form for the next available training date.
3rd September 2013
23rd October 2013
3rd December 2013
5th February 2014
Domestic Abuse & Safeguarding Children (pdf, 84kb)
19th April 2013
18th July 2013
Domestic Abuse Stalking and Harassment and Honour Based Violence Training (DASH) (pdf, 88kb)
14th June 2013
23rd September 2013
LEVEL 3
Attending Case Conferences & Core Groups
27th March 2013
Kent Fire & Rescue Service - Safer Communities
New date TBA
Safer Recruitment Training (pdf, 86kb)
New date TBA
E-Safety Practitioner Forum
New Date TBA
MSCB Safer Babies - Keeping babies safe within Medway (pdf, 78kb)
Training for Trainers (pdf, 88kb)
Wednesday 20th February 2013 (assessment day)
Delegates must attend the first date and one of the two assessment days. Also delegates must commit to facilitating either a basic or intermediate course in child protection for the MSCB
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Some of the documents on this site are available in Adobe Systems' Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF).
For details go to our Adobe Acrobat information page.
Child protection conferences - Parents leaflet
Zasadanie k ochrane dieťaťa (Slovak) (pdf, 92Kb)
Konference pro ochranu dítěte (Czech) (pdf, 94kb)
Çocuk Koruma Toplant ı lar ı (Turkish) (pdf, 115Kb)
К о нфе р е н ц и и п о з ащи т е д е т е й (Russian) (pdf, 130Kb)
Konferencje w sprawie Ochrony Dzieci (pdf, 159Kb)
Child Protection plans & Core groups parents/Carers leaflett
Plány na ochranu dieťaťa a základné skupiny (Slovak) (pdf, 105Kb)
Plány na ochranu dítěte a základní skupiny (Czech) (pdf, 105Kb)
Çocuklar ı Koruma Planlar ı ve Temel Gruplar (Turkish) (pdf, 125Kb)
П л а н ы п о з ащи т е р е б е н к а и О с н о в ны е г р у пп ы (Russian) (pdf, 137Kb)
Please report broken links to mscb@medway.gov.uk