Child Abuse and Child Protection

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1. Statement of Policy

The purpose of this policy is to outline the response of Dyfed-Powys Police regarding Child Abuse and Child Protection.

This policy is to ensure that Dyfed-Powys Police achieves a consistent and professional approach to policing incidents of child abuse and protecting children at risk to ensure that children are safeguarded, and incidents of child abuse are investigated appropriately and thoroughly.

It applies to all Dyfed-Powys Police Officers and employees who provide a response to incidents involving children, from the first point of contact, through investigation and to prosecution.

Dyfed-Powys Police gives special consideration to safeguarding children, intolerant to any abuse or neglect and will identify those who may be vulnerable, assess if they are at risk of harm, deal with any immediate safeguarding concerns and work with other agencies to put steps in place to prevent further abuse or harm in accordance with the Wales Safeguarding Procedures.

Dyfed-Powys Police works collaboratively with the regional safeguarding boards’ Multi-Agency Protocols. Cysur | Regional Policies & Procedures

Applies (but not limited) to: All categories of Dyfed-Powys Police officers and staff, whether full-time, part-time, permanent, fixed term, temporary (including agency staff, associates and contractors), seconded staff and volunteers. Police Officers, staff and volunteers accessing and using Force assets and property must have due regard to the contents of this policy.

2. Policy Scope

This policy is implemented force wide.

The policy will be reviewed annually and updated as legislation and guidance require. Any deviance to this policy should be clearly documented with the appropriate rationale. The policy and procedure documents will set out the way Dyfed-Powys Police work as an organisation and with our multi-agency partners to:

Ensure member of Dyfed-Powys police recognise, record and deal with incidents where there is child abuse or neglect, or where a child may be at risk of abuse or neglect, in a consistent manner.
Promote the safety of children.
Identify prevention opportunities.
Ensure appropriate referrals are made to other agencies in an effective manner in accordance with the Wales Safeguarding Procedures.
Adopt a multi-agency approach in the development of services for children.
Proportionately investigate crimes involving children.
Facilitate effective and appropriate action against offenders so that they can be held accountable through the criminal justice system.
Promote and increase the community confidence in the criminal justice system, the police service and improve reporting.
Promote a structure which regularly reviews performance, to ensure the Force response to dealing with child abuse and child protection improves and evolves.

Definitions

Child - The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and accompanying Guidance define a ‘child’ as a person who is aged under 18.

Child at Risk - s.130 (4) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act defines a child at risk a child who:

Is experiencing or is at risk of abuse, neglect or other kinds of harm;
Has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is meeting any of those needs).

It is important to note:

The use of the term ‘at risk’ means that actual abuse or neglect does not need to occur, rather early interventions to protect a child at risk should be considered to prevent actual harm, abuse and neglect.
The two conditions necessary to demonstrate a child is at risk of abuse or neglect ensures that protection is provided to those with care and support needs who also require actions to secure their safety in the future.
Risk of abuse or neglect may be the consequence of one concern or a result of cumulative factors.

Harm is defined as:

ill treatment including sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse and psychological abuse.
the impairment of physical or mental health (including that suffered from seeing or hearing another person suffer ill treatment).
the impairment of physical intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development (including that suffered from seeing or hearing another person suffer ill treatment).

Significant Harm

Concerns about likely or actual significant harm to a child is the threshold for initiating section 47 enquiries under the Children Act 1989.There is no statutory definition of significant harm. Therefore, practitioners must consider the following:

‘Where the question of whether harm Is significant turns on the child’s health or development, the child’s health or development is to be compared with that which could reasonably be expected of a similar child’.

Types of harm

The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples.

Physical abuse- hitting, slapping, over or misuse of medication, undue restraint, or inappropriate sanctions.

emotional/psychological abuse - threats of harm or abandonment, coercive control, humiliation, verbal or racial abuse, isolation or withdrawal from services or supportive networks, witnessing abuse of others.
sexual abuse - forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening, including: physical contact, including penetrative or non-penetrative acts; non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
financial abuse - this category will be less prevalent for a child, but indicators could be:

not meeting their needs for care and support which are provided through direct payments; or
complaints that personal property is missing.

neglect - failure to meet basic physical, emotional or psychological needs which is likely to result in impairment of health or development.

Risk from other actual or potential harm to a child or young person may also result from:

Criminal exploitation such as county lines (CCE)
Child sexual exploitation
Radicalisation
Female genital mutilation
Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking
Honor Based Abuse

Missing Children

A missing child (whether reported or not) or a family or child missing significant appointments (for example, with healthcare professionals) and/or being suspected of having moved out of the local area without notice may indicate child abuse. Children who go missing may be at risk while they are missing and/or may have run away to escape abuse.

Before missing children are returned, enquiries should be made to discover the reasons for their disappearance through ‘safe and well’ interviews. These enquiries can result in further concerns about the child and reveal incidents of abuse. In some cases a child may be found who has not been reported missing, which may be because the child has been deliberately excluded from the home environment. In such cases officers should consider the child’s safety and vulnerability.

Information obtained during missing persons investigations (for example, where a child or children are regularly found at the same address or with the same person) may indicate a need for further investigation.

3. Powers and Policy/Legal Requirements

This policy is written in accordance with the Strategic Policing Requirement (Feb 2023).

Dyfed-Powys Police act in accordance with the above legislation and procedures recognising the guidance set out within the college of policing APP in relation to child abuse and safeguarding children.

Section 46 of the Children Act 1989 provides an emergency power which enables any police officer to protect a child who is reasonably believed to be at risk of significant harm. This act empowers an officer to remove a child to suitable accommodation or prevent the removal of a child from a hospital or other place in which that child is being accommodated. When these powers are exercised, the child is considered to be in police protection. Police protection does not give the police parental responsibility and does not, for example, give the police the ability to consent on behalf of the child to a forensic medical examination. No child may be kept in police protection for more than 72 hours. Police protection powers should be used only when necessary for reasons relating to the immediate safety of the child.

This policy is relevant and linked to other force policies and should be considered alongside them, these policies are –

Crime and Incident Recording and Investigation Policy
Criminal Exploitation Policy
Domestic Abuse Policy
Female Genital Mutilation Policy
Honor Based Abuse and Forced Marriage Policy
Information Sharing Policy
Investigation and Prosecution of Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Policy
Missing Person Policy
Vulnerability Policy

General Principles

There is a legal duty on all agencies, including the police, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children which includes sharing concerns at an early stage to encourage preventative action.

The Wales Safeguarding Procedures detail the essential roles and responsibilities for practitioners to ensure that they safeguard children who are at risk of abuse and neglect.

Dyfed-Powys Police are an organisational partner of the regional safeguarding board. Dyfed-Powys Police alongside its partner agencies will protect children at risk of harm, abuse, and neglect in the following ways:

prevention or early help intervention to address any emerging concerns.
identification of concerns.
Where required, immediate protection to keep safe the individual at risk of harm utilising the appropriate police powers (Section 46 powers) and positive action with perpetrators.
reporting these concerns to the Local Authority for the possibility of initiating section 47 enquiries under the Children Act 1989.
provision of care and support to address unmet needs if the child is not found to be at risk or experiencing significant harm.
care and support protection to address needs including keeping the individual safe if the child is experiencing and/or likely to experience ongoing significant harm.

Safeguarding Principles

In order to ensure the effective safeguarding of children, Dyfed-Powys Police will:

contribute to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of the child alongside its partner agencies by the sharing of information.

Contribute to Intra and multi-disciplinary working in order to better understand the individual child, their circumstances and their needs for care, support and safety.
Establish and maintain co-productive working relationships with the child at risk, their family and carers to establish what matters to them and to ensure they feel respected and informed.

Child-centred approach

Dyfed-Powys Police, in line with Part 2 6. (2) of the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014 recognises:

the rights of the child should be paramount to the approach.
their best interests will form the base of our decision making.
The voice of the child will be considered continually throughout our response to any concerns.
as far as is reasonably practicable, will ascertain and have regard to the child’s views, wishes and feelings.
Dyfed-Powys Police will have regard to the importance of promoting and respecting the dignity of the individual.
Dyfed-Powys Police will have regard to the characteristics, culture and beliefs of the child and their family (including, for example, language) whilst recognising the paramountcy of safeguarding the individual.
Dyfed-Powys Police will have regard to the importance of providing appropriate support to enable the child to participate in decisions that affect them to the extent that is appropriate in the circumstances, particularly where the child’s ability to communicate is limited for any reason.

Professional Curiosity

When responding to incidents involving children, staff are to demonstrate professional curiosity in order to explore and understand what is happening to an individual or within a family, rather than making assumptions or accepting things without question.

Officers and staff are encouraged to:

Look, listen, ask direction questions, check and reflect on information received.
Test professional hypothesis.
Assess information from different sources to gain a better understanding of individuals.
Obtain multiple sources of information and not accepting a single set of details they are given at face value.
Have an awareness of their own personal bias and how that can impact decision making and ensure it is avoided by remaining focused on the child or children, looking for alternative explanations and testing their hypothesis and interpreting information with equal scrutiny.
Document and appropriately record their actions and rationale to support future scrutiny.

Voice of the child

Capturing the Voice of the Child is required on each and every occasion a police officer investigates a child protection concern utilising the AWARE pneumonic. Staff are instructed to use their professional curiosity when considering the following factors of a child’s lived experiences –

A – Appearance

W – Words

A – Activity and Behaviours

R – Relationships and Dynamics

E – Environment

Adverse Childhood Experiences.

The force will apply a trauma informed approach to all incidents requiring a child protection or early help response. This will include the assessment and documentation of child resilience factors to be shared with partners as part of the child’s ongoing assessments.

In recognition of the impact of trauma in childhood Dyfed-Powys Police supports the abolition of defence of reasonable punishment as set out in the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020.

Duties of Relevant Partner Agencies

There is a legal duty on Relevant Partner Agencies to report concerns to the Local Authority if they have knowledge concerns or suspicions that a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering significant harm.

Relevant partners include (but are not limited to) the Local Authority, health services and the police.

Dyfed-Powys Police will highlight any safeguarding concerns by submission of a Public Protection Notice (PPN) to the Local Authority. There are four Local Authorities within the geographical composition of Dyfed-Powys Police; namely Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys County Councils.

4. Options and Contingencies

Police officers and police staff involved in the investigative process must have the appropriate qualifications, competencies and skills. One of the key elements of an effective police response to child abuse is a holistic, whole family approach to the investigation and related police and multi-agency action. In most cases of child abuse this will, by necessity, involve specialist child abuse investigators.

All staff within the Criminal Investigation Department are PIP level 2 and Specialist Child Abuse trained investigators or are working towards this under the direction of trained supervisors. In some Local Policing Area’s CID have dedicated Joint Investigation (JI) Units who are assigned child protection investigations to ensure any investigation and safeguarding activity is timely. Protracted investigations may then be allocated to a suitably trained officer from the CID department to ensure JI officers have the capacity to progress referrals in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of the local Detective Chief Inspector to ensure all staff within these departments are suitably trained and qualified to undertake their role or on the pathway towards this.

The lead officer is the Detective Superintendent for Protecting Vulnerable People, who is the strategic lead for Vulnerability.

The Local Policing Area Commander and the Detective Chief Inspector are responsible for the following:

The knowledge, implementation, and compliance of this policy with their staff.
The identification of suitable officers to undertake training and roles required for specialist investigation.
The investigation, safeguarding and support of vulnerable people in their geographical area.

By applying this policy and associated guidance document, Dyfed-Powys Police will act in accordance with the ethical policing principles demonstrating courage, respect, empathy and public service.

5. Take action and review

Child Abuse and Child Protection is managed under the Vulnerability portfolio which receives oversight from the Strategic Vulnerability Board and is chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable on a quarterly basis.

The Dyfed-Powys Police Vulnerability Portfolio takes strategic direction from the National Vulnerability Action Plan.

The Force response to investigations relating to protecting vulnerable people is managed by each Local Policing Area Detective Chief Inspector with oversight from the Detective Superintendent for Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP).

The Detective Chief Inspector with responsibility for the Vulnerability Portfolio is responsible for an annual review of the Force response to protecting vulnerable people in conjunction with the compilation of the Force Management Statement, focusing on the capacity and capability in this specialist area.

Dyfed-Powys Police forms part of the Regional Safeguarding Board with the Head of PVP or nominated representative attending quarterly executive meetings with the board and other leads within the relevant partner agencies. This process holds the organisation accountable at executive level across all strands of vulnerability including child abuse and child protection.

Dyfed-Powys Police will act in accordance with our regional multi-agency safeguarding protocol for the resolution of professional differences where applicable.

CODE OF ETHICS CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This policy has been drafted in accordance with the Code of Ethics and has been reviewed on the basis of its content and the supporting evidence and it is deemed compliant with that Code and the principles underpinning it.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACT CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This policy has been drafted in accordance with the Human Rights Act and has been reviewed on the basis of its content and the supporting evidence and it is deemed compliant with that Act and the principles underpinning it.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Section 4 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out the protected characteristics that qualify for protection under the Act as follows: Age; Disability; Gender Reassignment; Marriage and Civil Partnership; Pregnancy and Maternity; Race; Religion or Belief; Sex; Sexual Orientation.

The public sector equality duty places a proactive legal requirement on public bodies to have regard, in the exercise of their functions, to the need to:

eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other conduct that is unlawful under the Act;
advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

The equality duty applies to all protected characteristics with the exception of Marriage and Civil Partnership, to which only the duty to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination applies.

Carrying out an equality impact assessment involves systematically assessing the likely or actual effects of policies on people in respect of all the protected characteristics set out above. An equality impact assessment should be carried out on any policy that is relevant to the public sector equality duty.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMPLETED: August 2024

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Child Abuse and Child Protection Policy

1. Statement of Policy

2. Policy Scope

3. Powers and Policy/Legal Requirements

4. Options and Contingencies

5. Take action and review