Glossary
Child in Need
Defined under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 as: “Those children whose vulnerability is such that they are unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health and development will be significantly impaired, without the provision of services”. This includes all children who have a disability.
Child Protection
It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm. This is enshrined within Section 47 of the Children Act 1989.
Child Protection Case Conference
A conference used to establish whether the child should be referred to as a ‘child subject to a child protection plan’.
Child Protection Plan
For all those children who have been identified at a child protection conference as being at a continuing risk of significant harm, a Child Protection Plan will be created. This is a plan setting out what steps and provisions are needed to safeguard a child’s welfare and minimize all risks of harm to a child.
County Lines
As set out in the Serious Violence Strategy, published by the Home Office, a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of ‘deal line’. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs and money, and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
The sexual exploitation of children and young people is a form of child sexual abuse. It involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive “something? a result of them performing, and/or another or others performing on them, sexual activities. Child sexual exploitation can occur through the use of technology without the child’s immediate recognition; for example, being persuaded to post sexual images on the internet/mobile phones without immediate payment or gain.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
Responsible for processing requests for criminal records checks, deciding whether it is appropriate for a person to be placed on or removed from a barred list and placing or removing people from the DBS children’s barred list and adults’ barred list for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
DBS Check
Formerly called CRB checks. The DBS search police records and, in relevant cases, barred list information, and then issue a DBS certificate to the applicant.
Early Help
Early help, also known as early intervention, is support given to a family when a problem first emerges. It can be provided at any stage in a child or young person’s life.
Educational Health Care Plan
A single plan, which covers the education, health and social care needs of a child or young person with special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND). See the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 0-25 (2014).
Emotional abuse
The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
Extremism
Extremism goes beyond terrorism and includes people who target the vulnerable – including the young – by seeking to sow division between communities on the basis of race, faith or denomination; justify discrimination towards women and girls; persuade others that minorities are inferior; or argue against the primacy of democracy and the rule of law in our society. Extremism is defined in the Counter Extremism Strategy 2015 as the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also regard calls for the death of members of our armed forces as extremist.
Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but there’s no medical reason for this to be done.
Forced Marriage
When a person is made to marry against their will. The victim does not consent freely, but instead enters the marriage under duress. This term is not to be confused with arranged marriages, in which both parties consent to the union. The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 allows courts to order civil measures to be taken to prevent forced marriages.
Forced Marriage Protection Orders
This order allows police and councils to intervene to prevent a forced marriage from occurring or to help the victim of a forced marriage. They can request that the victim’s passport is handed over to stop someone from being taken abroad to be married and can force relatives to disclose the whereabouts of a person at risk of forced marriage.
Honour Based Violence
Honour based violence is a violent crime or incident which may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family or community. For example, honour based violence might be committed against people who: become involved with a boyfriend or girlfriend from a different culture or religion.
Neglect
The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment);Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care- givers);Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.
Peer on peer abuse
Peer on peer abuse occurs when a young person is exploited, bullied and / or harmed by their peers who are the same or similar age; everyone directly involved in peer on peer abuse is under the age of 18.
Physical abuse
A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
Prevent
Prevent is a government strategy that was launched in 2007. This strategy aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism and is part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy
Sexual abuse
Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse Sexual abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.