What is Self-Harm?

Self-harm can also be known as self- injury and covers a whole variety of different acts that people intentionally carry out on themselves. These acts are not carried out to cause death but they are carried out to cause harm. The most common methods of self-harm are scratching, cutting, burning and biting. Self-harm is used as a way of dealing with issues and is an act of coping but it can lead to the act becoming a problem. It can become a problem because it is usually hidden by the individual and carried out in private. Self-harm can give someone the sense of control that they want and crave and can reduce tension and it can also be a way of punishing themselves for an inner guilt that they may have. Some people who self-harm may only do it occasionally but others carry out this behaviour on a regular basis.

How Prevalent is Self-harm?

Self-harm is more common that people think and the figures are not only alarming but they are also rising. It is claimed that 1 in 10 children have mental health issues and the way that they deal with these issues is by self-harming. It has now been classed as a serious problem and 142,000 people were admitted to hospital with injuries caused by self-harming. The truth is, the figures are very likely to be incorrect as a lot of people do not seek help for self-harming and therefore go unnoticed.

Why do Young People Self-harm?

Different issues and different problems affect people in many ways and therefore not every single person is the same. However, the majority of people who self-harm are known to be struggling with some form of distress and mental health issues. Those who do self-harm would not have carried out the act immediately after recognising that they have an issue, they will often give it a period of time before they understand that self-harm is a form of escape for them. Common reasons for self-harming include sexual abuse, depression, lack of confidence, relationship issues as well as work troubles. Self-harming is sometimes used to get back at others but that is not common, most people harm in silence and in private.

How can schools help young people who self-harm?

An important factor for helping a young person who is self-harming is to help them understand that they have support around them. The school should encourage the children to engage with their peers and should help them focus on their self-esteem. The staff should be given the correct training so that they can identify any issues that may arise and have the correct knowledge to deal with them. The children should feel that if any issues are brought up with the school that they cannot offer complete confidentiality, this is down to risk and whether the child is likely to self-harm again. The children have to understand limits, but the school must acknowledge all attempts of self-harm and take them seriously. The school have to take a non-judgemental view towards the pupils and work to re-assure them that what they are doing is understandable but someone has to be informed so that the situation can be resolved. The school must also be prepared to offer information on any support agencies that are available for the pupil.

Links and Resources

Royal College of Psychiatrists: Self Harm

Young Minds: Self Harm

Healthy Schools Wiltshire: Model guidance for schools responding to incidents of self-harm

Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning: Young People Schools and Self Harm

The Site – Self Harm

Outcomes focus for new Ofsted early years framework

Safeguarding, safety and teaching are set to be the focus of Ofsted’s new inspection framework for nurseries, the inspectorate’s early years lead has said.

The areas to be prioritised by the new framework were outlined by Sue Gregory, director of early years at Ofsted, at the 4Children national conference yesterday.

The framework, which takes effect on 4 November, will take a tougher approach to the regulation of childminders, nurseries and other childcare settings.

Gregory told the gathering of early years leaders that the aim of the framework is to improve the quality of outcomes for children, particularly those from poorer backgrounds.

Under the new framework, Ofsted will scrap the “satisfactory” rating and replace it with a “requires improvement” judgement.

Ofsted will also take a greater role in monitoring providers. As an example, Gregory explained that settings rated as inadequate will be re-inspected within 12 months, before a further inspection six months later. If the settings have not improved by the time of the final inspection, Ofsted will consider further action.

The inspectorate is also planning to publish guidance around the framework in response to calls from childcare providers for information on how inspectors form their judgement of a setting.

Gregory said: “The framework will have a really strong emphasis on teaching and I’m not making any apologies for that.

“All children should have the best quality provision that they are entitled to and all settings must be aiming to reach a benchmark of ‘good’ or better.”

The new approach follows evidence of what Gregory described as a “big national problem”.

She said: “Too many children from low income families under achieve. They just don’t get the high-quality provision they need to help them make a strong start.

“We see that problem across the whole of the reception year, because at the end of the reception classes, we look at the profile and we know that the poorest children do not meet the expectations we have of them.

“Last year, more than a third of children failed to meet expectations in communication, language and literacy, and in poorer children that was a quarter of them. That’s a frightening statistic.”

Source: CYPNow

A group of campaigners from the Justice for Daniel Pelka Facebook group gathered outside Coventry City Council while a meeting was held to discuss the serious case review (SCR) into the four-year-old’s death. The Coventry Telegraph reports that around 30 protestors joined in the demonstration, which called for more action to be taken against the agencies involved in Daniel’s case. The group is petitioning for mandatory reporting of child abuse in schools.

Source: CYPNow

Haringey “missed opportunities” to prevent abuse of toddler

Police, social workers and medical staff could have prevented the abuse of a toddler at the hands of his family in Haringey, a report has found.

A serious case review published today by Haringey’s local safeguarding children board (LSCB) found that the child, referred to as Child T, was taken to hospital with suspicious injuries in June 2010 and February 2011. He was eventually taken into care in June 2011, aged four.

The report concluded that communication between agencies, and management arrangements within them, were insufficient. “Because of failings in the system, this child suffered physical abuse that could have been prevented,” Haringey LSCB chair Graham Badman said in the report.

Haringey’s child protection standards have previously come under the microscope following the deaths of Baby Peter Connelly in August 2007 and Victoria Climbie in February 2000. But despite those high-profile tragedies, the report found evidence “highly suggestive of child abuse” did not prompt a thorough child protection investigation.

“The report illustrates all too vividly the need for vigilance in all services,” said Badman. “It would be an over simplification to describe this case as a series of missed opportunities, but there is, more seriously, compelling evidence of individual and systemic failure.” Badman said there was a “lack of alertness” to the possibility of child abuse as a cause of the boy’s injuries and a reluctance to “think the unthinkable” and recognise all the adults in the family as the perpetrators of abuse.

Source: CYPNow

Barnardo’s outlines blueprint for child-friendly court system

Reforming the justice system in order to improve the way sexually abused children are treated in courts should be a priority for the new Lord Chief Justice, says Barnardo’s.

The children’s charity is urging the Rt Hon Sir John Thomas, who began his tenure as head of the judiciary in England and Wales on Tuesday, to introduce a set of four measures that the charity believes will improve the confidence of vulnerable children called to give evidence in legal hearings.

The charity wants all judges who preside over child sex abuse or exploitation cases to receive training in child protection and safeguarding, and for courts to hold “ground-rules hearings” before every case that involves young victims of sexual abuse to establish how child witnesses will be treated by the court.

Barnardo’s wants judges who sit on child sex cases to receive specialist training on the nature of child sexual exploitation and the impact the offence has on the behaviour of victims. The charity says this will equip them with the knowledge required to ensure that the defence does not use the child’s behaviour to discredit their evidence during cross-examination.

The charity also wants a set of special safeguarding measures to be used as a matter of course in all trials with child witnesses, with children being allowed to decide which of these measures they want implemented at any point before and during the trial.

Alison Worlsey, the charity’s deputy director, said: “It takes immense bravery for sexually exploited children to seek to prosecute their abusers and convictions play a vital role in enshrining confidence in the legal system.

“If we are to turn the tide in the fight against these awful crimes it is vital that victims feel they will be taken seriously and dealt with sensitively at all levels of the justice system.

“We urge the new Lord Chief Justice to prioritise reforms that will create a legal system that places justice for sexually exploited children at its very heart.”

Source: CYPNow

Professionals ‘collectively failed’ to protect Keanu Williams

A two-year-old boy from Birmingham was beaten to death by his mother after professionals “missed a significant number of opportunities” to intervene, a report has found.

Keanu Williams was found with 37 injuries sustained over a period of days after paramedics were called to a house in Birmingham in January 2011. He died later that night.

Rebecca Shuttleworth was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of his murder in June.

A serious case review (SCR) by Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board (SCB) found that social workers and health professionals “collectively failed” to prevent Keanu’s death.

The different agencies became “sidetracked” and failed to meet the standards of basic good practice when they should have reported their concerns, the SCR finds.

The report states that while Keanu’s death could not have been “predicted”, he was “likely” to suffer significant harm.

It notes that Keanu should have been made subject of a child protection plan on “at least two occasions” to address “issues of neglect and physical harm”. This included when Shuttleworth sought medical treatment for Keanu for what she described as “bumps and falls due to unsteadiness”, and when receiving treatment for a burn to his foot.

Despite Shuttleworth claiming the burn was caused “accidentally by a hot radiator” a Health Overview Report, based on medical evidence, concluded her explanation was not credible.

Four days before his death in January 2011, nursery staff saw “a number of marks and bruises” on Keanu’s body and thought he was “distressed” but they believed Shuttleworth’s explanations and decided to not press the issue any further.

The SCR found “a lack of focus on children and their welfare” by professionals, and criticises “poor communications between and within agencies”. A lack of confidence among professionals in challenging parents and shortcomings in recording systems and practice were also noted.

The report makes eight recommendations for changes to current practice, procedures and training, including that agencies involved in the case review their procedures for “challenge, internal and external disagreement, and escalation and whistleblowing”.

A further recommendation states that Birmingham SCB undertake a full review of the functioning of its frontline core child protection service to ensure that it focuses on the “child’s journey”.

Jane Held, chair of Birmingham SCB, apologised for “totally unacceptable and unnecessary failures” and promised to learn from Keanu’s case.

She said: “It’s not sufficient to say we will learn the lessons. Keanu died in 2011 but we know many children are still not safe enough in Birmingham. We owe it to Keanu and his extended family to redouble our efforts and actually change practice in every agency and service that had contact with him.

“There are no quick fixes and it requires collective effort by all partners to create the workforce we need with the right practice skills and enough capacity to do the job well.

“We have already taken action in a range of ways. However, now we need to achieve radical change by listening to children and young people and by working closely with the staff that do the job every day.

“We need to create the right conditions to support all our staff to put their responsibilities to safeguard children and promote their welfare first and foremost.”

Peter Hay, acting strategic director of children, young people and families at Birmingham City Council, added: “Today’s report into the tragic death of Keanu Williams is a further blight upon this city’s reputation, as we have failed to meet the basic expectation that our children are safe. For this we are unequivocally sorry.

“We accept too, that given our record in failing to improve children’s services that our apology may ring hollow and any assurance of lessons learned or other such statement is meaningless. We therefore want today’s report, into a death two years ago, to be the point of real change in children’s services.

“The city council fully supports the statement made by the safeguarding board: we will play our part in the action plan and be held to account accordingly.

“We know that we have to address how the council will make more of a difference to the safety of children in this city, which has been inadequate in its Ofsted rating since 2009. Following the changes we made to leadership of the service in June 2013, we know more about what needs to be different in the work done to protect children.”

Source: CYPNow