Governance
Knowledge of local governance processes will help you not only understand the specific actions to be taken when faced with an issue, but also the ethos of your organisation's approach to supporting vulnerable children.
Below are the competencies relevant to governance – please refer to the level 4 competencies in the intercollegiate document (2025) for more information.
Core
- contribute as a member of the safeguarding children and young people and children and young people in care teams to develop strong internal policies, guidelines, protocols, and procedures
- facilitate and contribute (at the appropriate leadership level) to own organisation’s quality assurance activities and multi-agency meetings for effective safeguarding of children and young people and services for children and young people in care; this will involve multi-agency work and recognises the importance of individual organisation and service contribution, and also will include internal governance, learning events, statutory reviews, and inspections
- understand the oversight and quality assurance process following the reviews detailed above with safeguarding children and young people and children and young people in care teams and, in addition, be able to hold leaders and organisations to account
- lead/engage with risk management of the organisation’s ability to safeguard all children and young people, recognising additional needs of children and young people in care
Additional – children in care
- demonstrate oversight and quality assurance, and escalate if needed to enable health assessments to be completed within statutory requirements for children and young people in care
Suggested activities
- Involvement in audit, quality improvement and evaluation
- Developing policies, SOPs and guidelines
- Reviewing and implementing learning from reviews and inspections
- Experiential learning and mentorship
- Strategic and system-level involvement
Examples from experience
A useful exercise is mapping your service against agreed standards such as:
- Child protection service delivery standards
- Initial Health Assessment (IHA) delivery standards (including those for children and young people seeking asylum and refugees)
- Service specification for the clinical evaluation of children and young people who may have been sexually abused
You can also review and update existing guidance on key topics, such as information sharing, following regional or national reviews/learning events.
Familiarising yourself with local serious adverse processes in health offers an opportunity to look for cross-overs with child protection processes.
Working with others is also beneficial, such as:
- Reviewing/following through a Child Protection Datix (or local equivalent of exception reporting) with the Child Protection Lead Nurse
- Conducting a peer review thematic analysis/audit of child protection investigations
- Working with colleagues to review pathways into social care or primary care.
Work like this could be submitted as an abstract or poster at RCPCH Conference or CoramBAAF.
Attending local trust or health board Child Protection steering groups will enable you to observe strategic decision-making in action.