The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 states that each child has the right to protection from all forms of abuse, neglect or exploitation, and they have the right to express their views on any issues or decisions affecting them.

Child abuse is defined loosely as basic needs 'not being met, in a manner appropriate to their age and stage of development' and being 'at risk through avoidable acts of commission or omission' on the part of relatives, guardians and carers. Professionals working to protect children, i.e. police, health workers and social workers, have further defined child abuse according to the categories: physical injury, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect and non-organic failure to thrive.

The Shetland Child Protection Committee has recently updated the inter-agency Child Protection Procedure. Their website includes a page for professionals and a page for Community Groups.

Shetland Childcare Partnership

Child Protection Scotland

NSPCC

With Scotland The Multi-Agency Resource Service (MARS) and the Scottish Child Care and Protection Network (SCCPN) have joined forces and are developing stronger connections between child, adult and public protection

Keeping Your Child Safe advice to parents and guardians on safe practice in youth groups and activities

The Scottish Government National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland | 2010 includes information on Significant Harm (see page 15) and on Identifying and Managing Risk (page 73)

Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG) training and Information

New Scheme to include Vulnerable Groups:
introduced in February 2011

The Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme was introduced in February 2011. A package of guidance and training materials has also been published. This legislation protects adults, as well as children, in the form of a new membership scheme. This replaces and improves upon the former disclosure arrangements for people who work with vulnerable groups.

The Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme), which delivers on the provisions outlined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) (Scotland) Act 2007 will:

help to ensure that those who have regular contact with children and protected adults through paid and unpaid work do not have a known history of harmful behaviour,
be quick and easy to use, reducing the need for PVG Scheme members to complete a detailed application form every time a disclosure check is required,
strike a balance between proportionate protection and robust regulation and make it easier for employers to determine who they should check to protect their client group.

A protected adult is a person, aged 16 or over, who receives one or more type of care or welfare service either regularly or for a short period of time. The purpose of the term 'protected adult' is to distinguish the category of adult requiring protection and to avoid labelling adults solely on the basis of having a specific condition or disability. Defining adults in this way is intended to help employers identify the services that make an adult 'protected' and therefore, assess which posts constitute regulated work and therefore, a disclosure check.

Information on this membership scheme is available on the Scottish Government website.

Please also see Protecting Vulnerable Groups.

Please contact Voluntary Action Shetland for further information on the scheme: 01595 743902 vas@shetland.org

The Care Inspectorate

The Care Inspectorate now has responsibility for the work formerly undertaken by the Care Commission and child protection work undertaken by HMIE. Please see Care Inspectorate page for more details.