Safeguarding Policy - Appendix A

Preston City Council's Safeguarding Policy - Appendix A

Definitions and types of abuse

• Child or young person - Anyone under the age of 18 years
• Adult at risk - A person aged 18 years or over, who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to protect him or herself against significant harms or exploitation.

Types of abuse

• Physical - behaviour includes - Hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, restraint or inappropriate sanctions
• Emotional - behaviour includes - Actual or likely severe adverse effect of the emotional and behavioural development of a child or adult at risk, caused by persistent or severe ill treatment or rejection. It may involve causing a child or adult at risk to feel that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It may involve causing children or adults at risk to frequently feel frightened or in danger, of the exploitation of corruption of children.
• Psychological - behaviour includes - Emotional abuse, threats of harm or abandonment, deprivation of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, cyber bullying, isolation or unreasonable and unjustified withdrawal of services of supportive networks.
• Sexual - behaviour includes - Rape, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, inappropriate looking or touching, sexual teasing or innuendo, sexual photography, subjection to pornography or witnessing sexual acts, indecent exposure and sexual assault or sexual acts to which the adult has not consented or was pressured into consenting.
• Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) - behaviour includes - Child Sexual Exploitation is a crime that can affect any child, anytime anywhere regardless of their social or ethnic background. It involves offenders grooming youngsters and using their power to sexually abuse them. It can take many forms, whether it occurs through a seemingly "consensual" relationship with an older partner, or a young person having sex in return for attention, gifts, alcohol or cigarettes.
• Neglect or acts of omission - behaviour includes - Persistent failure to meet the basic physical and /or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of their health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failure to protect from physical harm or danger, or failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child or adults at risk's basic emotional needs.
• Self-Neglect - behaviour includes - Covers a wide range of behaviour including neglecting to care for one's personal hygiene, health or surroundings and behaviour such as hoarding.
• Financial or material - behaviour includes - Theft, fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property, inheritance or financial transactions, or the misuse of misappropriation of property, possessions, benefits or money.
• Organisational - behaviour includes - Neglect and poor care practice within a care setting such as a hospital or care home or in relation to care provided in someone's own home ranging from one off incidents to on-going ill-treatment. It can be neglect or poor practice as a result of the structure, policies, process and practices within a care setting.
• Modern Slavery - behaviour includes - Encompassing slavery, human trafficking, forced labour and domestic servitude. Traffickers and slave masters use whatever means they have at their disposal to coerce, deceive and force individuals into a life of abuse, servitude and inhumane treatment.
• Prevent/Counter-terrorism - behaviour includes - Prevent is part of the UK's counter terrorism strategy to safeguard people and communities from the threat of terrorism and aims to prevent people from becoming involved in terrorism or supporting terrorism. This can be a safeguarding issue if people with vulnerabilities are "groomed" and manipulated to take part in criminal activity. People in this situation are usually in need of support.
• Whistleblowing - behaviour includes - The Council has a Whistleblowing procedure which allows people to report concerns. If these concerns are about safeguarding issues, they will be dealt with under the Safeguarding Policy.