ABSTRACT
Taking action is a crucial element that defines effective safeguarding practice. The incentive to act should a child require help or protection must always be motivated by the child’s needs. The processes that follow actions taken can often steer practitioners in other directions leading them away from the child. For example, a parent who avoids being questioned about a situation or who offers excuses for unacceptable behaviours or personal conduct has the potential to delay or prevent action from being taken. The national review into the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, the six-year-old who was abused and murdered by his father and his partner, makes this point concluding that ‘Arthur’s voice was often mediated by his father’. It found that assessments made by professionals very much ‘relied on the fathers’ perspectives and not Arthur’s’. Sometimes when colleagues and multi-agency partners don’t share the same concerns or sense of urgency, this has the potential to discourage practitioners from pursuing a course of action. Early years practitioners should stand firm and not be deterred from their decision to act if they believe this to be in the best interests of the child.
