Consent and legal/ethical matters
This chapter will explore contemporary child protection issues including safeguarding policies and laws currently in place for children, in order to provide a framework to guide your understanding and practice as a nursing student. We will also highlight the influence of other agencies in fulfilling their statutory responsibility for safeguarding children and the importance of inter-professional work. It is important that student nurses can recognize the presentation of children who may have suffered abuse and so common scenarios are explored and discussed. Examples of the nature and range of abuse will be outlined as will the skills used for both recognition and identification. You may find some of the content disturbing, and it may be useful for you to seek support and guidance when reading the chapter. The chapter commences with a discussion of the background literature in this area, which provides a definition and explanation of abuse and outlines related contributory factors. In order to provide a discussion of the legislation related to this topic, examples from the United Kingdom (UK) will be outlined. Legislation in this area varies between countries; therefore it is not possible to provide information on the scope of the law in individual countries. It may be useful to refer to your own country’s legislation when considering the chapter content. By reading this chapter and engaging with the various activities, you will have: ● A basic understanding of several aspects of child protection and safeguarding policy and law (examples are drawn from the UK and Ireland). ● An understanding of the nature of presenting abuse in children. ● An understanding of child protection/safeguarding guidelines that would enable you to act if you have concerns. ● An awareness of accountability and responsibility issues in relation to your role in nursing children. From preceding chapters you will have developed an understanding that children need to grow up in a nurturing environment that encourages their physical and emotional development.