Safeguarding: sharing information and getting help
What safeguarding means, how it works, who is involved and what happens when information is shared. Guidance for organisations and for families.
* This toolkit gives general guidance. It does not replace your organisation’s safeguarding policy, professional judgement or local safeguarding procedures. Local referral routes may vary.
Helping young people feel safe to talk
What safeguarding means and how it works
Safeguarding means helping, supporting and protecting children and young people. It includes getting help in place as soon as difficulties emerge to protect children from harm. Safeguarding aims to support children to stay safely with their families and family networks whenever possible. It is never meant to punish a young person for speaking honestly.
Safeguarding is not only about emergencies or removing children from their families. It can include advice, early help, family support and action to protect a child when needed.
Everyone has a role in helping to keep children and young people safe.
In England, the local council, health services and police work together as safeguarding partners. Schools, charities, youth organisations and other services also have responsibilities to keep children safe.
If you work in an organisation, follow its safeguarding policy.
A concern may lead to different kinds of support. It may mean advice, early help for a family, a referral to children’s social care, or urgent action if someone is in immediate danger.
A referral is information shared with children’s social care because someone is worried about a child’s welfare. It is not proof that anyone has done something wrong, and it does not automatically lead to a child being removed from their family.
The local authority considers the information and decides what response is needed. This may include advice, signposting, family help, an assessment or urgent protection.
Ask for advice early if you are worried about a child or young person’s safety, wellbeing or care. You do not need to wait until a situation becomes a crisis.
If you work in an organisation, follow your safeguarding policy and speak to the designated safeguarding lead or named safeguarding person without delay.
If you are a parent, carer or family member and are not sure what to do, contact your local authority children’s social care team, early-help team or local safeguarding partnership for advice.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.
- Tell the young person as early as you can.
- Explain what you are worried about.
- Tell them who you will speak to and why.
- Involve them in the next steps where possible.
- Check in afterwards, so they are not left wondering what happened.
Sharing well is also how the adults around a young person keep them safe together. Home, school, community and services each hold a different piece, and safeguarding works when those pieces meet, carefully and on purpose. Check out Chapter 12 for more information.
If you support young people through your work
Follow your organisation’s safeguarding and whistleblowing policies, and know who to contact if you need to raise a concern. In schools, this is usually the designated safeguarding lead (DSL); in other settings, there should be a named safeguarding person who can guide you through the process.
Keeping young people safe is everyone’s responsibility. If a concern involves someone within your organisation, or you are worried about how it is being handled, refer to your organisation’s whistleblowing policy.
Building trust at home
Children may choose different adults for different conversations. This does not mean they trust their parent or carer less. It means they have more than one person in their corner.
In our research children expressed that they trust their parents with the serious things, and often avoid sharing information that could get them in trouble. This shapes what reaches you. It is not dishonesty; it is a child weighing what each adult can do to them.
You cannot force them to share such information by demanding honesty but by telling a child, in advance and in plain words, what you would and would not act on.
“You can tell me things without every conversation becoming a big problem. My first job is to listen, not to punish.
If I think that you or someone else may not be safe, I may need to act. If that happens, I will talk to you about what happens next.”
Say it once, calmly, on an ordinary day. Then the hard part: honour it the first time it is tested, because that first time determines how often a young person may disclose information moving forward.
Your child naming a friend, an auntie, a youth worker or a Saturday school adult as the person for certain topics is not a failure of your bond. It is a protective community-based system helping to keep your child safe. The trust map activity in Chapter 7 gives families a gentle, shared way to discover the real map together.
Parents filter what they say to institutions for the same reason children filter what they say to adults: by what the institution can do to them. The data and our families name the same fear: a social services referral, and behind it the fear of children being removed, stops families seeking support. A referral is a concern being passed on, not a finding. Many lead to no action, or an offer of voluntary support. You have rights throughout, including knowing what the concern is and having someone with you. The family navigator (Chapter 21) holds the full plain-language guide, template letters and free independent advice.