We see on the news that people ARE willing to speak up for children, but what we are not seeing is action that makes a difference to a child when it counts. We are looking for national reform in safeguarding policies In light of Arthur Labinjo - Hughes deeply sad and preventable death.

We ask these questions:

1. If every household had a camera situated in the living room, would we see that safeguarding needs to become an education for care givers, and a prevention of abuse rather than waiting for crisis to repeatedly tell us - the current system doesn't work.

2. If UK democracy states that every child matters and every child has a voice then UK leaders should recognise that discipline is outdated as a practice and should clearly teach parents how to set boundaries. This is a fundamental skill in parenting, personal relationships, professional practices and business.

3. Can professionals that work alongside children and young people have ALL their safeguarding concerns followed up. ALL safeguarding concerns should be mandatory to follow up.

4.  Becoming a parent should be held in the highest regard and recognised as the hardest job to navigate. Can first time parents be supported in behaviour management strategies through school that are age appropriate for the child as part of a national government strategy? Behaviour concerns at school should be deemed as a safe guarding concern and followed up. 

5.  Parent's seeking help should be seen as responsible and not as a concern for the child's welfare. Parent's should be supported in dealing with relationship stress, financial stress and addictions without being shamed and understand that solutions take courage and need ongoing support. Can we make parental stress more visible with expectations on how to deal with stress before it becomes abuse?

6.  Can all caregivers who refuse help after a safeguarding concern is made, be given a court order and mandatory ongoing support for a fixed term? 

7.  We need a safeguarding strategy that stops manipulation of professionals. Can social workers stop using their judgement to decide if a family needs support and have clear procedures that they follow regardless of what they actually see on the day? Stop seeing safeguarding concerns as not meeting thresholds for support.

8.  Can ALL children who go through the family court be monitored to prevent parental alienation and neglect from step parents. Make extended family accountable for child welfare and in cases where children are isolated and do not have extended family, monitoring should be part of our legal obligation to the child. Step parents should be included in behaviour management strategies.

8. Can the government use the information from experts collected through the years to set clear guidelines and expectations on parenting? If government advisors cannot set a golden standard and recommendations for parents who are struggling to parent - how does the government expect these parents to know what they should be doing.

 Clear expectations, support strategies, monitoring where necessary, take away social worker decision making, outline clearly the line between stress and abuse. 

Change safeguarding to support everybody.

Sleep well Arthur...