Safeguarding Children with Disabilities

Overview

Many of us find it hard to understand how anyone could abuse any child, let alone a child with disabilities. Yet this refusal to accept the abuse of disabled children often means that practitioners disregard the signs of abuse, therefore allowing the abuse to continue.

Audience

This course is intended for all children’s workforce practitioners, i.e. all staff who work with children, young people and their families. Although this course forms part of an induction programme for new starters, it is also intended for all practitioners who want to improve their knowledge and continue their professional development.

About this course

The course contains additional resource materials, useful links and a refresher guide.

Objectives

This course will enable you to:

  • Learn the definition of disability
  • Know why disabled children are more vulnerable to abuse
  • Understand the challenges faced where abuse of a disabled child is suspected

    Content

    Here are some of the topics covered in this course:

    Important facts | Definition of disability | Definition of child abuse | Why are disabled children particularly vulnerable? | Disbelief | Change in disbelief culture | Communication | Methods of communication | Make the child heard | Signs and symptoms | Awareness of abuse indicators | Lack of specific training | Team around the child | Respect for parents / carers | Anger and stress | Investigation | Excuses | Education | Points to consider