Are DBS Checks worth the paper they are written on
Schools in the United Kingdom are duty bound by law to “Safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people”. This does not just apply to schools but other institutions, who look after or work with children and young people in some capacity, including the vulnerable.
Over the past few years, we seem to have seen evidence of failure to protect people.
I have previously mentioned “Everyone's Invited” and the catalogue of failures that meant children and young people were subjected to rape and sexual assault by other students, what is worse, is that the very teachers charged with welfare did nothing effective, ignored victims or made the victim feel they were lying and it was their fault.
It seems, that despite the usual sound bytes, nothing has changed. The following are two recent BBC news articles
This is the tip of the iceberg. There seems be endless failures, endless excuses and endless use of “Lessons will be leaned” I feel it is time to stop making excuses and time for real action.
It appears the UK has more problems, a 2013 BBC report Children 'already two years behind at start of school' However fast forward to post pandemic 2022, the Daily Mail report from July 2022 Lost children of lockdown reported the same sort of problems, As this was happening pre-covid then I do question if Covid is actually to blame for this. .
Neglect is part of keeping children safe in education. This is a statutory document for all staff working with children, which defines neglect as:-
Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or
psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.
If, for the moment we disregard those with physical / learning disabilities (as they have a reasonable reason) and just look at those for whom there seems to little or no reason why they should be wearing a nappy etc at 4. We need to ask serious questions.
Why this this happening, who are we recruiting in to these positions of trust, who we also entrust to act in the INTEREST OF THE CHILD.
Granted parents need support, so lets support them with properly funded schemes. However there has to be a point where the system steps in and removes the child.
Another example of failure
So, none of the people who failed children have been sacked, this means they are free to get jobs elsewhere, and probably allow the same to happen again. In Without a police caution, warning or a criminal conviction, nothing will show up on DBS checks, not sure how other background checks end up with heads of children;s services, being offered employment, when they have failed in their last post.
DBS checks are just one part of safer recruitment, but it is VITAL that we can trust this system.
We need to get a grip. After 12 years of Conservative rule nothing seems to have changed.