Vulnerable People Assignment Brief

Question.1

Read Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council's (2013) paper relating to risk assessment, in particular, Section 4 entitled Risk Assessment framework and Section 5 entitled Application of Risk Assessment Model.

Discuss what you have learnt from undertaking this reading.

Question.2

Please watch the 2-minute video produced by the NSPCC (2016d) entitled Sarah's Story.

Now answer the following questions:

• Having watched Sarah's Story, what is the main message of the video?
• How can the video help to inform and improve your practice?

Question 3

Having read the case study, reflect on the following:

• What strategies could be put in place to mitigate the risk of children and young people being sexually groomed online?

Question 4

According to H.M. Government. Please answer the following questions:

• What do you think constitutes emotional abuse?
• Which groups of children do you think would be most at risk of emotional abuse?
• Which groups of parents do you think would be most likely to emotionally abuse their children?

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Question 5

Make some notes about the following:

• What is the impact on the child?
• How did you know that the abuse would have that impact?
• What evidence have you found to support this?

Question 6

What are your initial thoughts about ONE theoretical aspect of safeguarding children and young people? There are a range of different theoretical aspects for example:

Definitions: Explanations for why people abuse children and young people, Legislation: Policies and procedures, Roles and responsibilities, Research Findings.

Question 7

Choose one theory from each section and answer the following questions:

• How does the theory explain child abuse?
• How do the theories differ?
• Which theory do you think best explains why child abuse occurs, and explain why?
  (Theoretical perspectives are useful for explaining the abuse that is evident in the case study)

Question 8

Parental responsibility means the legal rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority a parent has for a child and the child's property.

Please answer the following question:

• What responsibilities does a parent have?

Please reflect on the following:

• Should unmarried fathers automatically acquire parental responsibility?
• Why does it matter?

Question 9

Please read the following report that draws attention to a number of potential risk factors relating to particular groups of children, and provides essential information for those who work in schools and other professionals. It highlights the key safeguarding issues, challenges and implications for practice that have emerged from analysis of the SCRs for those working in education and early-years settings and related services.

Department for Education (2016) Serious Case Reviews: Triennial analysis of SCRs: Briefing for education practitioners: awareness and understanding [Online].

• Having read the briefing, please answer the following questions:
• What were the main risk factors?
• What conclusions can you draw?
• What implications do the findings have for your own area of practice?

Question 10

Find a research article which you consider to be relevant for an essay for this Coursework, which states:

Open quote Students will critically analyze the theoretical aspects of safeguarding vulnerable service users. This will include discussion of risk, vulnerability and abuse Closing quote

Examine the research article in a critical way by considering the following questions:

• What are the strengths and limitations of the research undertaken?
• What is the sample like? Is it representative? What is its size?
• Is it a qualitative or quantitative study or is it mixed methods?
• What do the findings tell you?
• What are the conclusions?
• Use this information in your essay as supporting evidence.               

Question 10

Read and Discuss

Robinson, A. (2011) Risk and intimate partner violence. Chapter 7, pp. 119-138, In: Kemshall, H. & Wilkinson, B. (2011) Good practice in assessing risk: current knowledge, issues, research and approach. London: Jessica Kingsley.