Child Safeguarding
is everyone's responsibility
What is Child Safeguarding?
Child Safeguarding means ‘ensuring safe practice and appropriate responses by workers and volunteers to concerns about the safety or welfare of children, including online concerns, should these arise. Child Safeguarding is about protecting the child from harm, promoting their welfare and in doing so creating an environment which enables children and young people to grow, develop and achieve their full potential'. (Tusla, 2024, p. 6)
Legal RequirementRegistered Providers of Early Years (EY), School Age Care (SAC) and Childminding services are legally required to implement safeguarding policies, procedures and practices to ensure that everyone is following best practice and legislative requirements to keep children safe.
Registered Early Years and School Age Care and Childminding services are considered to be providers of ‘relevant services’ under the Children First Act 2015. The Act requires providers of relevant services to develop a Child Safeguarding Statement. This is a written statement that specifies the service being provided and the principles and procedures to be observed in order to ensure, as far as practicable, that a child availing of the service is safe from harm. Tusla's Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children provides the policy and practice to keep children safe. The National Child Safeguarding Programme: Early Learning and Care provides a useful Resource Document on Child Safeguarding Statement, Policies and Procedures that was developed specifically for the Early Years and School Age Care sector.
Child Safeguarding is a legal responsibility to keep children safe.
The 5Rs
Learn about your legal obligations by understanding the 5 Rs: Registration, Recruitment, Reporting, Risk Assessment, Ratios
Registration
Recruitment
Reporting
Risk Assessment
Ratios
Registration
The purpose of this requirement from a child-centred perspective is that Tusla, the independent statutory regulator, needs to provide public assurance that Early Years and School Age Care providers understand their legal responsibilities and can provide an environment where children are safe from harm and that at very least national minimum care standards are met.
Registration requires Garda vetting for the registered provider and person in charge (if different), including each Director if a corporate body.
Because of legal change in 2024 and the introduction of Childminding-specific regulations, which provide important safeguards for children, Tusla is accepting new registration applications from Childminding services. However, registration will not be mandatory until September 2027.
You can view the full details about Tusla requirements here.
Recruitment
Services must have clear governance structures, including policies for recruitment, staff training and supervision.
Safe recruitment is a preventative measure to minimise potential harm and crucial to creating a safe, positive learning environment.
Adhering to regulatory requirements, which include carrying out background checks /Garda Vetting and ensuring that staff are suitable to work with children before starting work, is crucial for Child Safeguarding and the best interests of children.
Reporting
Everyone is responsible for reporting child protection and welfare concerns under the Children First National Guidance and the Children First Act 2015. Guidance can be found in Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children.
‘Childcare staff’ in Early Years and School Age Care services are Mandated Persons.
Mandated Persons have certain legal obligations under the Children First Act 2015 and these are:
- To report the harm of children above a defined threshold to Tusla .
- To assist Tusla, if requested, in assessing a concern which has been the subject of a mandated report .
Under the Children First Act, mandated persons have an additional responsibility to report any knowledge, belief or reasonable suspicion that a child has been harmed, is being harmed, or is at risk of being harmed. The National Child Safeguarding Programme: Early Learning and Childcare Services has developed a poster which outlines Child Safeguarding Roles in settings.
Risk Assessment
Settings must develop and display a Child Safeguarding Statement outlining procedures in place to manage risks of harm to children.
The Child Safeguarding Statement should also include a risk assessment for all children availing of the service and include specified procedures to mitigate any identified risks. The risk assessment contained in the Child Safeguarding Statement is solely for the purposes of meeting the requirements of the Children First Act, 2015 and will not include risks to children that may occur in relation to general issues of health and safety.
Actions taken or decisions made should be based on what is best for children (UNCRC, 1989: Article 3).
To find out more about creating a Child Safeguarding statement, click here to find resources by the National Child Safeguarding Programme: Early Learning and Childcare.
Ratios
There are specific legal child/adult ratios in Early Years and School Age Care and registered Childminding services to ensure safe supervision and care for children. These ratios vary depending on the age of the children and the type of service provided. Compliance with these ratios is monitored by Tusla through inspections.
Research by Meechan and Bradbury (2024) suggest that higher childcare ratios can put children and professionals in danger. Also, the frequency of accidents and children being upset or feeling stressed increases.
To find out more about maintaining ratios, click here.
Are you a Mandated Person?
A mandated person has a legal obligation to report child protection concerns at or above a defined threshold to Tusla. These mandated persons must also assist Tusla, on request, in its assessment of child protection concerns about children who have been the subject of a mandated report.
Building a shared Child Safeguarding culture
Early Childhood Ireland recently conducted research with our service provider members to investigate how Child Safeguarding is embedded in the professional culture of EY and SAC services in Ireland. This research informed our development of five Child Safeguarding themes, which highlight misconceptions and share insights. These themes are underpinned on some guiding principles for building a shared Child Safeguarding culture in Early Years and School Age Care settings in Ireland.
The five themes are:
Ready,
Steady,
Safeguard
Same book, different pages
Not a
one-person job
The systemic heartbeat
What about the children?
Useful links
Further information and resources to support you with developing your understanding of Child Safeguarding can be found below.
Creating a Child Safeguarding statement
A Child Safeguarding Statement is a written statement that specifies the service being provided and the principles and procedures to be observed in order to ensure, as far as practicable, that a child availing of the service is safe from harm. The Child Safeguarding Statement must be displayed publicly and made available to parents and guardians, Tusla and members of the public upon request.
Child Safeguarding Resources
Find further information and resources to support you with developing your understanding of Child Safeguarding.
Children First e-learning programme
National Child Safeguarding Programme
Child Safeguarding Statement template
