On this page: Individual Members' role and responsibilities | Terms of Reference

Role and Responsibilities of WSCB

The main WSCB will work to ensure that all agencies in Wandsworth adhere to their duties outlined in the Children Act 2004 (Section 11) and Education Act 2002 (Sections 157 and 175) to ensure that their functions are discharged with due regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The WSCB acknowledges that:

• child abuse and maltreatment can present itself in different forms.
• children may be abused and/or neglected by their parents, carers, guardians or other trusted adults in addition to abuse perpetrated by strangers;
• abuse may be perpetrated by individuals, groups or networks of individuals; and
• children may also be abused by other children.

The WSCB is committed to the belief that all children and young people under the age of 18 have an equal right to protection from abuse, whatever their race, religion or cultural origin, whether or not they have a disability and whatever their family type or composition.

Member agencies of the WSCB support the principle contained within the Children Act 1989, of supporting children to remain within their own family or their family network except where this compromises their safety.

Member agencies of the WSCB will regard children who abuse other children as also being in need of protection and services themselves.

The WSCB expects that all families will be treated with respect and that agencies will always listen to all family members when making decisions. The decision-making for individual cases will have the child's welfare as the paramount consideration.

Where children have sufficient understanding, the WSCB will expect their views and wishes to always be taken into account.

When conducting assessments and enquiries in individual cases WSCB agencies will progress these as quickly as possible and keep everyone informed as appropriate, except where this might compromise a child's safety.

The WSCB is committed to raising awareness of child protection issues within the wider community including minority groups and faith communities and to actively explore the development of relationships with these sections of the community to further the work of safeguarding of children and promoting their welfare.

The WSCB is committed to raising awareness of safeguarding issues within all statutory, voluntary and independent agencies working in Wandsworth with children and families or with adults who may be parents.

The WSCB is committed to ensuring that intervention with Black and Racial Minority families in Wandsworth is anti-discriminatory in its approach and that child protection services always take cultural and religious norms into account.

Members of the WSCB believe in the importance of understanding and learning from lessons from national and local research and experience and will seek to apply these in local work.

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Individual Members' role and responsibilities

Individual members of WSCB have a duty to contribute to the effective work of WSCB, for example, in making WSCB assessment of performance in protecting children as objective as possible, and in recommending or deciding necessary steps to put right any problems. This takes precedence over their role as a representative of their own organisation.

Members will:

• ensure that they attend regularly - if any member of WSCB fails to attend regularly, their membership will be formally reviewed by the Chair.
• accept that on occasion they may be called upon to endorse a WSCB decision or resolution not in line with the views of their employing/host organisation;
• have their dissent from a decision or action recorded;
• be committed to regular attendance, but if necessary arrange a deputy to attend on their behalf if they are unable to attend a meeting; and
• declare any conflict of interest, pecuniary or non-pecuniary.

  WSCB Terms of Reference

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