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The Committee is charged with coordinating the delivery of Child Protection Training nationally in a consistent approach. Thus a Sectoral Training Plan was developed under four headings:
Click here to go directly to the National Child Safeguarding Programme website |
The National Child Safeguarding Committee; Early Learning and Care was set up in 2012 following a number of developments in the Early Years Sector, including the establishment of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in 2011 and the launch of the updated publication of Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, also in 2011. The Children First National Guidance was fully revised and published in 2017 to include reference to the Children First Act 2015. The Committee was developed with the primary aim of addressing the implementation of Children First in the Early Years Sector.
| ◊Resources:
Essential reading for Childcare Practitioners |
◊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. It includes a risk assessment, measures to manage any risks and a number of mandatory safeguarding policies and procedures. New Child Safeguarding Statement For further information: https://www.tusla.ie/about/child-safety-statement/ Child Safeguarding Resource Document (November 2021) Child Safeguarding Statement ELC Template (Oct 2020) Child Safeguarding Statement ELC Information Sheet July 2020
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◊E-Learning: Introduction to Children First and Children First Child Protection Revision Webinar
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◊Garda Vetting Important changes to the Garda Vetting procedure for the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Aged Childcare (SAC) sector. The new Garda Vetting system has been designed to strengthen and streamline compliance processes to improve efficiencies for everyone. The updates will affect how employers, childminders, and employees apply for or renew their Garda Vetting applications. Our priority is to safeguard children, keeping them safe in all settings throughout Ireland. Starting from 1 February 2025, the following changes will take effect: • Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) will manage Garda Vetting services for all early learning and care, and school-age childcare employees. • Tusla will manage Garda Vetting services for registered providers including Chairpersons of Boards of Management. • As part of these changes, Barnardos will no longer provide vetting services. We are committed to supporting you throughout this period of change. It is vital that you remain compliant with vetting requirements at all times. If your current provider is Barnardos and you have employees, you will be required to apply for a new Garda Vetting Affiliate Number for Early Childhood Ireland. We recommend that you take a proactive approach in transferring to your new provider to be ready for the 1 February 2025 commencement date and in advance of when you might next need garda vetting services. Please contact the Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNBV) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to progress your Affiliate Number application to ensure you have your new number to process submissions through Early Childhood Ireland. The process of obtaining a new affiliate number can take several weeks and you will have no access to Garda vetting services during this period. It is therefore important to note that you should only instigate a change in affiliate number when you have no vetting applications in progress and do not anticipate you will need vetting. If a service expects to need vetting between now and 31 January, you should wait until after completing your upcoming vetting to proceed with changing affiliate number. It is ok to instigate a change in affiliate number after 31 January. |
| ◊Mandated Persons
WHO ARE MANDATED PERSONS? Mandated Persons are people who have contact with children and families and who, because of their qualifications, training and/or employment role, are in a key position to help protect children from harm. Many groups of professionals who will be Mandated Persons under the Act. If you work in an early years setting you are a Mandated Person if you are:
If you run or own pre-school service that is required to register with the Early Years Inspectorate, then you are a Mandated Person. For more information, see Chapter 3 of Children First National Guidance 2017 and the A Guide to reporting Child Protection and Welfare Concerns |
| ◊Designated Liaison Person
In line with the new Child Protection Legislation, every organisation providing services for children or in direct contact with children should have a Designated Liaison Person (DLP) to act as a liaison with outside agencies and as a resource person to any staff member or volunteer who has child protection concerns. The DLP ensures the standard reporting procedure is followed and that suspected cases of child neglect or abuse are referred promptly to the Child and Family Agency Duty Social Worker or in an emergency, where a child is in immediate danger and where the Social Worker cannot be contacted, to An Garda Síochana. The DLP should be knowledgeable about child protection and undertake any training necessary to keep themselves updated on new developments.
In order to access the new DLP Training, which should be available later this year, you must have completed the Child Protection and Welfare Training. Please contact Sheena on 057 9135878 to put your name on a waiting list for the training.
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| ◊Child Protection and the Pre-School Regulations
Childcare Providers are obliged under Regulation 9 of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 2006 to have a Child Protection Policy based on Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children in operation. Clear written guidelines on identifying and reporting child abuse should be developed by the childcare service. |
| ◊Child Protection Training for Early Years Settings
Training for Early Learning and Care settings and School Age Childcare settings has temporarily suspended due to current governement restrictions. Please see the section above E-Learning: Introduction to Children First and Children First Child Protection Revision Webinar |
| ◊Recording Child Protection and Welfare Concerns
Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Aged Childcare (SAC) services must keep written records of all child protection and welfare concerns, including concerns that may not reach the threshold for reporting to Tusla. Services must have a system in place where all workers are aware of how to record all child safeguarding concerns and this should form part of the services’ Child Safeguarding Procedures. Concerns must be recorded in order to identify any potential patterns that may cause concern in relation to safeguarding children. In order to ensure that all relevant information is recorded and appropriate steps are taken, concerns should be recorded on a standardised form that all workers are familiar with. ELC and SAC services must have a procedure in place which outlines what concerns are recorded, how these concerns are recorded, how they are stored and who has access to them. In order to support ELC and SAC services to do this, the National Child Safeguarding Programme have developed a sample ‘Recording Child Protection and Welfare Concerns Form’. This form is contained in the National Child Safeguarding Programme’s new publication ‘Child Safeguarding Resource Document – Child Safeguarding Statement, Policy and Procedures; Guidance for Early Learning and Care and School Aged Childcare Services in Ireland’. This resource is available on www.childsafeguardingelc.ie/resources-publications/ The ‘Recording Child Protect and Welfare Concerns Form’ outlines:
Points to note when using this form:
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