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This newsletter is for everyone working with children and adults in Waltham Forest.
Please share with your colleagues and encourage them to sign up to get it regularly
Refugees and asylum seekers have the same fundamental rights to safety and protection as any other person and the fact that their citizenship status may not have been resolved does not alter this.
From a safeguarding point of view, refugees and asylum seekers are not necessarily vulnerable and their autonomy should be respected. They are, after all they have gone through, survivors and shouldn’t be treated as victims.
However, refugees and asylum seekers may face certain risks associated with their particular experiences and circumstances.
For safeguarding to be effective, there needs to be good communication, sharing of expertise and specialist knowledge, which is why we have developed this bulletin to share resources to support newly arrived refugees in Waltham Forest.
The resources provide information and guidance for parents on reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and support health professionals to have effective conversations about safer sleep.
 Unfortunately, refugees have increased vulnerability to exploitation, including modern slavery and human trafficking. It is essential that those providing support are aware of the risks.
Modern slavery is an umbrella term encompassing slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Victims of modern slavery are unable to leave their situation of exploitation, controlled by threats, punishment, violence, coercion and deception.
For this reason, we are committed to tackling modern slavery in Waltham Forest through the following three aims:
- Tackling modern slavery through strong leadership and effective partnerships
- Raising awareness of modern day slavery
- Identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery
We all have a responsibility to help keep children safe.
Parents and carers of children can ensure their children are safe by making sure out-of-school and informal learning settings have the following safeguarding policies in place:
- Organisations should have a child protection policy and procedure that clearly describes what people have to do to keep children safe
- Every organisation should have a designated person for safeguarding. Selection and vetting of volunteers and staff should be rigorous and properly conducted
- Each organisation should have a training and information plan for child protection and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers
- Each organisation should have a complaints procedure
- Each organisation should have a whistle blowing policy to cover staff reporting colleagues' behaviour
- Each organisation should have procedures for handling allegations against staff or volunteer
See below for useful resources from NSPCC:
In this briefing, three Councils share details of cases of modern slavery identified in their areas and provide information on what worked well and suggest recommendations for how the response could be strengthened.
By sharing their good practice and challenges, the local authorities hope that other Councils will take steps to prevent and investigate modern slavery within the Homes for Ukraine scheme in their locality and ensure support is available for any victims identified.
This newsletter is brought to you by the Strategic Partnership Boards, which is made up of Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children’s Board, Safeguarding Adults Board, Health & Wellbeing Board and SafetyNet (our Community Safety Partnership).
Themes from our statutory reviews on Tuesday 11 October 2022, 2pm to 4pm
Learn about how the lessons learned from statutory reviews feed into how we improve practice and implement change to keep residents safe in Waltham Forest.
Safeguarding Adolescents Awareness Training on Friday 18 November 2022, 10.30am to 12.30pm
This training session is aimed at those working or volunteering with children and young people who live in Waltham Forest. It will equip you with knowledge about our trauma informed approach to working with children and young people and give you tips and tools for sharing within your school/agency/service.
By the end of the session you will be able to:
- Describe the principles for safeguarding adolescents
- Explain adolescent risks outside of the family context
- Use strength-based approaches with adolescents in response to risk and trauma
- Plan to apply the principles in your work with adolescents and share with this with colleagues in your school/agency/service
Once you have attended the session, you will be invited to become part of a network of Safeguarding Adolescent Leads where you can access support, resources and good practice through a range of multi-agency professionals.
Making Every Contact Count training - on multiple dates
The training aims to build confidence, knowledge and skills required for good conversations and provide professionals with resources specific to supporting people to take better care of their health and wellbeing.
After completing the training, professionals will be able to:
- Understand the range of factors that influence residents’ health and wellbeing
- Be ready to engage residents in short conversations about these issues
- Draw on a range of talking skills that help a good conversation
- Be able to find information, tools and services to help people improve their health and wellbeing
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