What a child sees, hears, thinks and experiences on a daily basis impacts on their personal development and welfare whether that be physically or emotionally.
As practitioners we need to; actively hear what the child has to say or communicate, observe what they do in different contexts, hear what family members, significant adults/carers and professionals have said about the child, and to think about history and context. Ultimately we need to put ourselves in that child’s shoes and think ‘what is life like for this child right now?’
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Children Safeguarding Board has developed with partners the ‘Lived Experience of the Child Practice Guidance’ to assist practitioner insight, to ensure that the voice of the child is actively heard and where necessary to support effective action to safeguard children and young people.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Board will also be holding a number of workshops to assist practitioners with the use of the practice guidance and other available resources for engaging with children, young people and their families.
The practice guidance, resources and a link to the workshops can all be found on the Safeguarding Board’s ‘Lived Experience of the Child’ page http://www.safeguardingcambspeterborough.org.uk/children-board/professionals/lived-experience-of-the-child/
