This practice-focused webinar delves into how social workers, youth justice workers and Independent Reviewing Officers can play a positive safeguarding role in the lives of the children in custody they are responsible for.
In a pre-recorded conversation with Sarah Leon, Wendy Tomlinson will reflect on what her four years as Head of Safeguarding at the Youth Custody Service taught her about how children are cared for and advocated for by social workers, youth justice workers and Independent Reviewing Officers from their 'home' authorities. She will offer her thoughts on how practitioners with responsibility for children in custody can be proactive about ensuring those children have their needs met, are safe and have opportunities to learn and develop.
In an article for BASW's In Focus publication entitled Children in Prison - a social worker's perspective, Wendy provided a list of questions that she believes social workers should be asking to help them determine how safe and well cared for their children in custody are. In a mixture of pre-recorded conversation and live discussion, Wendy will bring these questions to life - providing the context for why it's important to ask these questions - and provide insight into the kinds of responses you might get and how they can be interpreted.
You will gain a deeper understanding of the types of harm a child in custody might come to, how you can determine if they have come to harm and how to ensure that any concerns you have are appropriately addressed. You will develop an understanding of how to escalate your concerns if necessary.
There will be time at the end of the webinar for Wendy to discuss the questions and themes that arise throughout the session.
