Analyse conflicts and dilemmas that can occur in relation to safeguarding children and young people present in an adult social care setting

For this assessment criterion, you will be required to analyse conflicts and dilemmas that can occur in relation to safeguarding children and young people.

Conflicts and dilemmas occur when we are unsure of the best action to take or the views of others are not aligned with our own. A few examples of conflicts and dilemmas are provided below:

• You have suspicions that a child may be being sexually abused but your manager disagrees and makes it clear that it will not be taken any further. You are still worried for the child.
• A child discloses to you that her parent’s friend regularly hits her but she is smiling when she says it and you are not sure if she is telling the truth.
• You observe that a child visiting a service user has dirty, ill-fitting clothes and doesn’t have a coat even though it is Winter and cold outside. You fear they are being neglected but are worried that reporting it will damage the relationship you have with the service user, as it may make his family reluctant to visit him in future.
• You take a service user to stay with their family over the Christmas period. Whilst there, you witness an adult shout aggressively at a child. You are unsure if this constitutes emotional abuse.
• A child discloses to you that they have been abused but asks you not to tell anyone.

In the next section, we will identify actions that can be taken when conflicts and dilemmas about safeguarding arise.