It is envisioned as per the level 3 competencies set out in this document that all level 4 staff will already have an awareness and competencies relating to:
- Adolescent brain development and risk taking
- Binary approaches to legislation and resulting structural impact
- Continuation of risk after turning 18 years old
- Impact of restrictive care pathways and eligibility criteria
- The 6 principles of Transitional Safeguarding and how the approach can be applied in health services (see: Transitional Safeguarding: Knowledge Briefing for health professionals)
- Understanding of the statutory duties under Section 58 of the Care Act to assess a child’s needs for care and support before they turn 18, and the responsibility to identify needs and refer for assessment accordingly
- Where ICB/Health Boards provide dedicated transitional safeguarding roles, the role holder should be a senior, experienced professional with sound clinical knowledge and experience of safeguarding and working with children, young people, and adults at risk. Organisations employing ‘all age’ safeguarding roles should consider such roles as being key to minimising the risks surrounding transition to adult services and improving the experience of young people who are experiencing or at risk of abuse and neglect whilst transitioning to adult services (including safeguarding duties undertaken by local authority/council/health and social care trust safeguarding teams)
- There should be evidence of further post-registration training and education in specialty areas appropriate to the service type and needs of the population served. It is expected that the post will be in band 8 range and will support the level 5 strategic lead (Deputy Director, Associate Director or Head of Safeguarding). There should be a specific focus on ‘an approach to safeguarding adolescents and young adults fluidly across developmental stages which builds on the best available evidence, learns from both children and adult safeguarding practice and which prepares young people for their adult lives’, as described in the Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework.
Key skills to support transitional safeguarding at l include:
- ability to work effectively across partnerships and have excellent communication skills and professional credibility
- deliver outcomes and multi-agency working
- strategic safeguarding clinical leadership across the health economy in relation to children, young people, and adults at risk, with a particular focus on safeguarding young people, from adolescence into adulthood
- development and delivery of training (as appropriate to role)
- advice and support to clinicians on complex cases
- lead and support resolution of professional disagreements
- provide subject matter expertise on Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews, serious violence, and PiPoT concerns (and equivalent across four nations)
- support the development and delivery of policy and strategy
- ability and credibility to represent the ICB, health partners or provider at both a regional and national level.
Also consider the following:
- provide system safeguarding expertise and assurance with particular focus on young people aged 17 to 25 years
- align with wider programmes of work including the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Programme, care leavers and the Transforming Care programme.