National guidance for child protection - revised: consultation

3. Overview

The structure of the 2014 National Guidance has been retained to assist ease of understanding, building on the familiar headings: 

• Introduction 
• Part 1: principles, definitions and overarching legal framework – setting out the definitions, key principles, standards and legislative framework that underpin the approach to keeping children safe and promoting their welfare and defines harm and significant harm in the context of child protection.
• Part 2: roles and responsibilities in child protection – outlining inter-agency and single agency child protection roles and responsibilities.
• Part 2b: approach to assessment – setting out essential considerations in multi-agency child protection assessment. It is not intended to be an assessment framework.
• Part 3: identifying and responding to child protection concerns – covering key child protection processes including the consideration, assessment, planning and action required when there are concerns that a child may be at risk of harm caused by abuse and neglect.
• Part 4: specific areas of concern – providing guidance on specific forms of abuse and neglect, concerns and circumstances and signposts further resources. 
• Appendices – references and sources, including a summary of UNCRC articles, key contacts for the Defence Community and a list of legislation. The appendices also include a link to a range of practice notes which will aim to illustrate key processes or concepts.