Developing Child-Centred Practice for Safeguarding and Child Protection

Rachel Buckler is a highly experienced practitioner, trainer and consultant working in support of safeguarding and child protection practices. During her 30-year career in children’s service social care, she has developed and managed services including Sure Start Children’s Centres and been a strategic lead for early intervention services delivered in Greater Manchester. Rachel continues to deliver training to local authorities’ early years workforces, as well as providing training and consultancy for independent nurseries and childcare providers across the country. Rachel is co-founder of the Early Years Hub and creator of the Safeguarding Hub.

'This comprehensive book explains the complex and critical issues of Early Years Safeguarding sensitively and in-depth. Rachel’s knowledge, insights and first-hand experiences are evident throughout the book, especially in the Reflective sections. The breadth of content makes it an ideal resource for both the designated safeguarding lead and anyone else working directly with children and their families. I would highly recommend it as compulsory reading for everyone in the Early Years sector.' – Kathy Brodie, Founder of Early Years TV and the Early Years Summit'This excellent book provides Early Years professionals with everything they need to know about child protection and safeguarding in the early years. As with Rachel’s training delivery, her writing style, makes the content accessible to all, understandable, informative, and easy to translate to practice. At Thrive Childcare we have been in receipt of Rachel’s Child Protection and Safeguarding training for many years now, across both England and Scotland, and I cannot recommend this book enough.' – Ursula Krystek-Walton, Head of Early Years Thrive Childcare and Education'This book will be hugely welcomed by early years leaders and practitioners alike. It is highly relevant and insightful, whilst being really accessible and straightforward, fulfilling a real need in the sector. Its content is validating for those carrying out the really tough job of safeguarding children in early years settings. Rachel has drawn on her extensive personal experience to create a reference book as well as a guidebook for DSLs and practitioners, providing regular reflection points for readers.The book covers critical concepts such as professional curiosity, and wariness of inappropriate optimism to name just a couple. She reminds us about self-care and the importance of taking action and critically that safeguarding knowledge is about keeping children safe, not keeping Ofsted happy!' – Jo Kinloch, Managing Director, Mulberry Bush Nursery Group'I’ve had the privilege to have known Rachel for over 20 years. She has provided training and support to our local childminder networks and to many childminders personally, me included. Rachel has always been such a wonderful advocate for childminders, and this continues to be a strong feature in this brilliant book which highlights the challenges and experiences of many of us working to safeguard and protect children. The book recognises the real issues which are often difficult and hard to work around but Rachel acknowledges this and offers useful and helpful strategies for childminders to engage with and apply in practice. This book will be a real game changer. It simplifies a difficult subject; it reminds us of how vital our roles as childminders are when working with children and families and it challenges us to build upon what we already know and do. I can’t wait to use it for training in my own team.' – Charlotte Cassidy, Childminder, Bury"This book is second to none in terms of its breadth and depth of what remains a deeply complex and ever-evolving subject. Rachel Buckler’s expertise shines through in each of the seven chapters, providing information that is accessible and pertinent – and directly applicable to child care practitioners. She prioritises the empowerment of practitioners through equipping them with the diverse strategies provided throughout the book, as well as through broaching subjects that some might find it difficult to think about – let alone talk about and most importantly - act on when it comes to safeguarding and protecting children." – Dr Mine Conkbayir, Early Years author, trainer and researcher

• ContentsAcknowledgementsForewordA letter for every early years practitionerChapter one: Safeguarding and child protection in the early yearsChapter two: Recognising and responding to abuse in early childhoodChapter three: The role of the designated safeguarding leadChapter four: Identifying risk factors in the lives of young childrenChapter five: Taking action to safeguard and protect childrenChapter six: Working with others to achieve the right outcomes forchildren. Working with parents - Multi agency practiceChapter seven: Creating a safe child centred culture in the early yearsFinal thoughts