About us

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined by government guidance as: 

• protecting children from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of children’s health and development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Whilst the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership contributes to the wider goals of improving the wellbeing of children, it has a particular focus ensuring that children are safeguarded and that their welfare is promoted. 

The Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership provides and develops leadership regarding the safeguarding of children.

To do this, the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership must:

• influence and hold to account the range of organisations, agencies and individuals who have the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, as outlined in section 11 of the Children Act 2004.
• be independent.
• not be subordinate to, or subsumed within other local structures.
• co-ordinate safeguarding locally through shared policies, procedures and training.
• influence other relevant agencies and organisations in the local authority area which affect children’s lives.
• engage with the voluntary, independent, private, community and faith sectors.
• connect with, and impact on, communities, businesses and people who live and work in the local authority area.be influenced by the lived experiences of children and families.

While adhering to key principles that:

• children, young people and their families have access to early help.
• we safeguard the rights of children by focussing on the priority needs in our community.
• the needs of children are paramount when agencies are making decisions about their lives whilst working in partnership with their families.
• the partnership will support working in a trauma-informed way.
• all partners will champion continuous learning, to further develop service provision and delivery that will support children and families.
• there is a statutory duty to co-operate on all partners, particularly schools.
• that any change is not led by austerity or efficiencies but by measurable improvements in the safeguarding system that benefit children and families.

The objectives of the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership are to:

• co-ordinate local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
• monitor and ensure the effectiveness of individual agencies’ and multi-agency safeguarding work.
• collaborate, share and co-own the vision for how to achieve improved outcomes for vulnerable children.
• challenge each other appropriately and hold one another to account effectively.
• identify and analyse new safeguarding issues and emerging threats.
• promote and embed learning and change practice in a way that local services for children and families can be become more reflective and effective.
• ensure agencies share information effectively to facilitate accurate and timely decision-making for children and families.

These priorities reflect our desire to improve the collective effectiveness of agencies in four key areas. Partners and relevant agencies should:

• Address the impact of inequality and structural racism on vulnerable children and to create a better understanding of data across all of Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership.
• Address the impact of neglect on children and to help them become more resilient.
• Address the consequences of harm suffered by children because of domestic violence, parental mental ill health, and substance abuse, including helping children who have suffered harm to become more resilient.
• Identify and help children who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, and gang