Who is at fault?
Michael Doolin FCIPD
Transforming Businesses with Strategic & Pragmatic HR Solutions 🍀 | CEO @ Clover HR | Birmingham Business of the Year | Empowering Companies through Outsourced HR & Employee Engagement
It clearly states from the HM Government 2018 ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ – Nothing is more important than children’s welfare. Children who need help and protection deserve high quality and effective support as soon as a need is identified’.
However, one local news story caught my eye this week, about child abuse in a nursery. My stomach turned, as I am sure everyone on here would agree with me, and how anyone be cruel in the extreme whilst small children and babies are abused in someone’s care is beyond me. After reading about a very recent case of a Lady who has just managed to escape jail, but has historic offences against children whilst working in a nursery and how ‘the management’ disciplined her was extraordinary and clearly did not follow any policies especially ‘Child Protection’, and it took not, one but two whistle-blowers for her to be arrested and exposed.
The Nursery in question then carried on trading, but have just read it has closed its doors on October 16th.
As I have children of my own, and what I do for a living it is imperative that the recruitment process is watertight. Nurseries, Schools or anyone that provides a service for children, their processes and polices must be scrutinised over and over again. Ongoing reviews, meetings, training must take place regularly. Was the right procedure in place at the start, were the relevant checks done? However, one might argue that the ‘Nursery’ did follow the right procedures and the checks were done, and due to a change in circumstances that the Lady in question, perhaps she had a mental break down therefore led her to do the abuse. Whatever the truth is – from recruitment to ongoing reviews the ultimate responsibility would have been with her employer who has not clearly followed any guidelines whatsoever, so should the employer be held accountable as well as the ‘carer’?
We at Clover HR take the above extremely seriously, we have a Resource Centre which has invaluable help and guidance for both employer and employee.