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New police training course on child neglect includes oral health

2 mins read Safeguarding
A training programme in child protection which includes dental neglect as a core component is being rolled out across the South Yorkshire Police force from today. Thousands of police officers in the region, as well as support staff and other stakeholders, are being taught to understand why a lack of dental care is potentially a neglect issue and what actions they should take when they have concerns.

Jenny Harris, a consultant in community paediatric dentistry with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s vice president designate, is delivering the dental aspect of the training on behalf of the BSPD.

Her contribution is part of a one day ‘Child Matters’ course which trains police officers to recognise all aspects of child neglect. The hope is that Child Matters may be adopted by police forces throughout England and Wales, reducing the number of children who suffer abuse or go missing.

Dental neglect is included in one of seven different categories that are a potential child protection issue. Delegates will be taught to recognise, document and, where appropriate, take action so that neglect is addressed. In order to ensure the entire South Yorkshire Police force is trained, close to 80 separate courses of Child Matters are to be run starting this week until March 2022.

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