Safeguarding lead: a poisoned chalice?

There can be no doubt that safeguarding is currently the hot topic. In national and professional terms, there are plenty of regulations and standards to be met, and by now every practice has polices, procedures and an allocated responsibility to a safeguarding lead. However, many dental professionals lack the confidence to take decisive action in line with practice policy and procedures should the need arise, simply because they do not know enough about how to raise concerns or about what might happen after that initial contact has been made.

People worry that if they make a referral, they may start a sequence of events that will lead to a child being taken away from their parents, when in fact this is most unlikely to happen. It is not the aim of social workers to take children away from their parents, despite what storylines in popular soaps like Eastenders and Hollyoaks portray. Their main aim is actually to provide support and keep children in their families, working to support the family and to keep the children at home, but safe. Only as an absolute last resort—after all help has been exhausted—are children removed.