NDCS calls on the Government to protect deaf children

The majority of deaf children will never need support from child protection services. Sadly, this is not the case for all deaf children. Due to communication barriers, some deaf children experience more difficulty in developing good emotional health and well-being, and can be more vulnerable and in need of protection than other children.

NDCS has had longstanding concerns that deaf children and their families cannot access appropriate social care support including child protection services. This is despite the fact that deaf children are recognised by law as “children in need” which means that social care agencies are legally required to provide services for them.

Due to these concerns, NDCS commissioned the University of Manchester to research social care provision for deaf children and their families in England. The second phase of this research, published this week, shows that only 40 per cent of local authorities surveyed recognised deaf children as “children in need” and, even then, did not necessarily provide any services. On top of this, nearly half of authorities have no qualified social workers for deaf children, and too many authorities showed an inability to act appropriately to tackle child protection issues involving deaf children.

We are therefore calling on the Government to implement its 2005 recommendation, and instruct every LSCB in England to review their child protection arrangements for deaf children.

Please help us campaign for action. Let us know about any experiences you have had or are aware of with social care services and safeguarding of deaf children. We will treat any information provided to us as confidential and anonymise details at your request. 

Your stories will be used to demonstrate to the Government why urgent action needs to be taken to support and protect deaf children.

More information:

NDCS briefing on social care (70 kb) (February 2010)

University of Manchester phase 2 social care report (executive summary) (62 kb)

University of Manchester phase 2 social care report (228 kb)