Safety and Safeguarding

• Store medicines, cleaning products, vapes, batteries and alcohol locked away and out of sight.
• Button batteries and liquid detergent capsules cause serious harm quickly — treat them as poisons.
• Fit stair gates, window restrictors and furniture straps, and keep blind cords tied high.
• Keep hot drinks, kettles, hair straighteners and irons out of reach; burns happen in seconds.
• Never leave a baby or young child alone in a bath, near water, or with an older sibling in charge.
• Fit working smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm, and test them monthly.
• Use an approved car seat suited to the child’s height or weight, fitted correctly every journey.
• Teach road, water and cycling safety gradually, and use helmets and buoyancy aids.
• Supervise children around dogs and other animals at all times.

Learning basic first aid is one of the most useful things a parent can do. We do not teach first aid on this page: use the recognised UK organisations below, who provide free step-by-step guidance and run courses.

• Choking, burns, bleeding, head injuries, fits and unresponsiveness are all covered by their free guidance.
• Baby and child first aid differs from adult first aid — look for the child-specific pages.
• Keep a simple first aid kit at home and in the car, and check it twice a year.
• Ring 999 for any serious injury, and follow the operator’s instructions.
• Ring 111 if you are unsure, and 999 if breathing or consciousness is affected.

• Set up parental controls on devices, broadband, games consoles and app stores, and review them as children get older.
• Keep devices out of bedrooms overnight where you can, and agree screen rules together.
• Talk regularly rather than once: ask what apps and games they use and who they talk to.
• Teach them never to share personal details, school uniform photographs, addresses or images of themselves.
• Make sure they know they will not be in trouble for telling you something has gone wrong online.
• Report online sexual approaches, blackmail or sharing of images to CEOP, and report criminal images to the Internet Watch Foundation.
• Save evidence with screenshots, block the account, and report it to the platform as well.
• Financial scams, gambling-style games and in-game spending all affect children too.

• Abuse includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and neglect of a child’s basic needs.
• Possible signs include unexplained injuries, fear of a particular adult, withdrawal, sudden changes in behaviour, running away, being consistently unclean or hungry, or sexual knowledge beyond their age.
• No single sign proves abuse, and it is not your job to investigate.
• Report a concern to children’s services, the NSPCC helpline or the police.
• Write down what you saw or were told, with the date, as soon as possible.
• If a child is at risk of significant harm, do not wait to see whether it happens again.

• Grooming happens online and in person, and often involves gifts, attention, secrecy and slowly crossed boundaries.
• Warning signs can include an older or unknown friend, unexplained money, phones or clothes, going missing, secrecy about messages, and sudden changes in mood or school attendance.
• Exploitation is never the child’s fault, whatever they appear to have agreed to.
• Criminal exploitation, including county lines drug running, is also child abuse.
• Report to the police and the council, and tell school so they can support and monitor.
• Keep the relationship with your child open: shame and blame push children back towards the abuser.

• Children living with domestic abuse are recognised in law as victims in their own right.
• Abuse includes controlling behaviour, threats, financial control and emotional abuse, not only violence.
• Free confidential helplines operate across the UK, including services for men and for LGBT+ people.
• Refuges can take children, and councils have duties towards families made homeless by abuse.
• Plan for safety: an escape bag, important documents, a code word with a trusted person, and a safer way to browse.
• Schools, health visitors and GPs can support children and record concerns.
• Pets can often be fostered temporarily so that an owner can leave safely.

• Ring 999 straight away if a child is missing. There is no waiting period, whatever anyone tells you.
• Have a recent photograph, a description of clothing, and details of phones and social media ready.
• Tell the police about any concerns about exploitation, an adult they may be with, or previous absences.
• A confidential national charity supports families and gives missing young people a safe way to make contact.
• When a child returns, they should be offered a return interview. Focus first on safety, not punishment.
• Repeated absences are a safeguarding warning sign and should be taken seriously by school and the council.

• NSPCC (opens in a new tab)
• Childline (opens in a new tab)
• CEOP Safety Centre (opens in a new tab)
• Internet Matters (opens in a new tab)
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline (opens in a new tab)
• Missing People (opens in a new tab)
• Child Accident Prevention Trust (opens in a new tab)
• British Red Cross – first aid (opens in a new tab)