Protecting vulnerable babies: New learning and resources for practitioners
Our dedicated Vulnerable Babies resource brings together learning from local and national safeguarding reviews, research and practice guidance to support professionals working with unborn babies, infants and their families.
Drawing on findings from Protecting all vulnerable babies better: The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (2026), we explore key themes including trauma-informed practice, parental non-engagement, domestic abuse, perinatal mental health, concealed pregnancy and the need for coordinated support before and after birth.
The information also provides practical learning points for practitioners, encouraging a focus on early intervention, professional curiosity, family engagement and maintaining a clear understanding of the baby's lived experience.
Babies under one year old face the highest risk of serious harm early identification of vulnerability, effective pre-birth planning and strong multi-agency working to keep babies safe are extremely important.
Visit the Vulnerable Babies page on our website to access the full range of information and tools.
Learning from children's case reviews in Leeds
This online session will give you the opportunity to:
- hear key learning from recent children's case reviews in Leeds
- explore how this learning applies to your day-to-day practice
- reflect on how systems and services can support, or sometimes challenge, effective safeguarding
- take away practical insights and discussion points to share with colleagues and teams
Event details:
Date: Wednesday 18 November 2026
Time: 12:30pm to 3:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams
The session has been designed to support ongoing professional learning and encourage open conversations about safeguarding standards across Leeds. Participants will leave with valuable insights to help drive continuous improvement within their organisations.
Don't miss this opportunity to be part of improving practice and strengthening outcomes for children and young people.
LSCP Training
New dates have been added to our training offer. Book your place today!
Introduction to Safeguarding
Online introductory training for people who are in regular contact with children and young people either directly, through work with their families / carers or through the setting in which they work.
This is seen as a minimum requirement for all people working within settings which work with or have regular contact with children and young people.
This course should be accessed through your own agency, however for agencies from the smaller third sector, voluntary or private sector (which do not have access to training within their own agency) this course is available via the LSCP.
Leeds Community Healthcare staff can access Introduction training in-house via their induction process.
For those practitioners working for key members of the Safeguarding Partnership (LCC, CSWS, Health Providers, Education, WYP), introductory training should be accessed through your own agency.
Dates/Times
- Wednesday 27 January 2027, 9am to 3:15pm
- Wednesday 10 February 2027, 9am to 3:15pm
- Tuesday 2 March 2027, 9am to 3:15pm
- Thursday 1 April 2017, 9am to 3:15pm
Book your place on Introduction to Safeguarding Children & Young People training
Working together to safeguard children & young people
This online multi-agency course is for any member of staff who is considered to be a lead professional for safeguarding or may be involved in multi-agency approaches to safeguarding children and young people in their organisation. This may include undertaking s47 (child abuse) enquiries, working with complex cases, or those who would regularly attend Initial Child Protection Conferences.
This course is equivalent to NHS Level 3 training. It is for any member of staff who is considered to be a lead professional for safeguarding, or may be involved in multi-agency approaches to safeguarding children and young people in their organisation.
Date/ Time
- Tuesday 2 February 2027, 9:00 to 3:30pm
- Thursday 4 February 2027, 9:00 to 3:30pm
- Wednesday 28 April 2027, 9:00 to 3:30pm
- Thursday 10 June 2027, 9:00 to 3:30pm
Book your place on Working Together to Safeguarding Children & Young People training.
From the wider safeguarding sector
Report remove: help to take harmful images offline
If a young person under 18 is worried about a sexual image or video of themselves being shared online, Report Remove can help. Run by Childline in partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the free and confidential service supports young people to report images and have them removed from the internet where possible.
The service can be used for real images and videos, as well as AI-generated content that appears to depict the young person. It provides updates through a secure Childline account and access to emotional support throughout the process.
If you work with children and young people, make sure they know support is available and that sharing sexual images of someone under 18 is never their fault. Find out more.
New resource highlight’s persistent themes in safeguarding reviews
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published a collection of persistent themes in safeguarding reviews, bringing together national learning from cases where children have died or suffered serious harm through abuse or neglect. The resource focuses on recurring challenges that continue to appear across safeguarding practice and systems, helping professionals reflect on why these issues persist and what needs to change.
The guidance explores ten key themes, including understanding the child’s lived experience, responding to risk, information sharing, engaging with families, and recognising when cases become ‘stuck’. It is designed to support practitioners, managers, leaders and safeguarding partnerships in strengthening decision-making, improving multi-agency working, and promoting better outcomes for children.
The resource includes reflective questions, practical learning points and tools to support supervision, team discussions and strategic improvement.
Read more and access the persistent themes
Supporting children affected by serious violence
The Department for Education has published updated guidance, Supporting Children Affected by Serious Violence, as part of its wider resources on understanding and preventing serious violence in education. Updated on 23 October 2026, the guidance reinforces the role of schools and colleges in safeguarding and supporting children who have been affected by violence, whether they have been harmed, witnessed an incident, or displayed harmful or risky behaviours themselves.
The guidance does not introduce new statutory duties. Instead, it brings together existing safeguarding expectations and provides practical advice for education professionals on how to respond following an incident of serious violence.
Read the full guidance
Online harm groups: what you need to know
CEOP Education has published Online Harm Groups: What Professionals Need to Know, a guidance resource designed to help professionals working with children and young people understand and respond to the growing threat of online harm groups (sometimes referred to as "Com groups"). These networks use grooming, coercion, manipulation and blackmail to exploit and harm children and young people online. The guidance aims to help practitioners build awareness of the risks, recognise potential warning signs, respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns, and strengthen preventative conversations with children, young people and their families.
See the CEOP Education website
Dates for your diary
16 to 20 November, Anti-bullying week
16 to 27 November, Leeds Safeguarding Weeks
14 to 20 November, Baby week
25 November to Thursday 10 December, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence