ce is for: • all individuals who are directly involved in safeguarding children, including frontline practitioners, managers and senior leaders • individuals and organisations that work with children, parents, carers and families, in sectors such as social care, education, health, justice and voluntary It is vital to join up adult and children’s services for the purposes of safeguarding. Therefore, this advice may also be helpful for practitioners working with vulnerable adults and adults who could pose a risk to children. Understanding “safeguarding” For the purposes of this advice, we are drawing on the definition set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 as follows: • providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge • protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online • preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development • ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care • promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children 8 • taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework10 This advice focuses on the sharing of information where there are safeguarding concerns about a child. A concern could be based on an established risk (e.g. where there is evidence that a child has suffered harm) or a suspected or potential risk (e.g. where it is reasonable for a practitioner to believe that information sharing is necessary to protect a child from