Harming Children

Children can be harmed in ways that are obvious, sudden, and frightening, but harm can also build quietly over time. In safeguarding, that matters because abuse, neglect, exploitation, and emotional damage do not always arrive as one clear incident. Sometimes they appear as a series of smaller signs that only start to make sense when you notice the pattern.^[1][4]

For pharmacy support staff, this is especially important. You may see a child briefly while medicine is collected, notice an adult's harsh or controlling behaviour, or become aware that a family keeps returning with similar concerns but nothing seems to improve. On their own, these moments may feel uncertain. Taken together, they may suggest that a child is living with ongoing harm.^[5][6]

How Harm Can Arise

Children may be harmed through physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Harm can happen inside the home, in the community, online, or through a mixture of these. A child may be affected directly, or indirectly by living with domestic abuse, parental substance misuse, untreated mental ill-health, or chronic instability. These experiences are often described as adverse childhood experiences, because repeated stress, trauma, and instability in childhood can have lasting effects on health, safety, and development. Some children are also drawn into harm outside the home through grooming, peer pressure, coercion, or criminal exploitation.^[3][9][7]

You do not need proof that harm is happening before you take a concern seriously.

^[2]

That is one of the most important practical points at Level 2. Your role is not to investigate or test whether a family is telling the truth. Your role is to notice when something may be wrong, recognise cumulative risk, and pass concerns on through the right safeguarding route.^[6]

Why Early Action Matters

A child may not disclose abuse clearly, and adults around them may minimise, deny, or explain away what you see. That is why professional curiosity matters. If a child seems frightened, persistently withdrawn, poorly cared for, overly watchful, or caught up in repeated worrying situations, it is worth asking yourself whether these are isolated events or signs of wider harm. Early action can prevent that harm from becoming deeper, more dangerous, and harder to undo.^[8][1][9]

References (numbered in text) Why we include references

1. Department for Education. (2023). Working Together to Safeguard Children: statutory guidance. GOV.UK. Find (opens in a new tab)
2. Department for Education. (2018). Information sharing: advice for safeguarding practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers. GOV.UK. Find (opens in a new tab)
3. NSPCC Learning. (n.d.). Definitions and signs of child abuse. NSPCC. Find (opens in a new tab)
4. Bellis, M. A., Hughes, K., Leckenby, N., Perkins, C., & Lowey, H. (2014). National household survey of adverse childhood experiences and their relationship with resilience to health-harming behaviours in England. BMC Medicine. Find (opens in a new tab)
5. Cooper, L. (2018). How to recognise and respond to potential child abuse and neglect. The Pharmaceutical Journal. Find (opens in a new tab)
6. Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE). (2017). Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults e-learning programme and assessment for pharmacy staff. Find (opens in a new tab)
7. HM Government. (2021). Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy (including online child sexual exploitation and CEOP/online harms measures). GOV.UK. Find (opens in a new tab)
8. Royal College of General Practitioners. (2024). Safeguarding toolkit: professional curiosity and early help in primary care. Find (opens in a new tab)
9. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2017). Child abuse and neglect: recognising, assessing and responding to abuse and neglect (NICE guideline NG76). Find (opens in a new tab)