I'm sorry, you've made the wrong decision.
Here are some points that you need to consider. You should have included all of these in your reflective activity.
- You are not doing the right thing. It is best now to be honest, apologise and accept responsibility for what has happened. Today you did not take appropriate action to assess and manage a potential risk to Tommy’s health.
- Withholding important information about a child’s health from parents and your manager and being dishonest when questioned is a serious breach of trust.
- It is essential to show children, their families and your colleagues you are trustworthy and reliable. Your actions suggest in future parents and your colleagues may find it difficult to trust you.
- Your actions could call into question your suitability to be a child care worker. An investigation by your employer could result in disciplinary action.
- You made a mistake when earlier you decided to tell a colleague what happened, rather than your manager. You have not shown you are able to recognise signs of illness in children and respond according to work setting requirements. Even if you are not sure whether a child’s health has been put at risk, you must act quickly to protect him.
- You need to learn your employer’s policies and procedures for monitoring and maintaining health and safety. These are designed to keep children safe and to uphold their right to be protected from danger and harm.
- You must recognise the power that comes from your work with children and use this responsibly. You must not put children at unnecessary risk. Always seek additional support in relation to health and safety issues when necessary.
- You need to improve your approach to promoting health and safety. You must understand the responsibility that everyone has to raise concerns about any possible harm that may have come to a child.
- The effectiveness of a team is built on trust, respect and open communication. You need to learn when information needs to be urgently passed on.
When you first realised it was possible Tommy had drunk some milk, the right thing to do would have been to immediately tell your manager and closely monitor Tommy. You can find out why this was the right thing to do here.
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