Wales plans trauma-informed safeguarding update for late 2027

Social Care Wales and ACE Hub Wales will review safeguarding standards, training and the national learning framework through a trauma and adverse childhood experiences lens, Social Care Wales announced on 9 November 2026. Revised materials are expected in late 2027.

The work will update and enhance the existing resources. It includes consultation and an expert reference group, with approval through Social Care Wales’s safeguarding oversight board. The review will draw on the Trauma-Informed Wales Framework and the Trauma and ACE-Informed Organisations Toolkit.

Childhood sexual abuse awareness will be a particular focus. Stakeholders from the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse will join the reference group, and the revised resources will link to the centre’s material. Read Social Care Wales’s announcement of 9 November 2026.

What residential childcare managers can do now

The announcement gives Welsh children’s residential services a reason to look at how safeguarding learning reaches everyday work. A useful starting point is to ask staff to talk through a fictional concern during supervision. Can they explain whom they would contact, where they would record the concern and how they would find the current local procedure?

Keep that discussion focused on the worker’s responsibilities and the service’s established reporting arrangements. Use fictional examples so staff can practise without circulating details about a child. Include colleagues working nights and relief shifts when checking access to guidance and advice.

Prepare for the revised materials

Managers can keep a short list of learning needs and questions raised by these discussions. That gives the service something concrete to compare with the revised resources when they appear. Check who owns the training plan, who monitors changes to national guidance and how an update will be communicated to the whole team.

Social Care Wales’s announcement links to its current standards, framework and training resources, which services can use while the review develops. Find the current safeguarding resources.

Featured image is an AI-generated illustration of a fictional setting.