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Defining Safeguarding
Before we can examine the issues that surround the protection of children we must first establish, what is a child?
In British law, a "child" is defined as, being between 0-18 years and the age of "criminal responsibility" is 10 years. At 16 years of age a child can give consent to surgical, medical or dental treatment. A child of 16 years of age can marry, but only with parental consent. A girl or boy of 16 years of age can consent to sexual intercourse.
A 17 year old is not required to have an appropriate adult with them, for example, when being interviewed by the police, or when given a reprimand or warning by the police. A person is deemed to be an adult on reaching 18 years of age.
As we can see, the definition of a child is legal and age-related stating that a child is a person under the age of 18 years.