Our safeguarding policy
Purpose of this policy
The purpose of this policy is to protect children who receive any service from us, including those who are the children of adults who may receive help from us. Under this policy, anyone who is referred to as a child is that of under eighteen years of age.
Risks to children
Children can be vulnerable to many forms of abuse and harm. It is important to recognise that abuse and harm of children can cover a wide range of circumstances and behavours. For example, children can be at risk of harm of:
*Physical or emotional abuse
*Neglect
Sexual abuse
*Female genital mutilation (FGM)
*Grooming and exploitation
*Trafficking and modern slavery
*Exposure to or infliction of domestic abuse
*Bullying or cyber bullying
*Exposure to other innapropriate content or behavour, such as violence or criminal behavour.
*Self harm
*Physical harm when engaging with activities without adequate supervision
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The casual factors of any such harm and/ or abuse can also be wide-ranging. For example, children can be placed at risk by family members or members of the community.
Safeguarding principles
Safeguarding children from harm and abuse is an essential responsibilty to our charity. We are commited to ensuring that any child that comes into contact with our services is properly safeguarded. Every person under this policy must ensure that they play an active role in enusring that children are properly safeguarded.
Every person under this policy holds responsibility for:
* Remaining alert and aware of possible safeguarding risks to children
*Guarding children against harmful enviroments with appropriate actions (for example, aduquate supervision or ensurensuring safe eviroments)
*Taking positive steps to maintain the safety and wellbeing of children engaging with us as a charity.
*Reporting concerns expeditiously and appropriately, in line with child protection procedures.
*Understanding the duty to report specific concerns (and understanding how this interplays with confidentiality)
*Challenging any innapropriate or harmful behavour of any other adult and reporting this accordingly
*Acting appropriatly in the precense of children
*Not taking any innapropriate risks
*Not smoking, drinking or taking any form of illicit substances in the precense of children.
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Confidentiality and data protection
All personal information collected related to children, shall be processed and stored in accordance with our data protection policy which can be located here.
Where a child is at immediate risk of serious harm, any adult present should call 999. Thereafter, an available allocated safeguarding officer should be contacted as soon as reasonably practicable.
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Where there is a safeguarding concern but no immediate risk of serious harm, the adult who has heard or witnessed this concern should consult with an available allocated safeguarding officer no later than that day.
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When any child is disclosing information relating to a safeguarding incident, it is important for that adult to:
* Listen calmly and carefully, showing that their views are taken seriously
*Provide an appropriate and honest level of reassurance
*Avoid interrogating children and asking probing questions, intrusive and/ or leading questions
*Avoid making false promises regarding secrets and confidentiality with the child (because any concern of abuse / harm must be shared with the allocated safeguarding officer and any subsequent safeguarding referral)
*Make a confidential written record of the discussion either during the discussion or immediately afterwards. The record should include the key details of the disclosure together with any relevant times, dates, places and people concerned. Audio and video recordings of videos children making disclosures should be avoided.
*Refer all relevant information to an available safe guarding officer as soon as practically possible and no later than the end of the day.
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Upon receipt of any safeguarding concern, an allocated safeguarding officer shall consult with any other relevant persons and will make any appropriate referrals to the relevant authorities, such as the applicable local authority children's services department.
Reporting concerns about other adults
Where any person has a concern regarding the conduct of an adult connected to the charity, which poses or may pose as a safeguarding risk to children such as:
*Harming a child, either physically or emotionally
*Exposing a child to behavour which may cause physical or emotional harm
*Engaging a criminal activity concerning a child
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this must be raised in the first instance with an available allocated safeguarding officer ( or where this is not appropriate, a diffrent senior member of the organisation) so that the next appropriate steps my be agreed and actioned. We recognise that the next appropriate steps may be agreed and actioned. We recognise that there could be circumstances where a person may need to report a matter that has take place in a setting outside of the persons engagment with the charity.
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Usually, any appropriate steps following a safeguarding referall in respect of an individual connected to the chartity will include either:
* Further initail enquires
*Escalation to the applicable local authority childrens services department for assessment and / or the police for investigation
*Investigation of any appropriate disciplinary, formal investigation processes and suspension of any person concerned with the charity.
*A referall to the disclosures and barring service, discosure Scotland or access Northern Ireland, or any other relevant local authority).
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Any person within the charity who has allegations made against them shall be informed properly in a formal meeting of the particulars of the allegations and the relevant next steps which shall be taken. Such a meeting should ordinarily be held by the allocated safeguarding officer. On certain occasions, such as a meeting may not be convened until this has been approved by any authorities involved. (Such as the police or any other relevant authority's)
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Any person from within the charity who has allegations made against them shall be treated fairly. All enquiries, investigations and decisons taken shall be just and fair, with the safety of any child concerned at the heart of the process.
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Any person from within the charity who makes an allegation against another person from within the charity shall be listened to, taken seriously and shall be treated fairly and justly throughout the process of enquiries, investigations, and decision making.
Safeguarding children at events
The allocated safeguarding officer holds ultimate responsibility for the safety and appropriateness of the event. They may however point a delegate for some responsibilities for the purpose of a specific event.
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Although the allocated safeguarding officer and any appointed delegates will hold ultimate responsibility for overseeing the safety of events and activities, all individuals under this policy must also play an active role in ensuring the safety of children at all times.
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For certain types of activities and events, we may issue an additional code of conduct, policy, or some specific other requirements which is specific to that occasion. Any such additional documentation will be made available to all those concerned (Staff members, parents, guardians etc) in advance. They should be read carefully and adhered to at all times.
The location for any event or activities will have an appropriate risk assessment in reference to the safety of both children and adults attending. Fire and safety procedures and precautions shall be made clear to all those involved.
We have the following first aid procedure within the charity:
Any accident or injury concerning a child should be brought to the attention of the nearest first aider and should therefore be formally reported to an available safeguarding officer.
We shall always obtain a written (physical or virtual i.e. email or message) from a parent or guardian for any event or activity that takes place in attendance without their responsible parent or guardian present. Consent forms should include emergency contact details and will set out any specific safety needs / requirements for the specific child. All consent forms will be kept secure and shall be stored in accordance with our data protection privacy policy.
For most of our events and activities ,our procedure for supervision of children is as follows:
Where we hold any events or activities whereby a child attends alongside their parent or carer, parents and carers should ensure that their child is properly supervised.
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Managing the behaviour of children generally
Wherever any adult engaged by us is faced with challenging or inappropriate behaviour from a child or with conflict between children, they must:
*Treat each child fairly and equally
*Approach the situation in a calm and neutral manner
*Only ever use physical restraint / intervention in order to protect the immediate safety of a person, for example, to prevent further injury or harm to either a child or others.
*Wherever it is justified to physically restrain a child or to physically intervene, the amount of force used should be kept to the minimum taking into account the risk posed.
*Make a written record of the incident and ensure this is reported appropriately to an allocated safeguarding officer.
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Managing risks posed by other children
It is important for all adults engaged by us to recognise that children can face harm from their peers. This can commonly take the form of bullying. Bullying can be defined as any behaviour which is:
Repeated; and
has the intention of hurting somebody either physically or emotionally.
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Bullying can sometimes be motivated by prejudices based on certain groups, for example, gender, race, religeon or sexual orientation. Bullying can often include:
*Physical harm perpetrated against another child
*Name calling and threats
*Cyberbullying (threats and abusive comments made via technology)
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Any instance of bullying or concern relating to possible bullying between children at any event or activities arranged by us will usually be dealt with by us in the first instance as follows:
Where any behaviour amounting to bullying continues following this, the following steps will be taken:
All steps in relation to the prevention or managemnt of bullying should be taken in consultation with an allocated safeguarding officer.
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Photography
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On some occasions, we may take photographs featuring children. We recognise that photography of children carries risks such as:
The potential for images to be re-used, shared or adapted in a damaging or inapropriate manner
The general risk of sharing images and the impact this could have on a child's public image as they grow older
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In view of these risks, we will:
*Always ask for written permission from a child and their parent / guardian before taking and sharing any image of them.
*Always ensure that a child and their parent / guardian are properly informed how that image will be used and shared.
Always ensure that a child's identity is protected as far as is possible within any published material.
Ask parents, guardians, children and any other person connected to them who may wish to share any of our published images which features other children to refrain from doing so unless they have the permission of the other children and the child / guardian of the child in the photo.
Always store the photos in accordance to our data protection policy.
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Members of the public
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We do also recognise that members of the public may take photographs when they are attending our events or activities:
*Images of other children should not be shared on social media without the permission of any of the children who feature in the image, together with the permission of the children's parent / guardian.
*Images which are shared on social media should be shared cautiously, with the appropriate privacy and security in place.
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Other policies
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We have referred within this document to the following other important policies implemented in our organisation. These should be read in conjunction with this policy:
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Our Data protection policy
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This policy is endorsed by every member of BFCS and is reviewed every six months.
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Co-operational chief executive officer (Co-CEO)
Leighton Bishop
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