Safeguarding Children & Young People Policy & Procedure
|
|
The Rees Foundation aims to support care experienced people and help them to thrive. While the Rees Foundation provides a confidential service to care experienced adults throughout the UK, all staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries have a duty and a responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and adults and must take appropriate action if they become aware of any disclosures, allegations, or concerns about inappropriate behaviour towards adults with care and support needs or towards children and young people from others.
The purpose of this policy is:
Principles: Legal Framework This policy sets out the framework within which Rees Foundation work with children and young people. It is underpinned by a range of legislation including, but not limited to:
The policy framework also has regard to and is consistent with a range of government guidance, particularly the principles set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children. Lead Responsibility: Melody Douglas, the CEO, has lead responsibility for safeguarding arrangements at the Rees Foundation. Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect Abuse A form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or more rarely by others (e.g. via the Internet). They may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or by children. Physical Abuse Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent fabricates the symptoms of or deliberately induces illness in a child. Emotional Abuse Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child as to cause severe and persistent effects on the child's emotional development, and may involve:
Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (e.g., rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. Sexual abuse includes non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, including online and with mobile phones, or in the production of, pornographic materials, watching sexual activities or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males, women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. In addition, sexual abuse includes abuse of children through sexual exploitation. Penetrative sex where one of the partners is under the age of 16 is illegal, although prosecution of similar age and consenting partners is not usual. However, where a child is under the age of 13 it is classified as rape under s5 Sexual Offences Act 2003. Neglect Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child's health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy because of maternal substance misuse, maternal mental ill health or learning difficulties or a cluster of such issues. Where there is domestic abuse and violence towards the care giver, the needs of the child may be neglected. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent failing to:
It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child's basic emotional, social, and educational needs. These definitions are used when determining significant harm and children can be affected by combinations of maltreatment and abuse, which can be impacted by domestic violence and abuse in the household, or a cluster of problems faced by the adults. Domestic Abuse Children can be affected by seeing, hearing, and living with domestic violence and abuse as well as being caught up in any incidents directly, whether to protect someone or as a target. It should also be noted that the age group of 16- and 17-year-olds have been found in recent studies to be increasingly affected by domestic violence in their peer relationships. It should therefore be considered in responding to concerns that the Home Office definition of domestic violence and abuse (2013) is as follows: "Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence and abuse between those aged 16 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender and sexuality.” This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse:
Controlling behaviour Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour. Coercive behaviour Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim. Safeguarding Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Rees Foundation considers Safeguarding to constitute:
Child Protection Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare but refers specifically to the protection of children who are suffering or are likely to suffer harm. Effective child protection is essential as part of wider work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. 2. Safeguarding Children & Young People Procedure: Responding to children & young people at risk Abuse can take place anywhere and in any relationship. It may occur when in a person’s own home, whether living alone or with others. It may occur in a work setting, educational establishment, or in the community. A person may be at risk from a relative or family member or a risk to themselves if their situation appears hopeless to them. Any intervention will need to be determined by the environment or the context in which the alleged abuse or perceived risk has occurred, and the wishes and feelings of the person concerned. Assessment of the environment or context is relevant as it may be important for the person concerned to be interviewed away from the sphere of influence of the alleged abuser or the setting in order to be able to make a free choice as to how they wish to proceed. Safeguarding Log: Rees maintains a log of all concerns raised with them under this procedure, together with a record of the discussion that took place and decisions made. If a Safeguarding referral is made, contact details of the local authority children’s services team to whom the referral was made, and the action taken by them will be recorded. These are reviewed by the Rees Trustees on a quarterly basis or at any interval in between at their discretion. How do you decide if a concern should be reported? The possibility of abuse can come to light in various ways, for example:
If you have any concerns about the welfare of a child or an adult makes an allegation of abuse about a child to you, you must share these with your line manager at Rees immediately. Your line manager will decide, in discussion with you and the designated lead for safeguarding, whether the criteria for a safeguarding referral are met. In an emergency, you should not wait to contact managers but should contact the appropriate emergency service, e.g., police or ambulance and seek immediate assistance. If abuse by a Rees employee or a person working with a child or an adult is alleged or suspected, the same procedure should be followed. Good Practice Guide – Responding to Disclosures Remember, it may have taken a great amount of courage for the person to tell you that something has happened or that they are at risk, and fear of not being believed can cause people not to tell.
Good Practice Guide – Recording It is vital that a written record of any incident or allegation of crime is made as soon as possible after the information is obtained. Written records must reflect as accurately as possible what was said and done by the people involved in the incident or concern. The report will need to include:
Remember to:
3. Referral Process - Reporting Concerns 3.1 All concerns about the safety or wellbeing of anyone should be reported immediately to your line manager who will discuss and agree next steps with you. 3.2 The line Manager will discuss your concerns with the CEO who will consider whether this meets the criteria for a safeguarding referral to the local authority. 3.3 If the matter is considered to be a safeguarding issue, the line manager will request a written report from the worker who has reported the concerns and inform that worker of the action to be taken. The concerns, discussion and agreed action will be recorded into the Children & Young People Safeguarding Log by the line manager. 3.4 The line manager will refer the concern/allegation to the relevant safeguarding team within 24 hours of the issue being raised with them by the worker. A verbal referral to social care must be followed up in writing within 24 hours. A record will be made of the name and designation of the person to whom Rees passed on the information of concern (referral) and confirmation of any action taken with reference to said referral will be requested. 3.5 The social care safeguarding team will decide on the appropriate response and will inform the line manager of the action to be taken. If no acknowledgment of the referral is received within 3 days, the line manager will refer the matter to the relevant Safeguarding Board in whose area the person at risk lives, and with reference to that Local Authority’s own Safeguarding Policy and Procedures. 3.6 The line Manager will update the Safeguarding Log with the action being taken and advise the worker of any further action or input required from them. 3.7. All referrals must follow the Data Protection For more information, please refer to Rees policy. See Flowchart at bottom of page: Responding & Reporting (WMASB) - Appendix 1: Dealing with Safeguarding Concerns. 4. Allegations or concerns about employees Rees Foundation has clear policies for dealing with allegations or concerns about people who work with children at risk (persons in a position of trust). Any or all such allegations or concerns will be reported to the Safeguarding Board for Worcestershire within whose jurisdiction Rees is located. 5. Whistleblowing Rees also has a Whistleblowing Policy, which reflects the principles in Sir Robert Francis’s Freedom to Speak Up Review, under which staff can raise concerns about the behaviour of workers or managers, without fear of redress. (https://freedomtospeakup.org.uk) Anyone employed by Rees, including self-employed workers, volunteers, and workers who have concerns about a colleague should report these immediately to Claire Banner HR Manager for the appropriate action to be taken. 6. Referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service If Rees removes an individual from post, (paid worker or unpaid volunteer) due to concerns about their behaviour or would have done so if the individual had still been employed, Rees will make a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service. 7. Safer Recruitment Rees operates Safe Recruitment practices in relation to staff and the deployment of self-employed workers and volunteers. All staff, self-employed workers and volunteers are subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks and are subject to application, CV, proof of identity and address, interview, and 2 referees, who are contacted directly for verbal confirmation of their reference. In addition, Rees:
Rees Foundation is committed to reviewing this policy bi- annually. 9. Availability of this Procedure: Rees Foundation will make this Policy and Procedure available to all staff, self-employed workers, volunteers, service users, or other persons upon request. 10. Contact details for Rees: General Email: contactus@reesfoundation.org Melody Douglas CEO [email protected] Claire Banner (MCIPD), People Manager, [email protected] 11. References: Signposting to National agencies: Domestic abuse: how to get help - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) I need help - information and support on domestic abuse (womensaid.org.uk) Domestic violence and abuse - getting help - Citizens Advice Let's stop 'cuckooing' | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) Home - Victim Support Personal safety | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) County Lines - National Crime Agency Protecting children from radicalisation | NSPCC 
|
| ||
