Safeguarding Children and Young People (Child Protection)

 


Introduction

Striving for Potential, Achievement and Resilience in Kids (SPARK) believes that it is always unacceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind and recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people, by a commitment to practices which protect them.

SPARK recognises that:

 

The purpose of the policy is:

 

This policy applies to all staff, contractors, office holders, volunteers and others regardless of their position in SPARK. It is our policy that no-one shall work with children and young people within SPARK who:

 

SPARK will seek to safeguard children and young people by:

Legislation and statutory guidance

Information contained in this policy is based on the Department for Education’s statutory guidance for ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’. SPARK complies with this guidance. This policy has been drawn up on the basis of law and guidance that seeks to protect children and young people, namely:

 

This policy is also further underpinned by the following framework

Definitions

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people means:

 

Roles and Responsibilities

Safeguarding and child protection is everybody’s responsibility. Everybody has a duty to promote the welfare and safety of children. They may receive disclosures of abuse and observe children who are at risk. The policy applies to all staff, contractors, office holders, and volunteers. The policy and procedures also apply to offsite activities.

Regardless of their position in SPARK, everybody will read the Department of Education’s statutory safeguarding guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education and this will be reviewed as updates occurs.


Everybody will be aware of:

 

The Safeguarding Designated Lead

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is:

 

The DSL will be given time, funding, resources, training, and support to undertake their role, as well as operational independence to ensure the welfare of children and young   people and child protection matters are at the forefront of what SPARK does always.

What is abuse?

Abuse is a violation of an individual's human and civil rights by any other person or persons.

 

Abuse may consist of a single act or repeated acts. It may be physical, verbal or psychological, it may be an act of neglect or an omission to act, or it may occur when a vulnerable person is persuaded to enter into a financial or sexual transaction to which he or she has not consented or could not consent. Abuse can occur in any relationship, and it may result in significant harm to, or exploitation of, the person subjected to it.

 

The ‘Working Together’ report suggests the following as the main types of abuse:


 What to do if a child or young person discloses harm to you

Receive


Receive

React


Record

Respond

Responding to an allegation

It is important that children and young people are protected from abuse. All complaints, allegations or suspicions must be taken seriously. This procedure must be followed whenever an allegation of abuse is made or when there is a suspicion that a child has been abused. Promises of confidentiality should not be given as this may conflict with the need to ensure the safety and welfare of the individual. A full record shall be made as soon as possible of the nature of the allegation and any other relevant information.

 

This should include information in relation to the date, the time, the place where the alleged abuse happened, your name and the names of others present, the name of the complainant and, where different, the name of the adult who has allegedly been abused, the nature of the alleged abuse, a description of any injuries observed, the account which has been given of the allegation.


Any suspicion, allegation or incident of abuse must be reported to our DSL as appropriate. The DSL takes lead responsibility for child protection and safeguarding. They are available during working and extended (where required) hours to discuss any safeguarding concerns. In the absence of the DSL, contact the Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in Hertfordshire or Milton Keynes (as appropriate) or in  emergency and extreme cases the police.

 

In the event of an incident or disclosure: 

It is important to remember that the person who first encounters a case of alleged abuse is not responsible for deciding whether abuse has occurred. This is a task for the professional adult protection agencies, following a referral from the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

The DSL takes lead responsibility for child protection and safeguarding. They are available during working and extended (where required) hours to discuss any safeguarding concerns.

Confidentiality and Information Sharing

Child protection and safeguarding children and young people raises issues of confidentiality which should be clearly understood by all. Staff have a professional responsibility to share relevant information about the protection of children with other professionals, particularly investigative agencies, and social services.


Clear boundaries of confidentiality will be communicated to all.

 

All personal information regarding a child and young people will be kept confidential. All written records will be kept in a secure area for a specific time as identified in data protection guidelines. Records will only record details required in the initial contact form.

 

If a child or young person confides in a member of staff and requests that the information is kept secret; it is important that the member of staff tells the child or young person sensitively that he or she has a responsibility to refer cases of alleged abuse to the appropriate agencies. Within that context, the child or young person should, however, be assured that the matter will be disclosed only to people who need to know about it.

 

Where possible, consent should be obtained from the child or young person before sharing personal information with third parties. In some circumstances obtaining consent may be neither possible nor desirable as the safety and welfare of the child is the priority.

 

Where a disclosure has been made, staff should let the child know the position regarding their role and what action, they will have to take as a result.

 

Staff should assure the child that they will keep them informed of any action to be taken and why. The child’s involvement in the process of sharing information should be fully considered and their wishes and feelings considered.

The role of the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer)

The role of the LADO is set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) and is governed by the Authorities duties under section 11 of the Children Act 2004. This guidance outlines procedures for managing allegations against people who work with children who are paid, unpaid, volunteers, casual, agency or anyone self-employed.

 

The LADO must be contacted within one working day in respect of all cases in which it is alleged that a person who works with children has:

 

The LADO is involved from the initial phase of the allegation through to the conclusion of the case. The LADO is available to talk about any concerns and to help you decide whether you need to make a referral and/or take any immediate management action to protect a child.


If the above criteria have been met then you should make a referral to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) by completing the Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF).