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Child Protection Policy A child is defined as a person under the age of 18 (The Children Act 1989). All staff and others working with them shall be fully CRB checked. The welfare of all children is paramount and we have a duty of care to safeguard all children involved in our activities. It is not our job to decide if a child has been abused or not but report all suspicions and allegations of abuse to the appropriate authority. We will assure all staff/volunteers that it will fully support and protect anyone who in good faith reports his/her concern that a colleague is, or may be, abusing a child. Duty Social Worker, ESCC, Ocean House, 87-89 London Road, St Leonards, West Sussex TN37 6DH Tel 01424 724144 TribalEarth and any other staff/volunteers working with us will operate with good practise guidelines. Good practice guidelines All personnel should be encouraged to demonstrate exemplary behaviour in order to protect themselves from false allegations. This means as far as possible: + Always working in an open environment avoiding private or unobserved situations and encouraging open communication. + Treating all young people/disabled adults equally with respect and dignity. + Always putting the welfare of each young person first. + Maintaining a safe and appropriate distance with children. + Building balanced relationships based on mutual trust and empowering children to share in decision making. + Keeping up to date with technical skills, qualifications and insurance. + Involving parents/carers wherever possible. + Being an excellent role model – this includes not smoking or drinking alcohol in the company of young people. + Giving enthusiastic and constructive feedback rather than negative criticism. + Recognising the developmental needs and capacity of young people and disabled adults. + Requesting written parental consent if TribalEarth staff are required to transport young people in their cars.
The following will be avoided except in emergencies. If a case arises where these situations are unavoidable (eg the child sustains an injury and needs to go to hospital, or a parent fails to arrive to pick a child up at the end of a session), it will be with the full knowledge and consent of someone in charge or the child’s parents. Otherwise, we will avoid: + Spending excessive amounts of time alone with children away from others. + Taking or dropping off a child to an event.
The following practises will never be sanctioned. + Engaging in rough physical or sexually provocative games, including horseplay. + Engaging or allowing any form of inappropriate touching. + Allowing children to use inappropriate language unchallenged. + Making sexually suggestive comments to a child, even in fun. + Reducing a child to tears as a form of control. + Allowing allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon. + Doing things of a personal nature for children or disabled adults that they can do for themselves.
Confidentiality Every effort will be made to ensure that confidentiality is maintained for all concerned. Information will be handled and disseminated on a need to know basis only. This includes the following people: + the Child Protection Officer + the parents of the person who is alleged to have been abused + the person making the allegation + social services/police + the alleged abuser (and parents if the alleged abuser is a child). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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