Safe Strong and Free Project

Child Protection Policy Statement

The Safe Strong and Free Project believes that every child has the right to grow up safe, strong and free and that preventing sexual assault and exploitation of children is the responsibility of the whole community.

Safe Strong and Free Project is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people. It recognises its responsibility to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and to protect children from harm, abuse and exploitation.

The Safe Strong and Free Project will at all times seek to follow the Child Protection Guidelines as laid down by the Highland Council Child Protection Committee. A copy of the Guidelines can be found at:
http://www.highland.gov.uk/.../cp_policy_guide2.pdf

Paid staff and volunteers will endeavour to work together to encourage the development of an ethos, which embraces difference and diversity and respects the rights of children, young people and adults.

The Safe Strong and Free Project will:

  • Ensure that all workers understand their legal and moral obligations to protect children and young people from harm, abuse and exploitation.
  • Develop best practice in relation to the recruitment of all workers.
  • Ensure that all workers understand their responsibility to work to the standards and procedures detailed in the Safe Strong and Free Project Code of Conduct and the Child Protection Procedures.
  • Ensure that all workers understand their obligations to report care or protection concerns about a child, or a worker’s conduct towards a child/young person, to the relevant person as outlined in the Safe Strong and Free Project Child Protection Procedures.
  • Ensure that all Safe Strong and Free Project procedures relating to the conduct of workers are implemented in a consistent and equitable manner.
  • Provide opportunities for all workers to develop their skills and knowledge particularly in relation to the care and protection of children and young people.
  • Ensure that children and young people are enabled to express their ideas and views on a wide range of issues.
  • The Safe Strong and Free Project Complaints Procedure is available from all user groups or by contacting the Project Office.  Address: 106 Church Street, Inverness IV1 1ZU. Telephone: 01463 712669. E-mail:  info@ssf-project.org.uk
  • Ensure that parents and carers are encouraged to be involved in the work of the Safe Strong and Free Project and, when requested, have access to all Safe Strong and Free Project guidelines and procedures.
  • Endeavour to keep up-to-date with national developments relating to the care and protection of children and young people.

Child Protection Procedures

The Safe Strong and Free Project believes that every child has the right to grow up safe, strong and free and that preventing sexual assault and exploitation of children is the responsibility of the whole community.

  • Legislation and guidance relevant to these procedures:
  • The Highland Child Protection Policy Guidelines
  • The Children (Scotland) Act 1995
  • Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003
  • The Framework for Standards (Scottish Executive 2004)
  • Children’s Charter
  • It’s everyone’s job to make sure I’m alright (The Scottish Executive 2002)
  • Getting our priorities right (The Scottish Executive 2003)

 

Section 1: Introduction

  1. The purpose of these procedures is to ensure that all concerns about the care and protection of children are effectively managed.
  2. All persons involved in the Safe Strong and Free Project (ssf) are required to implement the procedures. This includes all workers, whether paid or voluntary, directors and advisors.
  3. All those involved in ssf have a duty under section 5 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to do what is reasonable to safeguard the children’s health, development and welfare.
  4. All those involved in ssf are committed to children’s rights, especially the right to be protected from harm, abuse and exploitation.

Section 2: The recruitment and employment of workers and volunteers
The Safe Strong and Free Project is committed to equal opportunities and treatment for all regardless of gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability/ability, age or appearance, marital status, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs.

Whilst recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers ssf will ensure that:

  1. All applicants for posts, whether paid or voluntary, which involves contact with children will:
    • Complete an Application Form that will go on file as a personal profile if their application is successful.
    • Complete a Self-Declaration Form when they apply for a post requiring a Standard or Enhanced Disclosure check.
    • Provide the names of three referees who will be prepared to give them a written reference.
    • Agree to an Enhanced Disclosure. 
  2. All short listed applicants for employment, whether paid or voluntary, will be interviewed.
  3. The referees for the successful applicant/s will be contacted and any offer of employment, whether paid or voluntary, will be dependent on satisfactory references.
  4. References will be followed up with a telephone call or personal contact with the referee during which, discussion will take place on the applicant’s suitability to work with children. A record of the discussion will be held in the worker’s personnel file.
  5. An Enhanced Disclosure check into the background of all volunteers and staff, who will have contact with children in their work, will be carried out. Employment will be dependent on a satisfactory result.
  6. The Enhanced Disclosure check will also ensure that the person is not named on the ‘Disqualified from Working with Children List’   (other than provisionally).
  7. All workers, whether paid or voluntary will work a probationary period of at least 3 months. The probationary period will be extended until all elements of induction have been completed.
  8. An individual who is appointed and at a later date is found to be named on the ‘Disqualified from Working with Children List’ (other than provisionally) will be removed from a position which involves contact with children.
  9. An individual is referred to the ‘Disqualified from Working with Children List’ where the grounds for referral under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 are met.
  10. In line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, ssf will only ask about convictions which are defined as ‘unspent’ in terms of the Act, unless the nature of the position is such that we are entitled to ask questions about an individual’s entire criminal record.

Section 3: Types of abuse.
The following definitions are used to define each category for Child Protection Registration. It should be noted that children’s experiences of abuse are complex and may not fit neatly into one category. The categories of abuse are:

  1. Physical Injury: Actual or attempted physical injury to a child, under the age of 16 years, including administration of toxic substances, where there is knowledge, or reasonable suspicion, that the injury was inflicted, or knowingly not prevented.
  2. Sexual abuse: Any child below the age of 16 may be deemed to have been sexually abused when any person/s, by design or neglect, exploits a child, directly or indirectly, in any activity intended to lead to the sexual gratification of that person or any other person/s including organised networks. This definition holds whether or not there has been genital contact and whether or not the child is said to have initiated the behaviour.
  3. Emotional Abuse: Failure to provide for the child’s basic emotional needs such as to have a severe effect  on the behaviour and development of the child.
  4. Physical neglect: This occurs when a child’s essential needs are not met and this is likely to cause impairment to physical health and development. Such needs include food, clothing, cleanliness, shelter and warmth. A lack of appropriate care, including deprivation of access to health care, may result in persistent or severe exposure, through negligence, to circumstances, which endanger the child.
  5. Non-organic failure to thrive: Children who significantly fail to reach normal growth and development milestones (i.e. physical growth, weight, motor, social and intellectual development), where physical and genetic reasons have been medically eliminated and diagnosis of non-organic failure to thrive has been established.

Other issues, which can lead the abuse and neglect of children are: domestic abuse, substance misuse, bullying, harassment, social exclusion factors and animal abuse.

For further information, please refer to the Highland Child Protection Policy Guidelines available at: http://www.highland.gov.uk/.../cp_policy_guide2.pdf
Pages 5-7 and Appendix A pages 58-60.

Section 4: Procedures for responding to concerns about abuse and neglect.
Volunteers will:

  1. Inform the Project Worker if they have concerns for the safety or well-being of a child in the course of their work with ssf.
  2. If they do not feel the Project Worker treated their concerns appropriately they should pass on the concerns to the Project Co-ordinator.

Project Workers will:

  1. Complete a ssf ‘Record of Concern / Incident Report’.
  2. Give a copy of the ssf ‘Record of Concern / Incident Report’ to the Designated Person for Child Protection in the school or the Designated Senior Staff Person in the playgroup or day-care centre.
  3. Retain a copy of the ssf ‘Record of Concern / Incident Report’ and send it in a double envelope to the Project Co-ordinator on the day of the concern / incident.
  4. Contact the Project Co-ordinator by phone on the day of the concern / incident to give a verbal report.

Project Co-ordinator will:

  1. Advise the Board Chairman that there has been an incident but will not give details.
  2. Store the ssf ‘Record of Concern / Incident Report’ securely in the Project Office.
  3. Have contact with the Designated Person for Child Protection in the school or the Designated Senior Staff Person in the playgroup or day care centre where the concern / incident arose within 7 days to ascertain what action was taken.
  4. Shred the ‘Record of Concern/Incident Report’ when the issue has been resolved satisfactorily.

Highland Child Protection Policy Guidelines:

  1. See pages 26 & 27 for how the Designated Person for Child Protection in schools will proceed.
  2. See page 28 for how the Designated Senior Staff Member in community playgroups, private nurseries/day-care would proceed.

In the event that a member of ssf staff is not satisfied with the action of the Designated Person for Child Protection or the Designated Senior Staff Member, contact will be made to pass on the concern to the relevant Area Education Manager.

Section 5: Procedures to be followed if an allegation of abuse is made against a member of ssf staff or a ssf volunteer.
This may come to light because e.g.

  1. A child alleges that they have been harmed by a worker.
  2. A parent or carer or other individual from out-with ssf alleges that their child, or another child has been harmed by a worker.
  3. Other workers may have witnessed or have concerns about a worker’s behaviour towards a child.

Any allegation of child abuse, current or historical, against a member of ssf staff or a volunteer will result in immediate suspension until the incident is fully investigated by the statutory authorities.

The Board of Directors will follow the Safe Strong and Free Project complaints procedures if a complaint is made against a member of staff or volunteer. Disciplinary procedures will follow if it is found that the member of staff or volunteer breached the ssf Code of Conduct. This may result in dismissal and referral to the Scottish Ministers for inclusion on the ‘Disqualified from Working with Children List’ if the grounds for referring are met.

Section 6: Authority for workers to report care and protection concerns.
The authority to act to protect a child is imbedded in the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and Scottish Executive Guidance.

Section 7: Data Protection and management of confidential information.

  1. ssf respects the rights of children to confidentiality unless workers consider that a child or children could be at risk of abuse or harm.
  2. ssf will store confidential information securely at the Project Office and manage confidential information responsibly.
  3. Confidential information will only be kept for as long as is absolutely necessary and will be disposed of by shredding.
  4. Confidential records about a child or children will not be kept electronically by ssf.

Section 8: Review of the Child Protection Policy and Procedures.

  1. The Child Protection Procedures and Policy Statement, and other care and protection policies, procedures and guidelines will be reviewed annually or according to need to take account of new legislation or recommendations, whichever comes first. It is the responsibility of the Advisors to indicate when it is necessary to review the policy and procedures.

 

 

 



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