Safeguarding Policy

4 All Foundation is committed to practice which protects and safeguards children, young people and vulnerable adults from harm in accordance with best practice. Please note that references to ‘child’ or ‘children’ in this policy should be read as if to include vulnerable adults.

Principles

We will endeavour to protect and safeguard children by:

Ensuring that the welfare of children and young people is the paramount consideration in all that we do throughout our therapeutic services
Adopting Safeguarding guidelines through procedures as detailed below
At all times, protecting the rights of children & young people as individuals and treating them with respect and dignity
Ensuring effective supervision, consultation and training is available to all our practitioners.

This policy statement applies to anyone working on behalf of the 4 All Foundation. This includes staff, contractors, the board of trustees and volunteers.

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in the United Kingdom. The 4 All Foundation has used Working Together to Safeguard Children – A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children – July 2018, which can be found here. We have also used guidance from the Charity Commission, which can be found here.

We believe that:

Children and young people should never experience any kind of abuse
We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to protect them.

We recognise that:

The welfare of the child is paramount
All children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse
Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues
Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

Child-on-Child Abuse

At 4 All Foundation, we recognise that abuse between children, also known as child-on-child abuse, can take many forms, including physical, emotional, verbal, and online (cyberbullying). We are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment where all children feel valued and respected. Staff and volunteers are trained to identify signs of abuse and respond promptly and effectively to any incidents. We will take all reports of abuse seriously, investigate them thoroughly, and work with the children involved, their families, and appropriate external agencies to resolve issues and prevent future occurrences. Our approach prioritises the well-being of all children, ensuring they feel safe, supported, and able to thrive.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

Valuing everyone, listening to and respecting them
Providing support for all children and young people if an incident occurs
Remaining vigilant at all times
Appointing a nominated child protection/safeguarding lead and a lead trustee for safeguarding
Developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice
Using our safeguarding procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
Sharing information about child protection and safeguarding best practice with children, their families, staff and volunteers via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions
Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures
Implementing a code of conduct for staff and volunteers
Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
Recording and storing information professionally and securely.

All staff who work directly with families undertake training in safeguarding children & young people and safeguarding vulnerable adults Level 3 Safeguarded trained every 3 years.

All members of staff will have been screened with an up-to-date enhanced DBS check prior to being employed at the 4 All Foundation.

Staff, Volunteers or anyone working on behalf of 4 All Foundation will never:

Engage in sexually provocative activities or games with any child (or adult)
Make sexually suggestive comments to a child or adult (even in jest)
Allow or engage in any inappropriate touching of any form
Allow the use of inappropriate language unchallenged
Allow allegations a child makes go unchallenged, unrecorded, or not acted upon

In Accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) – Chapter 2, section on voluntary, charity and private sectors, point 61 on page 74, “Individual practitioners, whether paid or volunteer, should be aware of their responsibilities for safeguarding and protecting children from harm, how they should respond to child protection concerns and how to make a referral to local authority children’s social care or the police if necessary.”

Therefore, the 4 All Foundation has drawn up the following procedures to ensure that every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of children attending, or who are engaged in activities with the 4 All Foundation, and to ensure that staff are trained and supported to be aware of indicators which may suggest that further action should be taken.

Procedures

These procedures provide direction on the course of action to be followed in relation to concerns about children which may arise in the following circumstances:

Something is reported to us that gives concern about a child’s safety
A child wants to disclose to one of us something that concerns them
An individual discloses that they were abused or neglected as a child
We are concerned about the behaviour of an individual known to the child that might be placing a child at risk
A child directly discloses to us or implies that they are feeling suicidal or will injure themselves
A child makes allegations to one of our practitioners.

Something is reported to us that gives concern about a child’s safety:

When concerns about a child are told to us, we will not agree to keep the information confidential. If we are given information which indicates that a child may be abused or neglected, then we will pass the information on to parents/carers if appropriate and to make a safeguarding referral.

A child wants to disclose to one of us something that concerns them:

In the case of a child disclosing information to us in the course of our work we will be guided by the following principles:

Acknowledge how much courage it has taken for the child to confide
Listen very carefully to what the child is saying showing that we are taking it seriously.
Explain that we have to tell other people in order to help and we cannot keep it secret.
We will avoid asking questions. If we want to clarify something, we will ask open questions which will encourage the child to use their own words.

We will pass the information on to our contractual partner and if we feel appropriate action has not been taken, we will make a referral to the appropriate Children’s Services. We will consider carefully if the information that the child gave us means that other children may be at risk of serious harm and act accordingly. Further details on Reporting Abuse can be found below.

We are concerned about the behaviour of an individual known to the child that might be placing a child at risk.

We will immediately inform the appropriate manager of that individual followed up by a written account of what we have seen or heard. This information will be provided to the Designated Person of the 4 All Foundation immediately.

A child directly discloses to us or implies that they are feeling suicidal or will injure themselves

We will take seriously any statement from a child that they may harm themselves in some way. We will pass this information on to the social worker/appropriate manager immediately and if we feel it appropriate, a referral to the appropriate Children’s Services will be made, as outlined below. No child expressing a wish to harm themselves will be left alone. The Chair of Trustees (Dean Harris) of the 4 All Foundation should be informed of any statement from a child that they intend to harm themselves.

A child makes allegations about our practitioners:

We will take all allegations involving concerns about our practitioners very seriously. It is of paramount importance that such concerns are investigated independently and rigorously. The Chair of Trustees will be the person designated to co-ordinate the investigation and make the referral to the Local Safeguarding Board should allegations be made. The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub relevant to the child/young person’s residence and/ or where appropriate the local authority that the provision is operating in. In the event of the Chair of Trustees being the person against whom the allegations are made, an alternative appropriate professional will be identified.

In the case of a child making an allegation about one of us we have agreed that one of us would be designated to support that individual throughout the period of the investigation. This will be through support phone calls/attendance at meetings. The individual can access independent support if they wish to do so. The individual concerned will be suspended without prejudice until the allegation is resolved and therapy will be put on hold.

Reporting Abuse

System for recording allegations

A clear and comprehensive summary of the following will be recorded by the designated person and kept on the child’s file:

Details of what the allegation is and when it took place
Details of what action has been taken
Details of how the allegation will be resolved
Decision clearly stated about what happens to the staff member concerned in the allegation
Outcome of investigation

Confidentiality and Information Sharing

Where information is shared without consent, this should be done in line with the Confidentiality Policy and the child’s case file should reflect that this was done and the decision to share the information should be recorded:

what information was provided and to whom
the reasons why it was shared
evidence that a thorough risk assessment was undertaken
who authorised the disclosure of the record.

Mandatory Reporting

It is mandatory for all regulated health and social care professionals and teachers in England to report 'known cases' of female genital mutilation (FGM) in under 18s to the police (Home Office, 2016).

How to report concerns about a child’s welfare:

If you think a child is in immediate danger, contact the police on 999. If you're worried about a child but they are not in immediate danger, you should share your concerns. You must contact the child’s local child protection services. Their contact details can be found on the website for the local authority the child lives in. Services will risk assess the situation and take action to protect the child as appropriate either through statutory involvement or other support.