Safeguarding Policy

Last reviewed 25/6/2018
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Policy Statement

Realise is strongly committed to practices that protect children, young

people and adults at risk from abuse, neglect or significant harm. Staff recognise and accept their responsibility to develop awareness of the risks and issues involved in safeguarding. JGA seeks to declare at every induction that we must all (staff and learners) have zero tolerance for abuse, bullying, neglect and violence.

Realise also recognises that it has a responsibility to protect staff from unfounded allegations of abuse.

Realise is committed to working with the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH).

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy and procedure, children are defined in the Children Act of 1989 as a person under the age of 18 years. An ‘adult at risk’ previously known as  a ‘vulnerable adult’ is defined as an any person 18 years or over who is or appears to be eligible for assistance by reason of mental ill health, physical or learning disability, illness or age related frailty and/or; may be unable to take care of him/herself or unable to protect him/herself against significant harm or exploitation

Accountability and Responsibility

Lead responsibility for Safeguarding rests with the Managing Director. For day-to-day activity, a Safeguarding Coordinator provides general advice and training, monitor and manage concerns, allegations or disclosures, and liaise with safeguarding agencies.

Team managers will work in parallel to ensure that the reporting staff member(s) are appropriately supported, if needed.

Training

Realise has a duty to promote safeguarding issues and measures to staff in order to ensure that they:

  • Recognise concerns as they are identified (see Appendix B).
  • Report concerns to safeguarding coordinator on the same day.
  • Refer to appropriate authorities on the same
  • Record incidents to facilitate
  • Respond to requests for information and involvement in case

 

Staff Recruiting and Vetting

The recruiting and vetting of office and delivery staff is to be carried out in accordance with the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard.

Safeguarding Code of Behaviour

You must not:

  • Spend excessive amounts of time alone with children or adults at risk away from
  • Make unnecessary physical contact with children and adults at
  • Take children and adults at risk alone in a car, however short the journey, unless absolutely
  • Meet children and adults at risk outside the work or learning environment
  • Start an investigation or question anyone after a concern, allegation or disclosure has been raised. This is the job of the
  • Show favouritism to any one child or adult, nor should they issue or threaten any form of physical
  • Staff should never (even in fun) –
    • Initiate or engage in sexually provocative conversation or
    • Allow the use of inappropriate language to go
    • Do things of a personal nature for children and adults at risk that they can do
    • Allow any allegations made by a child or adult at risk go without being reported and
    • Trivialise or exaggerate child or adult at risk abuse
    • Make promises to keep any disclosure confidential from relevant authorities.

You must:

  • Respect children’s and adults at risk’s right to privacy, and encourage children and adults at risk to feel comfortable enough to report attitudes or behaviour that they do not
  • Act with discretion with regards to their personal
  • Be aware of the procedures for reporting concerns, allegations or disclosures, and should familiarise themselves with the contact details of the Safeguarding Coordinator.
  • If a member of staff finds himself or herself the subject of inappropriate affection or attention from a child or adult at risk, they should make other members of their delivery team aware of
  • If a member of staff has any concerns relating to the welfare of a child or adult at risk in their care, be it concerns about actions/behaviours of another staff member or concerns based on any conversation with the child or adult at risk (particularly where the child or adult at risk makes an allegation), they should report this to the Safeguarding

 

Procedure for Responding to a Concern, Allegation or Disclosure

  • Do not make promises about
  • Explain to the person at the outset that you will need to report the concern, allegation or disclosure and share the information with the Safeguarding Coordinator.
  • The member of staff who has concerns about possible abuse or neglect must contact their Safeguarding Coordinator or, if not available, their Team Manager as soon as possible for advice and
  • If the complainant is the child or adult at risk concerned, questions should be kept to a minimum and leading questions should be

 

Reporting

Information regarding a concern, allegation or disclosure is to be recorded on the Safeguarding Adults at risk and Children Reporting Form (Appendix A). Completion of this form should be initiated as soon as possible by the person who has first-hand information. Information can be progressively added as more information is gained. The report should be brought to the attention of the Safeguarding Coordinator as soon as possible. The Coordinator is responsible for advising the Managing Director and also passing information regarding the report to local or appropriate safeguarding agencies or the Police.

Immediately afterwards, if the reporter is a Delivery Team member, the reporter must inform their Team Manager that a “Safeguarding Report” has been made to the Coordinator and, without giving any detail of the concern or allegation, indicate whether the delivery team needs additional support or not. The words “Safeguarding Report” are all that is required by the Team Manager; confidentiality must be preserved wherever possible.

 

 

Annex A:    Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults at risk Reporting Form Annex B:                Types of Abuse and how to recognise them.

 

 

Appendix A

Safeguarding Concern Form

 

Please use this form to record disclosures, incidents or concerns of abuse or neglect of children and adults at risk including any concerns relating to the Prevent Agenda.  It is important that  we in JGA maintain local and national records to pass to local Safeguarding agencies, such as the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs.

This report form must be passed directly to the JGA Safeguarding Coordinator (who is Susan Prestridge and whose contact details are jgasafeguarding@yahoo.com).

 

 

Name of Child or Adult (full contact details if possible):
Concern or Incident:
Date, Time and Location:
Action Taken:
Follow Up from Safeguarding Coordinator:

 

 

Concern/Incident   Reporter   Name:     ………………………………………………………………………………..……….

 

 

Signature:  ………………………………………        Date:…………….……………………………………

 

 

 

Safeguarding  Coordinator  Name:    ………………………………………………………………………………..………….

 

 

Signature:    ………………………………………     Date;  ………………….……………………………..

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix B

RECOGNISING CONCERNS – Definitions and indicators of Abuse

 

Abuse may be –

 

Physical Abuse – may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a person.

 

Emotional Abuse – Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a person such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the person’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to the person that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on a person. These may include interactions that are beyond the person’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the person participating in normal social interaction. It may involve serious bullying causing individuals frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment, though it may occur alone.

 

Sexual Abuse – Sexual abuse involves forcing a child or adult at risk or enticing a  child or adult at risk to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the person is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape, buggery or  oral  sex)  or  non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic materials or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

 

Neglect or Act of Omission – Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s or  adult at risk’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the individual’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home or abandonment, failing to protect a child or adult at risk from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-takers, or the failure to ensure   access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a person’s basic emotional needs.

 

 

 

 

Financial Abuse – misappropriation of an individual’s funds, benefits, savings etc or any other action that is against the person’s best interests, for example:

  • Theft of money, possessions, property or other material
  • Misuse of
  • Fraud or extortion of material
  • Persuading an adult at risk to enter into a detrimental financial

 

Discriminatory Abuse – this is usually motivated by discriminatory and oppressive attitudes towards race gender, culture background, religion physical and/or sensory impairment, sexual orientation and age.

Institutional Abuse, Neglect and Poor Practice – this may take the form of isolated incidents of poor or unsatisfactory professional practice at one end of the spectrum, through to persuasive ill treatment or gross misconduct.

 

Domestic Violence – all forms of abuse can be experienced in a family setting by a partner, family member, or with someone with whom there is a relationship.

 

Modern Slavery – this is the use of individuals working for little or no wages.

 

Forced Marriage/Honour based violence – this is a marriage conducted without the valid consent of one or both parties and where duress is a factor. An honor killing or shame killing is the murder of a member of a family, due to the belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonour upon the family, or has violated the principles of a community or a religion, usually for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their family,

having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, dressing in ways which are deemed inappropriate, engaging in non-heterosexual relations or renouncing a faith.

Female Genital Mutilation – Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but where there’s no medical reason for this to be done. It is also known as “female circumcision” or “cutting”, and by other terms such as sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others. FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts. It is illegal in the UK and is child abuse. It’s very painful and can seriously harm the health of women and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth and mental health.

 

 

 

Self Neglect – this is a condition affecting behaviour, where the individual refuses to attend to their personal care and hygiene, their environment or even refusal of care offered to them.

 

Cyber Bullying – the use of technology such as mobile phones and the internet to bully other people.

 

Vulnerability to violent extremism – concerns about people being vulnerable to violent radicalisation or being affected by radicalisation of others.

 

RECOGNISING CONCERNS – Indicators of Abuse

Indications that a child or adult at risk may be experiencing abuse could include the following:

  • Unexplained or suspicious injuries such as bruising, cuts or burns, particularly if situated in a part of the body not normally prone to such injuries. Bruises that reflect hand marks or fingertips could indicate pinching or slapping, cigarette burns and scalds would also be a
  • An injury for which the explanation seems
  • The child or young person describes what appears to be an abusive act involving him or
  • Someone else (a child, young person or adult) expresses concern about the welfare of another
  • Unexplained changes in behaviour e.g. becoming very quiet, withdrawn or having severe temper
  • Inappropriate sexual
  • Engaging in sexually explicit
  • Discomfort when walking or sitting
  • Distrust of adults, particularly those with whom a close relationship would normally be
  • Has difficulty making
  • Is prevented from socialising with other
  • Displays variations in eating patterns including overeating and loss of
  • Loses weight for no apparent
  • Becomes increasingly dirty and

This list is not exhaustive and the presence of one or more of the indicators is not proof that abuse is actually taking place or has taken place.

 

 

 

RECOGNISING CONCERNS – Bullying

‘Bullying’ is an abuse issue.

In some cases of abuse it may not always be an adult abusing a child or young   person. In the case of bullying the abuser may be another child, or young person. Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour, usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves. Anyone can be a target for bullying, sometimes victims are singled out for being overweight, physically small, having a disability, being shy and/or sensitive or belonging to a different race, faith or culture. Bullying can and does occur anywhere there is inadequate supervision.

Bullying may include:

  • Physical including hitting, kicking and
  • Verbal including name calling, teasing, racist or homophobic taunts, threats and graffiti.
  • Emotional including tormenting, ridiculing, humiliating and
  • Sexual including unwanted physical contact or abusive
  • Cyber bullying e.g. e-mail, social media, text messaging etc. (see Bullying and Harassment Policy)

Bullying can cause a considerable amount of stress to children and adults at risk. It can affect their health and development and in extreme cases it can cause them significant harm including self-harm.

The following action should be taken to help the victim and prevent bullying:

  • All signs of bullying should be taken
  • All children and vulnerable adults at risk should be encouraged to share their concerns.
  • The victim should be helped to speak out and tell the person in charge or someone in
  • All allegations should be investigated and action taken to ensure the victim is safe. The victim and bully(ies) should be spoken to
  • Employees should reassure the victim that they can be trusted and will help them, but do not promise not to tell anyone
  • Records should be kept of what is

The following action should be taken towards the bully(ies):

  • The situation should be explained to the bully(ies).
  • An effort should be made to get the bully(ies) to understand the consequences of their
  • An apology to the victim should be
  • Any items belonging to the victim should be
  • Encouragement to the bully(ies) to change their behaviour should be offered.
  • If considered appropriate, meetings should be held with parents or carers to report on
  • All appropriate employees should be informed of action
  • A written record of action taken should be

 

 

RECOGNISING CONCERNS – Radicalisation (Prevent Agenda)

People can be drawn into violence or they can be exposed to the messages of extremist groups by many means. These can include family members or friends, direct contact with members groups and organisations or, increasingly, through the internet. This can put a person at risk of being drawn into criminal activity and has the potential to cause significant harm. Potential diagnostic indicators identified include:

  • Use of inappropriate language
  • Possession of violent extremist literature
  • Behavioural changes
  • The expression of extremist views
  • Advocating violent actions and means
  • Association with known extremists
  • Seeking to recruit others to an

The risk of radicalisation is the product of a number of factors and identifying this risk requires that staff exercise their professional judgement, seeking further advice as necessary.