Child Protection Policy Procedures

Introduction

The policy and procedures outlined in this document are to assist EastSide Arts staff (see definition of ‘staff’ later) in the protection of children by identifying clear instructions in accordance with the legislative framework of the Children (NI) Order 1995, and the Regional ACPC Procedures, 2005.

Section (a) - POLICY STATEMENT

Among the rights identified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the child, is the right to protection from abuse, (Article 19, UNCRC).

EastSide Arts Policy Statement in relation to this is:

“Staff at EastSide Arts are committed to practice which protects children and young people from harm. The child’s welfare must be paramount at all times. All staff in EastSide Arts who come into contact with children and families in their work, including staff who do not have a specific role in relation to child protection, have a duty to safeguard and promote the well-being of children.Child Protection is everyone’s business. All staff must accept and recognise their responsibilities to develop awareness of the issues which cause children and young people harm, and strive towards combating these issues”

In working with children or young people the protection and welfare of the child or young person must always be the first priority. All staff must act when there is evidence that children are being abused or at risk of being harmed within the home, in school, or elsewhere, not least within our own organisation.

Inevitably, responding to children who have been abused can place considerable additional emotional and physical demands upon staff. Child abuse and, in particular, child sexual abuse, can arouse strong emotions in all the professionals involved, and it is important to understand such feelings so that they do not interfere with professional judgment. Staff must seek advice and will be provided with support from their line manager and/or Designated Officers throughout any child protection reporting process.

EastSide Arts will ensure that all staff dealing directly or indirectly with children/young people are trained and made aware of the Child Protection Policy and Procedures and know who the Designated Officers are.

Definitions

Child Abuse (as defined in Co-Operating to Safeguard Children)

Child abuse occurs when a child is neglected, harmed or not provided with proper care. Children may be abused in many settings, in a family, in an institutional or community setting, by those known to them, or more rarely, by a stranger. There are different types of abuse and a child may suffer more than one of them. There are some children who are particularly vulnerable e.g. disabled children, children in care etc.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is the deliberate physical injury to a child, or the willful or neglectful failure to prevent physical injury or suffering. This may include hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, confinement to a room or cot, or inappropriately giving drugs to control behaviour.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional ill-treatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may involve causing children 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 ill-treatment of a child, though it may occur alone. Domestic violence, adult mental health problems and parental substance misuse may expose children to emotional abuse.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

Neglect

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s physical, emotional and/or psychological needs, likely to result in significant harm. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate foods, shelter and clothing.

Child/Young Person

For the purposes of this policy a child or young person is anyone aged less than 18 years, or less than 21 years with a disability or has been “looked after”.

Staff

For the purpose of this policy staff are defined as:

  • Those employed by EastSide Arts on a full or part time basis;
  • Individuals with whom the organisation contracts for services on a sessional basis;
  • Placements with EastSide Arts;
  • Volunteers with EastSide Arts;
  • Internships;
  • Agency Staff.

Section (b) - CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES

At EastSide Arts we will endeavour to safeguard children and young people by:

  • Following Child Protection Procedures
  • Following EastSide Arts code of conduct for staff;
  • Having designated child protection officers who have received appropriate training and support for this role;
  • Ensuring all staff understand their responsibilities in being alert to the signs of abuse;
  • Ensuring that all staff understand their responsibilities to refer any concerns to their line manager/Designated Officer and to refer their concerns on to the relevant social services office (list of offices attached) or PSNI. For further details see reporting procedure.
  • Sharing information on the protection of children should be on a need to know basis, with reference to EastSide Arts confidentiality statement below.
  • Ensuring safe recruitment and selection procedures are practised for staff employed by EastSide Arts according to Policy and Procedures on Recruitment and Selection;
  • Providing effective management for staff through supervision, support and training;
  • Ensuring children and young people are aware of the responsibilities placed on EastSide Artsstaff to report allegations of abuse to Social Services Departments;
  • Ensuring Parents/carers are aware of the responsibility on EastSide Artsstaff to report allegations of abuse to Social Services;
  • Maintaining written records of concern expressed by or about children/young people; See Appendix B
  • Following the procedure where an allegation is made against a member of staff.
  • Ensuring that outside agencies who have substantial unsupervised contact with children and young people, who are commissioned to undertake work on behalf of EastSide Artsadhere to minimum standards with regard to child protection.Ensuring also that we incorporate this into our tenders/contracts as well.

Sharing information and reporting concerns

During the course of their contact with EastSide Arts, children or young persons may disclose information to a staff member about behaviour which puts them at risk of harm. It is also possible that staff may suspect abuse is occurring or that allegations of abuse may be made against a staff member.

Significant Information - The sharing of significant information is important in ensuring that children and young persons are safe and in assessing whether a child or young person is at risk. It is essential that ‘significant information’, that is information about behaviour which may put children or young persons at risk of harm, is shared with personnel and agencies whose role it is to protect them, such as police or social services. Examples of what constitutes ‘significant information’ are given at Appendix A.

Confidentiality - Disclosures, allegations or suspicions of abuse must only be reported to the line manager and/or Designated Officer for child and young person protection. The Designated Officers for EastSide Arts are Maurice Kinkead, Chief Executive. With the exception of the Designated Officers sharing information with the Designated officer, suspicions and allegations must be kept confidential.

Responsibility of Staff - Identification and confirmation of alleged and actual abuse must be left to the appropriate professionals and agencies. Staff who have concerns about a child or young person who is in contact with EastSide Arts must report their concerns to their line manager and/or Designated Officer and then on to Social Services or the Police. The process by which this happens is detailed below, and the information which must be recorded is outlined in Appendix B.

In a case where a child or young person makes allegations, it is the responsibility of staff to whom allegations are disclosed to:

  • listen to the child or young person rather than questioning them;
  • allow the child or young person to freely record events;
  • explain to the child or young person what you have to do and who you have to tell;
  • record the discussion accurately as soon as possible after the event;
  • advise the line manager of the situation and contact one of the Designated Officers, who will discuss how the concerns are passed on to Social Services;
  • In the absence of line manager discuss with another senior person in the organisation how to pass on the information;
  • In the absence of the Designated Officer, the manager will discuss how to make the referral; then report to the Designated Officer as soon as possible;
  • If no-one is available to discuss the concerns, pass the information directly to Social Services or the Police. If in doubt refer;
  • If a situation occurs outside normal working hours, the information should be shared with the line manager/Designated Officer if available and then referred on to the duty out of hours Social Worker or the Police.
  • If a member of staff assesses that the child is in immediate danger, contact the police and advise line manager as soon as possible

Staff must never attempt to investigate allegations further. This may impede any later investigations by the authorities.

Responsibility of the Designated Officers - It is the responsibility of the Designated Officer to ensure that contact is made with social services. The roles and responsibilities of the Designated Officers are laid out more fully in Appendix C.

Responsibility of Line Manager –

  • It is the line manager’s responsibility to ensure that all staff understand and are inducted in the child protection procedures.
  • It is also the responsibility of the line manager to ensure that their member of staff follows the child protection procedure.
  • The line manager must assist with discussing and referring child protection concerns to Social Services/Police.
  • The line manager should offer professional and pastoral support as required.
  • The line manager has a responsibility to ensure child protection is discussed and addressed within supervision
  • The line manager has a responsibility to ensure risk assessments are carried out prior to engaging with children and young people.

When abuse has been disclosed/alleged, EastSide Artswill encourage the member of staff/referrer (and any other staff involved in the process) to discuss emotional support.

Reporting Arrangements

It is the responsibility of the Designated Officer to report annually on child protection issues within the organisation.

Training and Support

  • Staff will be advised of the Child Protection Policy by their line manager on their first day at EastSide Arts. The objective will be to raise awareness of the policy, and encourage full familiarization by the member of staff
  • Formal child protection training will be provided to staff within 6 months of joining the organization if they are required, through their employment, to come in to contact with children/young people.
  • Staff who use the policy by way of receiving information about harm to a child, and referring this on, will be supported by a Designated Officer, but must also raise within supervision personal impact, so that appropriate support needs can be sought.

Disclosures, Suspicions and Allegations of abuse – Step by Step Procedure

Disclosures of Abuse - If a child or young person discloses abuse to a member of staff of EastSide Arts the following steps must be taken. It must be remembered that in cases of disclosure of abuse, the normal rules regarding client confidentiality cannot apply as it is a legal responsibility to make disclosures known to the appropriate authorities.

  1. The details of the allegation must be recorded by the staff member to whom disclosure is made as soon as possible after the conversation takes place.
  2. The staff member concerned will explain to the informant that the nature of the information disclosed means that it cannot be kept confidential and that they have a duty to report it to Social Services or the Police and relevant senior staff within the organisation.
  3. The allegations of abuse and the record of the disclosure must be shared with the line manager and a Designated Officer as soon as possible, and within 24 hours if possible. For record of Disclosure see Appendix F

Suspicions of abuse - In circumstances where no disclosure has been made but a staff member has reason to suspect that a child or young person has been subject to abuse the following process must be followed:

  1. A member of staff who suspects that a child or young person may be experiencing abuse must bring this to the attention of his/her line manager and one of the Designated Officers.
  2. The Designated Officer in consultation with the member of staff and if possible line manager will decide whether or not social services should be contacted.
  3. A written record of all the information must be detailed and kept confidential.
  4. One copy of the written details of the child should be retained in a locked filing cabinet by a nominated Designated Officer. All other copies should be destroyed.

If in doubt, speak to the line manager.

Procedure in relation to allegations of abuse against a member of staff

The following procedure relates to members of staff as defined in previous definition.

If allegations of abuse of a child or young person during the course of their work for EastSide Arts are made against a staff member the following procedure must be followed.

  1. All staff members have a duty to report abuse of a child or young person by another member of EastSide Arts staff, which they witness or have been advised of to the Designated Officer.
  2. The protection of the child must be considered as a priority and any member of staff about whom allegations have been made, must be removed from having direct contact with children, with immediate effect.
  3. Within 24 hours of hearing of the alleged incident the Designated Officer will gather any available facts and evidence considered necessary.
  4. The Designated Officer will inform the Chief Executive as soon as possible that the allegation has been made.
  5. The Chief Executive and Designated Officer will consider the facts and, if the allegations seem to have substance, the Designated Officer will make contact with the appropriate statutory agencies.
  6. In addition EastSide Artswill deal with the allegations internally through the use of the organisation’s disciplinary procedures. Depending on the nature of their job role, an employee may be suspended pending investigation of the allegation. This is not to pre-empt the findings of the investigation but to facilitate the investigation.
  7. If an allegation is made against the Designated Officer, the Chief Executive will investigate and refer to the statutory agencies as appropriate.
  8. If any member of staff is suspended or moved to other responsibilities pending an investigation, a referral will be made to the vetting and barring list held by DHSSPS as per the POCVA guidance.

Section (c) - RECRUITMENT and SELECTION

No person should be placed in a position (either paid or unpaid), which involves unsupervised contact with children, without being properly and effectively vetted.

In order for the vetting process to be effective, it should includethe following:

  • Application form and job description;
  • Interview;
  • References, independently obtained, which ask questions on the applicant’s suitability to work with children;
  • Identity check e.g. birth certificate (and if appropriate marriage certificate) and photographic verification of identity, e.g. passport, driving licence; and
  • For those who are considered as EastSide Arts staff (see definition) an AccessNI Disclosure must be carried out.

Section (d) - CODE OF CONDUCT

EastSide Arts have agreed an established and accepted way of working with children and young people, based on the following principles:

Rights - EastSide Arts will promote the rights of children/young people as identified in the UN Convention

Relationships – EastSide Arts will work with all children/young people in an open and honest way, based on mutual respect.

Responsibilities – EastSide Arts will be aware of the need to behave towards and about children/young people in a professional manner, displaying the highest standard of personal behaviour at all times.

In detail this means -

Treating children and young people with respect

Providing an example of good conduct for others to follow

Ensuring that wherever possible there is more than one adult present during activities with children/young people

Taking special care when discussing sensitive issues with children and young people

Challenging unacceptable behaviour

Reporting allegations/suspicions of abuse

Making arrangements for the effective supervision of children/young people

Behaviour which is unacceptable -

Have inappropriate physical or verbal contact with children/young people

Exaggerate or trivialise child abuse issues

Jump to conclusions without checking the facts

Behave in an inappropriate manner

Meet outside organised activities without knowledge or consent of the line manager

Show favouritism toward an individual child or young person

EastSide Artswill review and amend this policy every two years oras required in light of experience and best practice.

December 20151

Child Protection Policy Procedures

Appendix A

Significant Information

Examples of what may constitute significant information disclosed by a child or young person

This list is not definitive but provides examples of what may constitute significant information.