Amaze Safeguarding Policy
STATEMENT OF AIMS AND INTENT
Amaze provides information, advice and support for children and young people (birth to 25 years) with special needs and disabilities and their parent carers. Through the Compass, Amaze also promotes access to activities for disabled children and young people in partnership with other organisations.
Amaze believes that every person has a right to live a life free from abuse, neglect and fear. Amaze is committed to protecting and safeguarding the welfare of children, young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities. Amaze believes that supporting parents and carers is central to the welfare of disabled children and adults.
Amaze recognises its responsibility to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and to protect children and adults at risk from harm, abuse and exploitation. For the purposes of safeguarding legislation a young person will be regarded as a ‘child’ until her/his eighteenth birthday. An adult at risk, means any person who may need extra support with everyday living tasks, and may be unable to protect themselves against harm or exploitation. Adults at risk of abuse include people with a wide range of disabilities and circumstances including mental ill health, victims of domestic violence or those with substance misuse issues.
Amaze recognises its responsibility to implement, maintain and regularly review procedures, which are designed to prevent and be alert to abuse. These procedures apply to all children and adults at risk regardless of their race, religion, first language or ethnicity; age; gender or sexuality; health or disability; location or placement; political views or immigration status or involvement in criminal behaviour.
It is a key element of Amaze’s mission to work in partnership with parents but safeguarding a child takes priority if these two aims should conflict. Similarly Amaze is committed to promoting the right of disabled children and young people to develop independence and make choices for themselves but will be alert to how this may interact with safeguarding.
Amaze acknowledges that some children and young people are more vulnerable to abuse than others. For example those children and young people who are disadvantaged; disabled children and young people; those living away from home; those in the family home living with parental ill health, mental illness or substance misuse as well as children and young people who are suffering from racial or religious harassment.
Amaze is committed to following the guidelines and procedures established in:
1. the Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures in partnership with the Brighton and Hove Local Safeguarding Children Board and accessible at https://sussexchildprotection.procedures.org.uk
2. the Sussex Multi Agency Policy and Procedures for Safeguarding Adults at Risk in partnership with the Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Adults Board and accessible at http://pansussexadultssafeguarding.proceduresonline.com
In implementing this safeguarding and child protection policy Amaze will:
· Communicate to all staff and volunteers their legal and moral responsibility to protect children and adults at risk from harm, abuse and exploitation
· Communicate to all staff and volunteers their responsibility to work to the standards that are detailed in the Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures and the Sussex Multi Agency Policy and Procedures for Safeguarding Adults at Risk, and the need to work at all times towards maintaining high standards of practice in protection of children and adults at risk
· Ensure that safeguarding is covered as part of the basic induction all staff and volunteers, as well as during supervision. Ensure all staff and volunteers that have contact with families have undertaken basic safeguarding training as provided by the Safeguarding Children Board (or other recognised provider) and confirm with individual workers their duty to report concerns that arise about a child or young person or adult at risk, or a worker’s conduct towards a child/young person or adult at risk, to the organisation’s designated safeguarding officer or deputy.
· Ensure that the designated person and deputy have undertaken basic training on child protection and further training provided by the SCB and that they understand their responsibility to refer any child protection concerns to the statutory safeguarding agencies (i.e. Police, Children’s Social Care and Adult Social Care)
· Ensure that the designated person and deputy have undertaken basic training on safeguarding adults, further training on related issues e.g. Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and that they understand their responsibility to refer safeguarding concerns to Adult Social Care
· Provide opportunities for all staff and volunteers to further develop their skills and knowledge particularly in relation to the welfare and protection of children and young people and adults at risk
· Promote the involvement of parents, children and young people in expressing their views about the service provided by Amaze and our partners
· Facilitate involvement of parents in the work of the organisation and to make safeguarding policies and procedures available to them
· Endeavour to keep up-to-date with national developments relating to the welfare and protection of children and young people and safeguarding of adults at risk.
Amaze’s Safeguarding Policy should also be read in the context of other Amaze policies and procedures including –
· Health and Safety Policy
· Risk Management Strategy
· Equalities Policy
· Recruitment and Selection Policy
· Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy
· Volunteer Policy
· Staff Development Policy
· Lone Working Policy
· Lone Working with Children and Young People procedure
· Staffing Structure
· Complaints Policy
· Whistleblowing Policy
· Recruitment of Ex-Offenders Policy
POLICY ON SERVICE DELIVERY
These procedures have been designed to ensure that the welfare and protection of any child or adult at risk who accesses the services provided by Amaze directly or whose parent uses Amaze services. The procedures recognise that safeguarding can be a difficult subject for workers to deal with to the extent that it is sometimes easier to dismiss what is happening or believe that it is somebody else’s problem to deal with it. Amaze is committed to the belief that protecting children and adults at risk is everybody’s responsibility and therefore the aim is to provide guidelines that will enable all workers and volunteers to act appropriately should any concerns arise in respect of a child, young person or adult at risk.
All Amaze staff, volunteers and trustees must work in ways that are safe and we must be alert to possible signs that a child or adult may be at risk of harm. Staff must bear in mind that children and young people with SEN and disabilities may be at risk of child sexual exploitation and that this may go unrecognised as abuse by the child themselves or those around them. Disabled adults may also be at risk of exploitation including sexual exploitation.
Safe working practices
Staff and volunteers who work with families must ensure that they are not left alone with a child or young person in the course of their work, for example when making a home visit, meeting a parent or visiting a school. Where a young person (16-18) has asked for support in their own right (e.g. from the Independent Support service), no visits should be made to the home setting unless a parent/carer is present. Meetings with a young person outside the home should be conducted in an educational setting or other appropriate settings to be agreed with the member of staff or volunteer’s supervisor. See Appendix 6 for more detailed guidance on working with children and young people.
Staff and volunteers who meet families at public events and Compass activities should only have contact with children in the presence of the parent or another adult. For example volunteers at the Compass cinema screenings may guide a child back to their seat but should not accompany a child to the toilet.
Staff involved in developing activities for families and children with which Amaze is associated, for example Compass activities must make every effort to ensure the partner organisation has and applies appropriate safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures.
Staff and volunteers may be asked to share information with other agencies about a child, adult or family. This should be considered in the light of Amaze’s Confidentiality Policy and the guidelines on information sharing in appendix 4.
Designated Person(s) for Safeguarding and Child Protection
Amaze has an appointed individual who is responsible for dealing with any safeguarding and child protection concerns. In their absence, an alternative manager will always be available.
Designated Person for safeguarding: Ros Cook, Services Director
Work telephone number: 01273 234020
Email:
Mobile number: 07906 674505
Deputy Designated Person for safeguarding contact: Liam Ryan, IS Regional Manager
Work telephone number: 01273 234020
Email:
Mobile number: 07483 111659
Alternative contact person: Rachel Travers, Chief Executive
Work telephone number: 01273 234020
Email:
Mobile number: 07984 433232
The role and responsibilities of the designated person(s) are:
· To ensure that all staff are aware of what they should do and who they should go to if they are concerned that a child/young person/adult maybe subject to abuse or neglect.
· Ensure that any concerns about a child/young person/adult are acted on, clearly recorded, referred on where necessary and, followed up to ensure the issues are addressed.
· Record any reported incidents in relation to a child/young person/adult or breach of safeguarding policies and procedures. These records will be kept in a secure place.
Procedure when abuse is suspected or identified
There are a number of ways in which concerns regarding a child or young person or adult’s welfare might come to light. These include:
· The individual discloses that he or she is being abused or exploited
· A third party reports that the individual has disclosed that he or she is being abused or exploited
· Something heard or observed in the course of contact with a parent, child, adult or family leads to a strong suspicion that a child or adult is being abused or is subject to exploitation or neglect
· An allegation is made against a member of staff, volunteer or trustee
· A concern is raised without any specific disclosure of abuse
· One child or young person or adult is seen to be abusing another
· There are indications that a child is living in a situation where domestic abuse is occurring involving other members of the family or household
· There are signs of radicalisation or involvement in terrorism
For further information about signs of abuse and how to respond to a disclosure see appendices 1, 2 and 3.
For further information about prevention of terrorism and concerns about radicalisation of children, young people and adults as part of safeguarding, see appendix 7.
Private fostering: whilst private fostering is not in itself a safeguarding concern, special consideration needs to be given to children who are not living with a parent or close relative as this is known to be an additional risk factor for a child. For this reason the law says that the local authority must be informed about all private foster care arrangements. Where staff come across a child in this situation they should bring it to the attention of the designated person (Ros or Liam) so they can check if it should be reported to the relevant local authority.
Adults have the right to make decisions for themselves. A safeguarding concern is where an adult who has needs for care and support (whether or not any of those needs are being met) may be experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect, and as a result of their care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of, abuse or neglect.
Staff and volunteers may be unsure what weight to give to their concerns in some circumstances. It is essential that all concerns however minor or uncertain are discussed promptly with the worker or volunteer’s supervisor who can contact the designated person as appropriate. If the supervisor is unavailable any member of staff or volunteer can contact the designated person direct. In the event that a Brighton and Hove child is felt to be in urgent need and the designated person is not immediately contactable, the worker or volunteer can contact the Brighton & Hove Front Door for Families (details below) as the “front door” for social care services. Where there is felt to be an immediate risk of significant harm the police should be called immediately.
If the individual concerned is aged 18+ then the same process will be followed but referral would be to Brighton and Hove Adult Social Services via the Access Point (see below) rather than the Front Door For Families Service. As with children, a worker or volunteer may contact Adult Social Care or the police if the adult is felt to be at immediate risk of significant harm and the designated person is not immediately contactable.
Please note:
Although this Amaze safeguarding policy makes reference to Brighton and Hove agencies our policy also covers our work in other areas. There are separate agencies for referrals about children and adults in every local authority and the Amaze safeguarding procedures should be followed to contact the relevant local agency.
In West Sussex concerns about children should be referred to the West Sussex Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub. Concerns about adults should be referred to the West Sussex Adults CarePoint.
In East Sussex concerns about children should be referred to the Single Point Of Advice (SPOA). Concerns about adults should be referred to Social Care Direct.
If there is a concern the process should be as follows:
· Worker reports concerns immediately to supervisor. Record details of the incident/allegation with the supervisor. These records must be accurate and factual. Supervisors must notify the designated person or deputy or in their absence the Chief Executive immediately. Staff and volunteers are not expected to investigate or confront an abuser as to do so may actually increase risk or affect the outcome of a formal investigation.
· If it is suspected that the child or young person is at risk of harm a telephone report should be made to the Front Door For Families Service and/or the police. This will be done by the designated person. This report should be followed up in writing within forty-eight hours. Where there are concerns about a child but not a clear suspicion of risk of harm, the designated person may also contact Front Door for Families (see below). The Front Door For Families Service must acknowledge receipt of the referral and decide on a course of action within one working day. If this is not received the referrer should ensure that the referral is followed up after three working days. The Front Door For Families Service will confirm to the referring agency the course of action that they intend to take or that they have agreed no further action is necessary. If there is further action the Front Door For Families Service will draw up an initial assessment of the child and young person’s immediate safety. A strategy discussion meeting will be called and involve the appropriate range of agencies that form part of the Front Door For Families Service.