Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy, Gloucester Outdoor Church
Gloucester Outdoor Church has a current membership of less than ten. This safeguarding policy was written on the advice of people who work with large organisations of hundreds of people. Please read with this in mind.
1. Contents:
2 Vision and Mission Statement
3 Introduction
4 Safeguarding overarching policy, by whom and when reviewed
5 Child Protection policy
6 Adults at risk policy
7 Commitment to managing offenders
8 Templates for Risk Assessments for individuals and for events
9 How to support survivors and abusers
10 Safer recruitment, role descriptions, responsibilities of people who are leading and volunteering
11 Training
12. How issues and concerns will be handled e.g when and who to refer to
13 Insurance and governance arrangements
Appendices: Blank Offender Agreement; Blank Training Record, Blank Incident Report Form.
2. Vision and mission statement.
The aim of Gloucester Outdoor Church is the advancement of religion and the glory of God in Gloucestershire, through:
- the provision of places of Christian worship: creating a safe space for street folk (homeless / ex-homeless people) to worship and express their Christian faith
- carrying out religious devotional acts and services that meet the pastoral needs of street folk
- carrying out outreach work: going “out to the roads and country lanes and urge people to come in” (Luke 14:23): encouraging street folk to seek a meaningful faith in Jesus Christ and to follow the Bible.
3. Introduction
Gloucester Outdoor Church provides marginalised and homeless people with an informal setting to hear, absorb and discuss the gospel of Jesus Christ and become His followers. Mentoring, pastoral help and fellowship are offered. We meet in Gloucester park on a weekly basis from 1:00-2:30. This time involves fellowship and an informal bread and cup service. It is open to passersby as well as the regular church family. Because it is open to passersby, the risks are greater, but abuse can be spotted more easily as it is outside a building: there are no doors to hide behind. It is vital for the church to have a robust safeguarding policy.
We are committed to safeguarding as an integral part of the life and ministry of the church. We are committed to the promotion of a sustained and sustainable culture of constant vigilance. The church recognises the personal dignity and rights of all Vulnerable People towards whom it has a special responsibility. The church and individual members of it undertake to take all the appropriate steps to maintain a safe environment for all and to practice fully and positively Christ’s Ministry towards children, young people and vulnerable adults, and to respond sensitively and compassionately to their needs in order to help keep them safe from harm.
The Church leadership will liaise closely with statutory agencies to ensure that any allegations of abuse are promptly and properly investigated and where appropriate, survivors supported and perpetrators held to account.
The Church wishes to ensure that children, young people and vulnerable adults will have peace of mind, knowing they will be cared for and loved by their Christian community.
4. Safeguarding overarching policy, by whom and when reviewed
This policy was written August 2016. It will be reviewed in August 2017.
Alongside this policy, the following operating documents will be kept: Blank Incident Reports; blank offender agreements, blank risk assessments, and a file for all Safeguarding correspondance and concerns.
The Trustees will approve and annually review safeguarding policies/procedures with the aim of:
Raising awareness of issues relating to the welfare of children and young people and the promotion of a safe environment for them.
providing procedures for reporting concerns
Establishing procedures for reporting and dealing with allegations of abuse against members of volunteers, church leaders and trustees
The safer recruitment of church leaders, trustees and volunteers
5. Child protection policy
5.1 Introduction
Every human being has a value and dignity which we as Christians acknowledge as coming directly from God’s creation of male and female in his own image and likeness. This implies a duty to value all people and therefore to support them and protect them from harm.
The Church and the board of Trustees are committed to providing a safe environment for children.
In the Church this is demonstrated by the provision of carefully planned activities for children, young people and adults; supporting families under stress; caring for those hurt by abuse in the past; ministering to and managing those who have caused harm. It is because of these varied ministries that we need to provide a safe environment for all which promotes and supports their wellbeing. This will include carefully selecting and appointing those who work with children, young people or vulnerable adults and responding robustly where concerns arise.
The main Government guidance setting out duties and responsibilities for all agencies and organisations who work with Children and Families is ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ which was published by the Department for Education and Skills in April, 2006; it provides guidance under the Children Acts 1989 and 2004. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ refers directly to Faith Communities and sets out the responsibilities and expectations of all churches and faith communities in safeguarding children and promoting their welfare.
It recognises that churches provide a wide range of services for children; and that church leaders, trustees and volunteers have an important role in safeguarding and supporting children and families.
Children may be in need of protection from abuse or maltreatment in their own home or in other environments including the church itself.Wherever a child is at risk or concerns are raised about a child, all adults have a duty to act to safeguard that child and promote his or her welfare. The need to safeguard children is not confined to any particular age group or groups in the community and all concerns should be responded to equally, always bearing in mind that the welfare of the child is paramount.
In all research and in reviews where a child has died or been seriously injured as a result of abuse, the same messages to all organisations come back time and again – namely, the importance of adults responding promptly to concerns, listening to children with respect and most importantly, communicating effectively with one another within and between organisations and agencies.
All churches and faith communities are expected to have in place arrangements which include:
l Procedures to respond to and report concerns
l Codes of practice
l Safe recruitment procedures
In the same way arrangements must be in place to respond to concerns about any form of abuse or maltreatment of a vulnerable adult.
The principles contained in ‘No Secrets ‘(DoH 2000) and ‘Safeguarding Adults : A National Framework for Good Practice (ADSS 2005)’ must be followed with the acknowledgement that the church must not act alone but in partnership with all other agencies to combat the abuse of vulnerable adults.
5.2 Explanation of terms used
Child The term “child” is used to include all children and young people up to the age of 18. Someone who has not yet had their 18th birthday.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
l Protecting children from maltreatment;
l Preventing impairment of children’s health and development;
l Ensuring that children are growing up with safe and effective care;
l Enabling children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.
Child Protection Is a part of safeguarding and refers to the activities undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or are at risk of suffering Significant Harm.
Significant Harm ‘Harm’ means ill-treatment or the impairment of health or
development, including for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another; ‘Development’ means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development; ‘Health’ means physical or mental health; and ‘Ill-treatment’ includes sexual abuse and forms of ill-treatment which are not physical.
Child Abuse and Neglect Are forms of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting, by those known to them or, more rarely, by a stranger. They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children.
5.3 Desriptions of abuse for children.
Physical abuse May involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
Emotional abuse Is the persistent emotional maltreatment 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 feature age and developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill- treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying, causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.
Sexual abuse Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in
sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child 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, sexual online images and photos, watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. We are becoming increasingly aware of the offence of viewing or downloading abusive images of children from the Internet. This is not a “victimless” crime but is both evidence of abuse taking place and is a criminal offence. It should be referred on in all cases.
Neglect Is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, or at any age, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:
l provide adequate food, clothing and shelter ( including exclusion from home or abandonment);
l protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger;
l ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate carers);
l ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.
The above definitions are from Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006.
Domestic Violence This term is used to describe the physical, sexual or emotional (including verbal and financial) abuse between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality. This form of abuse effects both the victim, who by the very nature of the offence is a vulnerable adult in this context, and any children in the household. In 2005, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 extended the legal definition of harming children to include harm suffered by seeing or hearing ill-treatment of others, especially in the home.
Lost Child Procedure When working with children in the Church setting, at no point is the child to be taken away from the body of activity. If the child enters the area of activity, and is lost, he/she is not to be taken away by any volunteer or adult from the area. The volunteer/adult must attempt to locate the parents by asking the child where they are, or by phone. If the child cannot provide any substantial information, two volunteers/adults must attempt to find the parents and the police must be called.
6. Vulnerable Adults at risk policy
6.1 General Policy Statement
Vulnerable adults are far more likely to appear at the Glouecster Outdoor Church than children. They may be in receipt of health care, social care or otherwise assistance. We have to watch against people exploiting congregants who come to our church, for example those who struggle with addiction because they might incline to co-dependency which makes it easier for people to exploit them. They might have a victim mentality, or need friendship or money or drink/drugs to the extent that they are prepared to allow themselves to be abused to get it. We need to be vigilant in this area and take steps to prevent abuse.
Gloucester Outdoor Churchhas a moral and legal duty to ensure that it functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable adults. We are committed to fulfilling the requirements of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012and other relevant legislation aimed at the protection of vulnerable adults.
6.2 Definition of a vulnerable adult
A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 or over, ‘who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.’ (‘Who decides’) Section 2 ‘No Secrets’, Department of Health and the Home Office (2000).
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 defines a vulnerable adult as follows:
‘A person is vulnerable in the context of the setting in which they are situated or the service they receive as follows;
l those in residential accommodation provided in connection with care or nursing or in receipt of domiciliary care services;
l those receiving health care;
l those in lawful custody or under the supervision of a probation officer;
l those receiving a welfare service of a prescribed description or direct payments from a social services authority;
l those receiving services, or taking part in activities, aimed at people with disabilities or special needs because of their age or state of health;
l those who need assistance in the conduct of their affairs.'
6.3 Regulated Activity with Vulnerable Adults under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
a. Anyone providing a vulnerable adult with any of the above services is considered to be undertaking a regulated activity under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and must therefore have an Enhanced Disclosure with a Barred List check in order to perform the role.
b. An individual only needs to engage in the activities listed above once to be carrying out regulated activity relating to adults.
c. The definition focuses on those activities which are required by any adult at any given point, this means that an adult is considered vulnerable at the point of receiving them and may not be a vulnerable adult once the service ceases.
d. Note that a person whose role includes the day-to-day management or supervision of any person engaging in regulated activity, is also in regulated activity even if they are not directly involved in providing the service.
e. Note also that regulated activity relating to adults excludes any activity carried out in the course of family relationships, and personal, non-commercial relationships.
6.4 A person’s level of vulnerability may increase or decrease according to the circumstances they experience at any given time. Vulnerable adults could include people with:
l learning or physical disabilities;
l a sensory impairment;
l mental health needs;
l who are HIV positive;
l substance misuse needs;
l dementia.
6.5 Descriptions of abuse for vulnerable adults
‘Abuse may consist of a single act or repeated acts. It may be physical, verbal or psychological, it may be an act of neglect or an omission to act or it may occur when a vulnerable person is persuaded to enter into a financial or sexual transaction to which he or she has not consented or cannot consent. Abuse can occur in any relationship and may result in significant harm to or exploitation of the person subjected to it.’ (‘No Secrets’, DoH 2000).
A consensus has emerged identifying the following main different forms of abuse:
Physical abuse Including hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, restraint, or inappropriate sanctions.
Sexual abuse Including rape and sexual assault or sexual acts to which the vulnerable adult has not consented, or could not consent or was pressured into consenting.
Psychological abuse Including emotional abuse, threats of harm or abandonment, deprivation of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, isolation or withdrawal from services or supportive networks.
Financial or material Including theft, fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property or inheritance or financial transactions, or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits.
Neglect and acts of Including ignoring medical or physical care needs, failure to provide access to appropriate health, social care or educational services, the withholding of the necessities of life, such as medication, adequate nutrition and heating.
Discriminatory abuse Including racist, sexist, that based on a person’s disability, and other forms of harassment, slurs or similar treatment.
Any or all of these types of abuse may be perpetrated as the result of deliberate intent, negligence or ignorance. Neglect and poor professional practice also need to be taken into account. This may take the form of isolated incidents of poor or unsatisfactory professional practice, at one end of the spectrum, through to pervasive ill treatment or gross misconduct at the other. Repeated instances of poor care may be an indication of more serious problems and this is sometimes referred to as institutional abuse.
6.6 Who may be the abuser? Vulnerable adult(s) may be abused by a wide range of people, including relatives and family members, professional staff, paid care workers, volunteers, other service users, neighbours, friends and associates, people who deliberately exploit vulnerable people and strangers. Applying these definitions to different circumstances may not always be easy. Many situations may involve combinations of these elements. If there is difficulty in defining a situation this should be discussed with the Safeguarding Officer.
7. Commitment to Managing Offenders
Gloucester Outdoor Church may be attended by offenders who have harmed children or vulnerable adults. We are committed both to loving and welcome offenders, and also to keep children and vulnerable adults safe. Gloucester Outdoor Church has a “Safeguarding Officer” who is one of the church leaders, and will seek advice from a “Safeguarding adviser”, an experienced professional in the area of safeguarding, for example, Gloucester Diocese's safeguarding officer