Careers Collective Safeguarding Policy

 

 

Introductory notes:

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

Safeguarding means:

·       Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment

·       Preventing harm to children’s health or development

·       Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care

·       Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

What are safeguarding and child protection procedures? 

Safeguarding and child protection procedures are detailed guidelines and instructions that support your overarching safeguarding policy statement. They explain the steps that your organisation will take to keep children and young people safe and what to do when there are concerns about a child's safety or wellbeing.

Policy Document

Purpose and Aim of this Policy Statement

To ensure that the safeguarding of children is a central consideration in all of the engagement of Careers Collective consultants with clients under the age of 18. To provide a clear set of guidelines for Careers Collective consultants to refer to, should they have concerns about the safety of any clients under the age of 18. Careers Collective is determined to ensure that all of our engagement with children under the age of 18 follows the principles of best practice and ensures that they are protected and feel safe.

Careers Collective consultants, when working directly with children, either virtually or face to face, require the presence of either a DBS checked adult who has responsibility for that child in their education setting, or an adult who has parental responsibility for that child, or is acting in loco parentis in that situation. In a virtual setting, that adult must be within earshot of the conversation. In a face to face setting, that adult must be in the room. The purpose of this condition is to ensure the safeguarding of both the child and the consultant.

It is the responsibility of Careers Collective to inform the client of this condition; it is the responsibility of the client to ensure that this condition is met.

Key Actions Taken

All Careers Collective Collaborators will be asked to provide a current DBS form before working for us with children or young people

All Careers Collective consultants will be asked to read and sign this policy before engaging in work for Careers Collective

All Careers Collective consultants will be asked to read and sign the Code of Conduct (Appendix 1) before engaging in work for Careers Collective

Careers Collective have appointed Tina Harrigan-James, Co-founder of Careers Collective, as Safeguarding Lead.

The Careers Collective Safeguarding Lead will maintain a level of training appropriate to the work that we undertake as an organisation, completing the CPD-certified courses for Safeguarding and Child Protection and Online Safety provided by the NSPCC.

Careers Collective will include a statement on Safeguarding on our website.

Careers Collective will include safeguarding conditions on our Confirmation of Booking documents.

This Safeguarding Policy will be reviewed annually, and a new copy sent out to all Careers Collective consultants to read and sign.

Safeguarding information will be made available to Careers Collective Collaborators, including our Disclosure Form (Appendix 2).

Careers Collective has appointed Sally Everist, co-founder of Careers Collective, as Whistleblowing Lead, so that Careers Collective consultants have a point of contact if they wish to disclose that anyone delivering on behalf of Careers Collective is behaving in a manner that does not uphold this policy.

Email: cccconfidential@gmail.com

National Legislation

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for child protection in England. It sets out the policy, legislation and statutory guidance on how the child protection system should work.

Local safeguarding partners are responsible for child protection policy, procedure and guidance at a local level.

The local safeguarding arrangements are led by three statutory safeguarding partners:

·       The local authority

·       The clinical commissioning group

·       The police.

Working together with other relevant agencies, they must coordinate and ensure the effectiveness of work to protect and promote the welfare of children, including making arrangements to identify and support children at risk of harm.

Duty to protect children

The key guidance for child protection is Working together to safeguard children (Department for Education, 2018). This states:

  • Everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe

  • Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play in sharing information and identifying concerns.

In addition, section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a statutory duty on certain agencies to co-operate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes:

  • Local authorities

  • NHS services and trusts

  • Police

  • Probation services and young offenders institutions.

People who work in these agencies and who do not report suspected cases of abuse or neglect may be subject to disciplinary proceedings but do not currently face criminal penalties.

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 as a Careers Collective consultant:

·       If it is considered that the child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999

  • Immediately complete a child protection disclosure form (Appendix 1) to act as a record of the incident or concern

  • Make the completed disclosure form immediately available to the Careers Collective Safeguarding Lead Tina Harrigan-James

  • The Careers Collective Safeguarding Lead will report the concern to the Safeguarding Lead at the education establishment attended by the child

  • Other useful sources of advice and support are the NSPCC helpline 08088005000 and child protection services

Identifying Concerns

Disclosure

Disclosure is the process by which children and young people start to share their experiences of abuse with others. This can take place over a long period of time – it is a journey, not one act or action.

Children may disclose directly or indirectly and sometimes they may start sharing details of abuse before they are ready to put their thoughts and feelings in order.

Not all disclosures will lead to a formal report of abuse or a case being made or a case being taken to court, but all disclosures should be taken seriously.

It takes extraordinary courage for a child to go through the journey of disclosing abuse.

It's vital that anyone who works with children and young people undertaking this journey is able to provide them with the support they need.

How disclosure happens

Children and young people may disclose abuse in a variety of ways, including:

  • Directly– making specific verbal statements about what’s happened to them

  • Indirectly – making ambiguous verbal statements that suggest something is wrong

  • Behaviourally – displaying behaviour that signals something is wrong (this may or may not be deliberate)

  • Non-verbally – writing letters, drawing pictures or trying to communicate in other ways.

Children and young people may not always be aware that they are disclosing abuse through their actions and behaviour.

Sometimes children and young people make partial disclosures of abuse. This means they give some details about what they’ve experienced, but not the whole picture. They may withhold some information because they:

  • Are afraid they will get in trouble with or upset their family

  • Want to deflect blame in case of family difficulties as a result of the disclosure

  • Feel ashamed and/or guilty

  • Need to protect themselves from having to relive traumatic events.

When children do speak out it is often many years after the abuse has taken place (McElvaney, 2015).

Barriers to disclosure

Some children and young people are reluctant to seek help because they feel they don’t have anyone to turn to for support.

They may have sought help in the past and had a negative experience, which makes them unlikely to do so again.

They may also:

  • Feel that they will not be taken seriously

  • Feel too embarrassed to talk to an adult about a private or personal problem

  • Worry about confidentiality

  • Lack of trust in the people around them (including parents) and in the services provided to help them

  • Fear the consequences of asking for help

  • Worry they will be causing trouble and making the situation worse

  • Find formal procedures overwhelming

(Mental Health Foundation and Camelot Foundation, 2006).

Not all children and young people realise they have experienced abuse, for example, if they have been groomed.

Spotting the signs of abuse

Children and young people who have been abused may want to tell someone, but not have the exact words to do so. They may attempt to disclose abuse by giving adults clues, through their actions and by using indirect words (Allnock and Miller, 2013; Cossar et al, 2013).

Adults need to be able to notice the signs that a child or young person might be distressed and ask them appropriate questions about what might have caused this.

Child abuse happens when a person – adult or child – harms a child. It can be physical, sexual or emotional, but can also involve a lack of love, care and attention. Children who suffer abuse may struggle to find the words to speak out, so it’s vital that anyone working with children or young people is vigilant for the signs of abuse.

You should never wait until a child or young person tells you directly that they are being abused before taking action. Instead, ask the child if everything is OK or discuss your concerns with your organisation’s designated safeguarding lead, or the NSPCC helpline.

Waiting for a child to be ready to speak about their experiences could mean that the abuse carries on and they, or another child, are put at further risk of significant harm (Cossar et al, 2013).

Not taking appropriate action quickly can also affect the child’s mental health. They may feel despairing and hopeless and wonder why no one is helping them. This may discourage them from seeking help in the future and make them distrust adults.

If a child tells you they are experiencing abuse, it’s important to reassure them that they’ve done the right thing in telling you. Make sure they know that abuse is never their fault.

Never talk to the alleged perpetrator about the child’s disclosure. This could make things a lot worse for the child.

Non-biased approach

It’s vital that any child who is trying to disclose abuse feels that they are being listened to and taken seriously.

But there can be a risk that if professionals just believe the child’s account without thoroughly investigating the situation, this can lead to unfair bias against the alleged abuser as formal investigations progress (Child Protection Resource, 2018; Transparency Project, 2018).

This means it’s important to maintain an unbiased approach when responding to disclosures and follow your organisation’s procedures to ensure each case is treated in a fair and transparent manner and that the child gets the protection and support that they need.

Making notes

It is important to keep accurate and detailed notes on any concerns you have about a child. You will need to share these with your nominated child protection lead.

Include:

  • The child’s details (name, age, address)

  • What the child said or did that gave you cause for concern (if the child made a verbal disclosure, write down their exact words)

  • Any information the child has given you about the alleged abuser.

Careers Collective consultants have access to a Code of Conduct, which is signed before work is undertaken, as well as a Disclosure Form, should they have any concerns about a child.

The Safeguarding Policy, Behaviour Policy and Disclosure Form will be reviewed on an annual basis.

 

Updated Feb 2021 by Tina Harrigan-James