The Beck Community Centre Safeguarding Children Policy

User Group Document

The Beck Community Centre believes that it is always unacceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind and recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people, by a commitment to practice which protects them.

The Beck Community Centre is committed to ensuring that children who use our centre are not abused and that working practices minimise the risk of such abuse. The Management Committee and all User Groups of The Beck Community Centre have a duty to identify abuse and report it.

Definition

A child is defined as any individual under the age of 18 years

We recognise that:

• the welfare of the child/young person is paramount

• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse

• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people's welfare.

The purpose of the policy:

• To provide protection for the children and young people who attend groups or functions at the Beck Community Centre, including the children of adult members or users.

• To provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be experiencing, or be at risk of, harm.

Rights & Responsibilities

Responsibilities of The Beck Community Centre Management Committee:

• To ensure volunteers are aware of a child's need for protection

• To notify the appropriate agencies if abuse is identified or suspected

• To support and where possible secure the safety of individuals and ensure that all referrals to services have full information in relation to identified risk and vulnerability

Responsibilities of The Beck Community Centre User Groups:

• To be familiar with this Child protection policy and the groups own where applicable

• To take appropriate action in line with the policy of The Beck Community Centre

• User Groups to obtain Disclosure and Barring Service checks (DBS formally known as CRB) in line with their own policies

This policy applies to the Management Committee and all volunteers and sessional workers, paid staff, students or anyone working on behalf of all User Groups using the Beck Community Centre.

We will seek to safeguard children and young people by:

• valuing them, listening to and respecting them

• adopting child protection guidelines through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers

• recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made

• sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents, staff and volunteers

• sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately

• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support and training.

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

Chairman's Signature: Helen Whittaker

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Representatives Signature..............................................................

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