Child Safeguarding

Clonakilty Community Youth Centre Child Safeguarding Policy

1. Nature of service and principles to safeguard children from harm 
   1. Name
   2. Location (one or multiple locations)
   3. Number of staff; numbers in each location if more than one location
   4. List all of the activities you provide
   5. Do you provide services in a single location, similar services in different locations, different services in a single location, different services in different locations or something else? Try and describe the structure of your organisation here.
   6. What is the level of contact with children and families in the service(s) you provide?
   7. Will children have access to the internet and/or the use of smart phones? Consider how you are involving parents and carers in managing controls around this.
   8. Do you fund other organisations to provide services to children?
   9. What is the age group you work with?
   10. What is the level of ability of your service users?
   11. Are there any individual care needs?
   12. What are the dynamics of your client group?
   13. Are there specific complicating factors which may make your service users particularly vulnerable to harm?
   14. Are there particular challenges in terms of safeguarding these children from harm?

1. Guiding principles to safeguard children from harm such as:
   1. Our priority to ensure the welfare and safety of every child and young person who  attends our service, is paramount.
   2. Our guiding principles and procedures to safeguard children and young people reflect national policy and legislation and we will review out guiding principles and Child Safeguarding Procedures every two years. 
   3. All children and young people have an equal right to attend a service that respects them as individuals and encourages them to reach their potential, regardless of their background.
   4. We are committed to upholding the rights of every child and young person who attends our service, including the right to be kept safe and protected from harm, to be listened to and to be heard.
   5. Our guiding principles apply to everyone in our organisation. 
   6. Workers/volunteers must conduct themselves in a way that reflects the principles of our organisation.
   7. Children should be supported and encouraged to develop safe and responsible online behaviours. 

1. Risk Assessment – Insert below areas where risks have been identified and where procedures are in place to manage the identified risk.  Procedures may need to be developed to manage the identified risk. 
   1. What is the risk of harm by staff or volunteers – what is it – shouting, assaulting, sexually abusing etc. 
   2. How can you identify this and where will this be considered within internal policies i.e. recruitment, complaints, staff training, staff induction, reporting, child safeguarding, garda vetting, code of behaviour for children attending the service?
   3. What facilities are there available in the space – laptops, computers, phones etc – incorporate an online safety policy
   4. How can you limit it occurring, what private spaces exist – who has access, are there off limits areas, are there procedures about the number of children who mean with a child alone (there definitely should be at least two people if not in a public area).  
   5. You should have all staff and volunteers take the children first safeguarding training and ensure all staff and volunteers are garda vetted. 
   6. There should be a clear and published policy on display if any child wishes to make a complaint – this should involve a chain of command, outside of any mandated persons, at least two persons assigned as liaison to the Child and Family Agency should a child protection or emotional abuse referral need to be made. There should be choice of these persons for children in case the liaison is the subject of the complaint. There should be a procedure for talking to a child about the complaint. There should be a policy wherein every staff member knows who their liaison is in case a child complains to them directly and does not follow the step by step guide. Each staff member should be aware of the parameters and limitations of what they can keep secret at the request of the child. They have to be aware that certain complaints have to be reported. 
   7. Keep in mind, the abuse does not have to be from a member of staff or volunteer but can be a disclosure by a child of something that occurred at home, school, by another child, peer to peer abuse etc. 
   8. There could be a risk of children absconding from the centre due to poor supervision, lack of knowledge about internal policies on leaving the building unsupervised etc.

You do not need to specify here each procedure, but you should refer to the name of the policy that deals with it more comprehensively.

1. Procedures – the following must be set out:

The following text outlines the procedures which are specified in the Children First Act, 2015 and must appear in the Child Safeguarding Statement. 

Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017, and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice. 

The procedures listed in our Risk Assessment and the Specified Procedures below support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service:

• Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against   workers/volunteers of a child availing of our service;

• Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children;

• Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm;

• Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla;

• Procedure for maintaining a list of the persons (if any) in the relevant service who are mandated persons;

• Procedure for appointing a Relevant Person.

This Child Safeguarding Statement will be displayed prominently.

All procedures will be made available to staff, parents, young people, members of the public and Tusla, if requested.

• Implementation and Review – the following should be set out at the end:

We recognise that implementation is an on-going process. Our service is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our service. 

This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed on ________________ or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.

Signed: ______________________________ (Provider of the Relevant Service)

For queries, please contact [insert name and role], Relevant Person under the Children First Act 2015.