Safeguarding Policy

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Purposes
The purposes of Old Tupton Methodist Church's Safeguarding policy are to ensure procedures are in place and people are clear about their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare both in our care and using our premises. This policy is to be read in conjunction with the circuit and district’s safeguarding policies and ‘Safeguarding – a policy for good practice in the care of children and young people, 2003’.

1. Connexional Statement
As the people of the Methodist Church we are concerned with the wholeness of each individual within God’s purpose for everyone. We seek to safeguard all members of the church community, of all ages. It is the responsibility of each one of us to prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect of children and young people.
The full statement is available from Mr. N. Biggar and Mrs. M. Wilson, the Church's Safeguarding Representative, and is on the Church's website (www.tuptonmethodist.org.uk).

2. What is Abuse and Neglect?
‘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’ (Working Together to Safeguard Children, HM Government, 2006).
There are four categories of abuse: physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Any child or young person under the age of eighteen can suffer abuse.

3. Clarification of terms
Within this safeguarding policy all those termed ‘workers’ includes paid and voluntary positions, a ‘child’ is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th. birthday.

4. Good practice guidelines:
a) For good practice in our Church we should ensure that:

all children and young people are treated with respect and dignity.
as far as possible, children’s and youth workers or anyone else, is not alone with a child where their activity cannot be seen. On church premises this may mean leaving doors open, or two groups working in the same room.
in a pastoral situation with a child, where privacy and confidentiality are important, another adult knows the interview is taking place, and with whom it is taking place.
the church premises, and access to and from them, are safe and well lit.

All of us are responsible for observing the guidelines set out above. The following guidelines are designed for those appointing children’s and youth workers and for children’s and youth workers.

b) Appointing children’s and youth workers

Appointing
The appointment of all workers is the overall responsibility of the Church Council. All workers with children and young people must be able to provide a satisfactory disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau. The Church Council is responsible for determining the level of disclosure, based on guidance provided in Safeguarding, 2003, p. 15. The Church Council will ensure all sections on Form A parts 1 & 2 (See Safeguarding: Appendix) are completed and the Minister will retain copies in a secure place.

For those people who already have a disclosure from other organisations (portability)
Guidance on accepting disclosures is on page 13 of Safeguarding 2003. They should be for a relevant position (e.g. with children) and should have been issued within the last twelve months. Employed lay staff working with children, young people or vulnerable adults may not use disclosures obtained from elsewhere. The Church's Safeguarding Representative will make recommendations after seeing the relevant documents.

Re-applying for disclosures
It is the Church Safeguarding Representative’s role to ask workers to re-apply for a disclosure every five years or upon change of location, whichever is shorter.

S.O.010
It is the minister’s responsibility to make sure all office holders or those carrying a duty or responsibility cannot do so if they have been cautioned or convicted for sexual offenses against children. This includes people who have lone access to the church. When a person is appointed to an office or becomes a key holder the minister will check the person has signed either Form C or Form D (See Safeguarding Book)

c) Good practice guidelines for working with children and young people

at least two adults will lead any children’s and young people’s activities.
as far as possible, a worker will not be alone with a child or young person and never on a regular basis.
if a worker does find themselves on their own with children, (e.g. owing to the illness of another worker) they must the contact the Safeguarding Representative or Mr. N. Biggar to inform them and together make undertake a risk assessment on what action to take. Again this must not happen on a regular basis. A mobile phone will be provided for necessary contacts.
if privacy or confidentiality is required, another worker should be told, and doors left open.
all children should be treated with respect and without discrimination.
avoid games whose rules do not prevent the possibility of physical aggression, or inappropriate touching.
refrain from any sexually suggestive comments, ridiculing, or rejection of a child.
avoid inappropriate touching of any form; exercise caution if comforting an injured or distressed child.
manage children’s behaviour without physical contact, or aggressive or intimidating behaviour.
avoid, where possible, giving lifts to individual children; if this is unavoidable, ask them to sit in the rear of the car.
follow Methodist Church guidance on camping and residential trips, residential settings and youth meetings at home (See Safeguarding Book).
amongst children’s and youth workers:
workers should support one another in ensuring these guidelines are followed.
if a worker has a concern about the behaviour or suitability of a colleague, they must speak to the Safeguarding Representative.
workers must be given the a regular opportunity to meet and review the work they have done and plan future work.
The Minister should discuss with workers their rôle and any concerns they have about their work with children. This is supervision.

6. What to do if you are concerned about a child
A worker or member of the church community may be concerned about a child for a number of reasons:

a child has made an allegation about abuse or neglect
information has been received from a third party
observation, for example, of changed behaviour or unexplained injury.

a) If a child makes an allegation about abuse or neglect:

listen, try not to question and never push for information.
accept what is being said calmly.
reassure the child they were right to tell you.
let them know you will need to pass the information on, don’t promise confidentiality, and let them know what you are going to do next.
record concerns as soon as possible, including names of child, gender, age, date of birth, names of parents/carers (Proforma in Safeguarding book).
discuss your concerns with the Safeguarding Representative or the Minister.
make a decision together about what will happen next, record this.

b) There are visual, verbal and behavioural signs and indicators which could alert you to a child who may be being abused. These include:

unexplained or untreated injuries or bruising
sexually explicit language or actions
a child describing an abusive act to you
unexplained changes in behaviour
a change observed over a long period of time
a distrust of adults.

This list is not exclusive and the presence of one of more indicators is not necessarily proof that abuse is actually taking place. If you are concerned about a child:

record concerns as soon as possible, including names of child, gender, age, date of birth, names of parents/carers (Incident Report Form in Appendix)
discuss your concerns with the Safeguarding Representative or the Minister.
make a decision together about what will happen next; record this.
keep a copy of the Incident Report form in a secure place and send a copy to the District Office, marked ‘Safeguarding Referral’

If a child alleges sexual abuse or you believe s/he is at risk of significant harm you must make a referral to social services.
To make a referral to social services, call this phone number (Office Hours) 01246 348888 or (outside office hours) 01773 728222. It may also be the case that you need advice about what to do next in a situation it is possible to phone social services for advice and consultation the number for that is 01246 348888 and the out of hours number is 01773 728222.
In the event of a severely distressed child on Church premises, the worker should summon other Church members to offer support for the situation, so that the other leader(s) may continue to work with the remaining children.

7. Training
All workers should attend the Basic training session (or equivalent) provided by the District Group. Leaders in charge and ministers should attend the Responsible Persons’ course (or equivalent). It is the Church Council’s decision to accept evidence of a person’s previous training experience. For these and other training opportunities contact the District Safeguarding Group through Caroline Riley, carolinerileytdoyorkshire@sheffieldmethodist.org

8. Other groups and activities on church premises
Groups hiring the church where children are present should be asked to sign Form E (See Safeguarding Book). This is the responsibility of Church Council.
Scouts and guides will obtain disclosures through their own organisations.
When any ecumenical (or other partnerships, agencies, colleges, mission events) activities take place on the church premises it is the Church Council’s responsibility to ensure that workers have satisfactory CRB disclosures and all personnel see and understand the procedures in this policy.

9. Monitoring and evaluation
This policy will be reviewed annually at a Church Council meeting. The date of the next review is February 2008.
This policy was adopted by the Church Council, 28th. March 2007. During each year Church Council will monitor how the policy is being implemented and a date will be set for the review. The Church Council is glad to acknowledge the work done in drawing up the basis of this policy by Caroline Riley, Training and Development Officer, Sheffield Methodist District, August 2006.