Safeguarding Policy

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This policy applies to all staff (permanent and temporary), volunteers, and students working in the unit.

1. Introduction

The Youth Offending Service fully recognises its duties under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure its functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Head of Youth Offending is the safeguarding lead for the Service. Their role is to support other professionals within the service to recognise the needs of children, including rescue from possible abuse or neglect.

In addition, Under section 38 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, local authorities must, within the delivery of youth justice services, ensure the 'provision of persons to act as appropriate adults to safeguard the interests of children and young persons detained or questioned by police officers'.

This policy should be read in conjunction with:

2. Scope

This policy applies to all staff (permanent and temporary), volunteers, and students working in the unit.

3. Policy

There are four main elements to our policy:

  • Ensuring we practice safe recruitment by carrying out comprehensive checks on the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with children and then support and equip staff to carry out their safeguarding roles once in post;
  • Raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping, where possible, children and young people with the skills needed to keep themselves safe;
  • Developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse;
  • Supporting young people who have been abused.

3.1 Safe Recruitment and Ongoing Staff Support

Safe recruitment practice is undertaken for every appointment at the Youth Offending Service. The Head of Service and Operational Manager have attended Safer Recruitment Training. All employees are recruited subject to adequate references and a full Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Following appointment staff receive appropriate supervision and support to carry out their safeguarding role. All staff receive mandatory Safeguarding training as part of their induction which is refreshed every three years.

3.1.1 Allegations or concerns about unsuitability to work with children:

If an allegation is made about a volunteer or professional working with children or young people it must be reported to a Senior Manager (in your service) and the 'Local Authority Designated Officer' (LADO) straight away; either directly or via the Children's Social Care Duty and Assessment Team. The LADO will provide advice and guidance regarding the next steps to take and will liaise with the police and other agencies in monitoring the progress of cases to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent with a thorough and fair process.

3.2 Raising Awareness and Equipping Children and Young People

All staff have received training in Child Protection. Administration staff have received basic training in Child Protection. The Operational Manager is responsible for ensuring all staff are aware of Bracknell Forest Council's child protection procedures, and that all relevant training takes place. The LSCP procedures can be found via our intranet system Doris or via this link.

3.3 Procedures for Identifying and Reporting Cases

Bracknell Forest Council fosters a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be addressed and has clear whistleblowing policy with procedures outlining how to raise concerns about practice within the council. This is available on Doris

The YOS is required to follow procedures for identifying and reporting cases set by the Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Children Board.

Any allegation should be reported immediately to a senior manager/ social worker within the organisation. The LADO should also be informed within one working day of all allegations relating to staff or volunteers that come to an employer's attention or that are made directly to the police. This will be the responsibility of the Operational Manager the Youth Offending Service.

3.4 The Youth Offending Service supplementary systems in place

3.4.1 Appropriate Adult Service

The YOS is responsible for the provision of Appropriate Adult Services where parents cannot attend. Detailed guidance is found in Appendix 2 of the Protocol for the Exercise of Joint Responsibilities between the Youth Offending Service and Children's Social Care.

Each individual child has his/her own comprehensive assessment of risk of serious harm which is updated and reviewed at least every six months or following either a change in risk or vulnerability.

Youth Offending Service use a visitor's book. Each visitor signs in and out of the building. All staff at Youth Offending Service have access to the YOS Information System CVYJ and to Children's Social Care electronic files on each of the children and young people known to the YOS, which enables information sharing. For those children accessing Youth Offending Service from a neighbouring authority we ensure a good relationship is maintained with the placing social worker and use e-mail correspondence to keep information current. Relevant assessment documentation is shared between the host and the home YOS's.

3.4.2 Looked After Children

Bracknell Forest has a small proportion of young people who are subject to statutory court orders who are Looked After Children placed in Foster Care or residential children's homes out of the local area. Bracknell Forest also has a number of independent Foster Carers and SWAAY (specialist residential care provider) have a number of residential children's homes in the Bracknell Area where Looked After Children on statutory court orders from other local authorities are placed. It is the responsibility of the YOS located in the placing authority to ensure that adequate caretaking arrangements are put in place with the YOS hosting the Court Order.

Bracknell Forest YOS has a Caretaking Policy in place which clarifies responsibilities as a home or host YOS in relation to sharing information when a young person's vulnerability level has increased. If a young person is assessed as high or very high risk in terms of vulnerability at the stage the Court Order is transferred to the YOS it is expected that a face to face handover meeting, chaired by a manager, will take place between home and host YOS as soon as practically possible to ensure that the risk is managed effectively. Any ongoing safeguarding concerns in relation to Bracknell Looked After Children placed out of area will be discussed at the Monitoring Of Offenders Meeting which is attended by the CSC Over 11's Team Manager and the YOS Operational Manager on a monthly basis.

There is a Service Level agreement in place between SWAAY and Bracknell Forest YOS which specifies how information for the benefit of safeguarding children placed in SWAAY residential homes and protecting the local community is shared.

3.4.3 Escalating Concerns

When there are ongoing safeguarding concerns or delays in information sharing that YOS practitioners assess are not being adequately addressed by partner agencies, or a 'host' YOS, they will escalate their concerns in a timely way to the YOS Operational Manager or Head Of Service, who will liaise at management level with the agency concerned to resolve the issue.

3.4.4 Additional Guidance

Regardless of the child's view, it remains the responsibility of the Youth Offending Service staff to take whatever action is required to ensure the safety of the child/young person and any other children.

Talking to parents – Where practicable, concerns should be discussed with the parents / carers and agreement sought for a referral to children's social care UNLESS this may:

  • Place the child/young person at risk of SIGNIFICANT HARM e.g. by behaviour response it may prompt, or by leading to an unreasonable delay;
  • Place staff member at risk by the behaviour response it may prompt;
  • Potentially lead to the loss of evidential material.

Decision not to seek parental permission

A decision by any professional not to seek parental permission before making a referral to Children's Social Care must be recorded and the reasons given.

Formal referrals from named professionals cannot be treated as anonymous, so the parent will ultimately become aware of the identity of the referrer.

Parental permission given

Where a parent / carer has agreed to a referral, this must be recorded and confirmed in the referral to Children's Social Care.

Parental refusal of permission

Where the parent / carer refuses to give permission for the referral, further advice should, unless this would cause undue delay, be sought from a manager or the nominated child protection officer and the outcome fully recorded.

If, having taken full account of the parent / carer's wishes, it is still considered that there is a need for a referral:

  • The reason for proceeding without parental agreement must be recorded;
  • Children's Social Care should be told that the parent / carer has withheld her/his permission;
  • The parent should be contacted to inform her/him that after considering their wishes a referral has been made (unless this action might increase the risk of harm to the child).

3.5 Supporting Young People who have experienced abuse

The Youth Offending Service's ethos promotes a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and feelings, both in individual decisions and the development of services Children and young people that attend Youth Offending Service are supported to form positive relationships with their YOS case workers, and where possible, we would call upon these members of staff to provide immediate support.

3.6 Establishing a Safe Environment

We recognise that young people need to feel safe and confident enough to trust the adults who are working with them in order to disclose abuse.

The Service will therefore:

  • Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to;
  • Ensure children know that they can speak to all adults or their YOS case worker whom they can approach if they are worried.