Southwell House Youth Project

Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy.  Some other documents refer to the safety of children or vulnerable people, and these may be found in the general index.

STATEMENT OF INTENT
Southwell House Youth Project recognises the personal dignity and rights of all young or vulnerable people, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care while we are working with them. We undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for them, and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse. We will liaise closely with the statutory agencies to ensure that any allegations or disclosures of abuse are promptly and properly dealt with, victims supported, and perpetrators held to account.

THIS POLICY APPLIES TO:
all programme team workers used by Southwell House Youth Project, including temporary staff, those on work experience with us, and those who join a team for a particular activity;
all employees of Southwell House Youth Project in whatever capacity and wherever they work;
all adults accompanying groups of young people, or using our premises for organising activities for them;
all adults staying temporarily or permanently on Southwell House Youth Project premises;
all activities organised by Southwell House Youth Project whether run on or off our premises.

APPOINTMENT PROCEDURES
This section applies to all employees of Southwell House Youth Project. Application forms for jobs at Southwell House Youth Project will contain a full CV. including details of all previous experience of working with young or vulnerable people. They will provide photographic or other robust evidence of identity. References will be sought from previous employers where the work has involved substantial contact with children, and all referees will be asked to state whether they know of any reason why the applicant should not be trusted with young or vulnerable people. Applicants will always be interviewed and their experience of working with children explored. Applicants should be asked about their ability and commitment to fulfil the duty to prevent the abuse of young or vulnerable people. All appointees will be checked if possible through the CRB. All paperwork relevant to this process will be retained indefinitely.

This section applies to people who are working as part of the Southwell House team, but are not employees:
long term helpers or work experience students who are preparing for a career in youth work, and who form part of regular teams at Southwell House, will go through the procedures outlined above.
Short term helpers and work experience students, including school pupils on work experience, will be considered to be clients, and therefore people requiring protection as part of our normal work, and will therefore not require clearance. However, they may not exercise leadership or work in any other way with clients without supervision from staff, and may not be in any one-to-one situation with any client.

These sections apply to other adults who potentially have substantial contact with young or vulnerable people staying at Southwell House.
All adults leading or supervising activities with young or vulnerable people at Southwell House, or during any activity for which Southwell House is responsible, must follow our protection policy.
All adults who are leading or supervising activities with young or vulnerable people which use the Southwell House premises must have a child protection policy in place which is of equivalent standard to ours. This is checked at booking time.
Problems are likely to arise in this matter when overseas groups book in, as most other countries do not have similar procedures. In such cases the director or other senior worker may approve a policy which does not match ours, provided that it shows a sufficient awareness of the risks.
Adults who are resident on the premises when young or vulnerable people are also resident must have child protection clearance. The following exceptions and clarification apply to this:
> Trust relationships: all workers from Roman Catholic parishes, and all teachers, will have been cleared as part of their own parish or school procedures, and are considered cleared for residence on our premises.
> Jesuits staying in the Jesuit wing will be cleared through the procedure used for supply priests working in other areas.
> Guests of staff do not require clearance unless they are staying in the guest wing at the same time as young people or vulnerable adults.

MANAGEMENT OF STAFF
All members of staff have clear job descriptions, outlining their roles and responsibilities, and staging that it is a primary task and responsibility of all staff to prevent the abuse of young or vulnerable people.
To minimise the risk of abuse or allegations of abuse, a code of practice must be followed by staff and all accompanying adults; see appendix A.
Training in issues concerning the protection and welfare of young or vulnerable people will be provided for all new staff, and regularly to all staff. This is outlined in appendix B.
The existence of this policy will be made known to every adult escorting a youth group to our premises.

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT ABUSE
Information about abuse and protection is contained in the training manual "Child protection: policies and good practice" issued by Southwell House.  It is not available on this website.

DISCLOSURES OR DISCOVERY OF ABUSE
Guidelines to staff about how to receive and react to disclosures or discovery of abuse is contained in the training manual "Child protection: policies and good practice" issued by Southwell House.

MANAGEMENT OF DISCLOSURES OR DISCOVERY OF ABUSE
The member of staff who received the original disclosure of abuse will be the only person on our staff who interviews the young or vulnerable person who makes the disclosure. S/he will make careful notes about how the disclosure occurred, and what the young person said, following the guidelines in "Child protection: policies and good practice" issued by Southwell House.
All such disclosures are immediately referred to and dealt with by senior staff as follows:
The designated person will be informed about all disclosures, concerns, and all other related matters, and his/her advice and guidance will be sought by the person receiving the disclosure and by staff who have to take executive decisions. The designated person will advise on all decisions relating to the management of the allegation, and will be informed about all relevant matters and all decisions taken. The designated person is familiar with all related policies and undertakes training to ensure that s/he is able to give wise and sound advice.  The designated person is a permanent appointment, and can be consulted by phone. If s/he cannot be contacted, or if the allegation is against him/her, the task is taken on by the first available person in the list below.
The senior executive member of staff will make all decisions relating to passing on disclosures, suspending or sending away staff (whether our own or not) and all other decisions, always consulting the designated person of what is intended and of what decisions are to be taken.  The senior executive member of staff is the director, and can be consulted by phone. If s/he cannot be contacted, or if the allegation is against him./ her, this task is taken on by another person as outlined in the list below.
If either of the two people above cannot be contacted within a reasonable time, then the tasks are delegated as follows. Any person against whom allegations are made is excluded from either role. The roles of the designated person and the senior executive member of staff may not both be done by the same person.
Acting as the designated person: the director, programme team staff who have been here longer than two years in decreasing order of seniority, a member of the management committee, a member of the Camden Youth Service or Social Services asked to fulfil this role.
Acting as the senior executive member of staff: the assistant director, the chair of the management committee.
To ensure the availability of senior staff, the director, the assistant director, and the most senior programme team worker, will make arrangements to ensure that at least two of them can be contacted within three hours.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN IF AN ALLEGATION IS MADE AGAINST A MEMBER OF STAFF
If the allegation is against a member of staff, whether our own or not, then that person will normally be suspended;
If a permanent resident at Southwell House s/he will not be allowed in the meetings rooms or bedroom areas of the house for any reason;
if not resident s/he will be asked to leave the premises.
If the allegation is not against a member of the Southwell House staff, then senior staff at the organisation from which they come must be informed both by phone and in writing of what has occurred, and agree to take appropriate action for the protection of the child(ren) or vulnerable person(s) involved, and for the proper management of any member of staff concerned. This procedure is followed if the disclosure is of abuse by someone who is not currently supervising the young or vulnerable people.
In all such cases our local social services will be informed, and asked to ensure that the concern is properly dealt with (which may be by passing it on to another authority).
the Social Services: Crowndale Centre, Gospel Oak or West Hampstead 020 7278 4444 for all centres.
In an emergency, when no-one at Social Services can be contacted, the Police Child Protection Team can be contacted out of hours on 020 7725 4261.
If the youth group/school etc. does not have either a suitable policy or the resources to deal with the complaint, then the project will contact the parents directly.

Appendix A: Code of practice for staff.

This appendix is included in the protection policy as issued. The other appendices are available on request.
No member of staff may be left alone in a room with a single young person.
If a member of staff needs to speak to a young person on a one-to-one basis, he/she must inform another member of staff. Only public rooms should be used for such meetings and there must always be the possibility of monitoring by someone else, such as by having another person present, by using a room with glass panels or windows which give onto a public area where people are likely to pass, by leaving the door slightly open, or by adopting some other agreed means of ensuring that occasional unforeseen monitoring takes place. These procedures also apply to priests hearing confessions.
No member of staff go to a young person’s bedroom even in an emergency without being accompanied by another member of staff.
Where a worker may come into physical contact with a young person e.g. icebreakers, games, or first aid, staff must be extremely aware of and sensitive to the feelings of the young person and to the ways in which their own actions may be interpreted or perceived. Staff should think carefully in choosing and planning appropriate activities at all times.

Appendix B: Training for Southwell House staff.

Training for Southwell House staff will be as follows:
All staff:  training on
> the code of practice regarding contact with children or vulnerable adults;
> action to be taken if a disclosure is received;
once per year, during the September training week.
All programme team staff:
On induction:
> this policy
> the training manual "Child Protection: policies and good practice"
> The boarding standards manual.
Once per year:
> revision of the policy and its accompanying documents, training on some appropriate aspect of child and vulnerable adult protection.

Southwell House Youth Project
39 Fitzjohn's Avenue
LONDON
NW3 5JT
020 7435 8534
admin@southwellhouse.com

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