Safeguarding Policy for Children and Adults at Risk

Date policy agreed: Monday 14th October 2024
Next review date: Tuesday 14th October 2025

1. The purpose and scope of this policy statement

Children and adults at risk may use the facilities (park, community building) managed by Papa’s Park charity. This policy statement applies to all activities involving children under 18 years and activities involving adults at risk. This includes the board of trustees, staff, volunteers, and those hiring spaces or delivering activities on the Papa’s Park premises.

An adult at risk of abuse or neglect is defined as someone who has needs for care and support, who is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect and as a result of their care needs - is unable to protect themselves (Care Act 2014). For more detail on definitions see the Ann Craft Trust and this PDF from Lambeth.

The purpose of this policy statement is:

to protect children and adults at risk who attend Papa’s Park activities.
to provide clear direction to all staff and volunteers about expected behaviour and our legal responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and adults at risk.

1.1 Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children and adults at risk in England.

For children, this includes Working Together to Safeguard Children (Working Together 2023) and Section 11 of The Children Act (2004). A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from NSPCC.
For adults at risk, this includes the 2014 Care Act. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from the Ann Craft Trust.

2. Our principles

We believe that:

children and adults at risk should never experience abuse of any kind.

we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and adults at risk, to keep them safe and to operate in a way that protects them.

all children and adults at risk, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse.

3. What constitutes safeguarding?

Safeguarding concerns relate to children and adults at risk of abuse or neglect. For the purposes of this policy, it is defined as action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm (NSPCC 2024) and protecting an adult's right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect.

Definitions of abuse and neglect are available at https://www.lambethsab.org.uk/safeguarding-adults and https://www.lambethsaferchildren.org.uk/information-resources.

4. Practical arrangements around safeguarding

Papa’s Park will seek to keep children and adults at risk safe by:

valuing, listening to and respecting them.
appointing a designated safeguarding lead, and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding.
developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice.
using our safeguarding procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know.
providing clear information about safeguarding policies to all those using Papa’s Park facilities.
recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made. All trustees and committee members with key roles (secretary, chair, treasurer) will be required to complete a DBS check.
ensuring staff, volunteers and trustees have access to appropriate safeguarding training.
using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately.
ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff, and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance.
recording and storing information professionally and securely.

4.1 Specific operational arrangements that Papa’s Park have in place are as follows:

Open Access Playground

Clear signage is displayed that clearly states that all children are expected to be supervised appropriately and that Papa’s Park accepts no liability for the welfare of children whilst using the play or pitch.
The playground equipment is regularly maintained in line with Health and Safety regulations (please see Papa’s Park Health and Safety Policy for more information).

Activities organised directly by Papa’s Park

These are activities which take place on the physical premises of Papa’s Park, have written authorisation by the Papa’s Park committee and are advertised using the Papa’s Park logo. They include gardening clubs, art workshops and community events.

All children attending events must be supervised appropriately by a parent or carer.
Any Papa’s Park staff or volunteers running activities with children or adults at risk will be DBS checked.
If Papa’s Park is working with an external organisation, they will be asked to provide evidence of their safeguarding policy and DBS checks.
Papa’s Park takes no responsibility for ad hoc activities or events which take place in the park, and which have been organized without written authorisation from Papa’s Park.

Room and pitch hire

All hirers organising private events and activities (e.g. children’s birthday parties) will be required to sign a hire agreement which clearly states they take responsibility for the supervision of all children attending the event.
Hirers who run activities involving children and adults at risk using paid employees and volunteers are required to declare that they have a Safeguarding Policy in place and up-to-date DBS checks.
Informally constituted organisations should contact Papa’s Park for a conversation if they need support with safeguarding arrangements.

5. Roles and Responsibilities

Papa’s Park Safeguarding Policy is available to all staff, volunteers, and the public. A 1-page summary of the Papa’s Park Safeguarding Policy will be displayed in the park and hall and include a QR code to the full policy on the Papa’s Park website.

All Papa’s Park staff and volunteers have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults at risk.

Papa’s Park does not have statutory duties or powers to carry out investigations into suspicions or allegations of abuse – our role is to identify and report any concerns about the children or adults at risk that we work with.

All staff and volunteers at Papa’s Park have a duty to report concerns so that the agencies powered with investigative responsibility can do so.

All staff and volunteers should:

be familiar with and follow the organisation’s policy and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and adults at risk.
know who to contact to express concerns about a child’s or adult’s welfare.
remember that an allegation of abuse or neglect may lead to a criminal investigation and therefore staff and volunteers should not do anything that may jeopardise a police investigation, such as asking leading questions or attempting to investigate the allegations of abuse.
attend appropriate training that raises awareness of safeguarding issues and equips them with the skills and knowledge needed.
be vigilant to possible indicators of abuse and neglect in adults at risk and children.

5.1 Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Jennifer Fleetwood is the Designated Safeguarding Lead with overall responsibility for safeguarding and child protection.

The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead is to:

make sure all staff, trustees and volunteers are aware of how to raise safeguarding concerns.
ensure all staff, trustees and volunteers understand the symptoms of abuse and neglect.
oversee referrals of any concerns to the appropriate agency.
attend training and keep up to date with changes in policy and legislation.

5.2 Deputy Safeguarding Lead

Jennifer Fleetwood is the Designated Safeguarding Lead. When Jennifer Fleetwood is absent, Laura Harding (as lead Trustee on safeguarding) will act as Deputy.

5.3 The role of the Papa’s Park Board of Trustees

The Papa’s Park Chair of Trustees is the senior board level lead for safeguarding. The role of the board level lead for safeguarding is to provide challenge and support on safeguarding matters to the safeguarding leads. The board of trustees is responsible for regularly reviewing and approving the Safeguarding Policy and procedures in response to changes in legislation, guidance, and best practice.

6. Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

6.1 Reporting an immediate or urgent safeguarding concern

If you think that a child or adult is at risk of immediate harm, please contact the police immediately on 999.

If you have urgent concerns about the safety of a child or adult at risk and are unable to contact one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads, do not hesitate to contact the local authority response team or the police using the following numbers:

Police - 999
Lambeth Safeguarding Child Partnership - ring 020 7926 3344
Lambeth Safeguarding Adults Board – raise a concern at https://www.lambethsab.org.uk/

These external agencies will be able to determine an appropriate course of action and to advise you on next steps.

In an emergency, where a child or adult at risk makes a serious allegation, or if there has been an assault or a staff member or volunteer witnesses an incident which causes him/her to consider the child or adult is in immediate risk of significant harm, then Papa’s Park will need to act immediately to ensure the protection of the child or adult at risk. If it is not possible to discuss the situation immediately with one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads, the staff member or volunteer will need to contact the police or local authority response team.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is responsible for ensuring that incident reports, referrals and all information regarding safeguarding individual children and adults at risk is securely stored in a password protected electronic folder. In all situations, you may be asked to provide an outline of your concerns in writing. If the matter is referred to the local authority or the police, you may be asked to provide a formal statement of your concerns for subsequent external investigations.

6.2 Where there is a concern about the welfare of a child or adult, but no immediate risk.

All safeguarding concerns should be discussed as soon as possible with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

This person should support the staff member/ volunteer to write their concerns and complete a safeguarding incident report form (Appendix 2), discuss a course of action, and refer to the local authority response team as appropriate.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead will respond as quickly as possible and will assess the concerns to determine whether an external referral to the local authority or the police should take place, based on official guidance. Papa’s Park aims to make external referrals within a maximum of 24 hours of the initial report.

6.3 What to do if a child or adult at risk discloses to you?

If you are approached by a child or adult at risk, with a disclosure that s/he is being, or has been harmed or abused, or you are informed of such a disclosure by a staff member or member of the public:

Do:

stay calm.
listen to what is said, allowing the individual to proceed at their own pace.
explain to the individual that this information will probably need to be shared with others and never promise to “keep a secret”.
ask questions for clarification only, and not to elicit a particular answer.
at the earliest opportunity, and within a maximum of 24 hours of the incident taking place, write a report of exactly what was said, not an interpretation and ensure this report is signed and dated. Use the incident report form in Appendix 3.

Don’t:

promise to keep the information secret. Make it clear that you have a duty to refer the matter on.
stop the individual who is freely recalling significant events.
make the individual tell anyone else. They may have to be formally interviewed later and it is important to minimise the number of times information is repeated.
make any suggestions to the individual about how the incident may have happened.
question the individual, except to clarify what they are saying.
discuss the information with anyone other than the Safeguarding Lead, or an appropriate external agency.

6.4 Allegations against a staff member, volunteer, or trustee

If you share a concern that a person may have behaved inappropriately, or you are concerned that a member of staff or any other person is harming or abusing a child or adult at risk, or you have received information that may constitute an allegation you should:

report it to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) as soon as possible, however trivial it may seem.
make a signed and dated written record of your concerns, observations, or the information you have received to pass on to the DSL.
maintain confidentiality and guard against publicity while an allegation is being considered or investigated and follow local information sharing protocols.

If the allegation concerns a volunteer the DSL must inform Papa’s Park Chair of Trustees immediately and confirm this in writing.

If the allegation concerns the Designated Safeguarding Lead, the Papa’s Park Chair of Trustees should be informed directly. The Designated Safeguarding Lead should pass on all concerns relating to staff to the Local Authority Designated Officer (see Appendix 2 for contact details). In the first instance this can be verbal but should be followed up by a written referral form.

7. PDF version and Appendices

Please see below for the PDF version of this page. This contains Appendices to the policy, including:

Contact details for Papa's Designated Safeguarding Lead, Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Local Authority First Response Teams
Safeguarding Incident Report Form
Guide for dealing with concerns relating to abuse

Papa's Park Safeguarding Policy Nov 2024.pdf

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