Safeguarding Policy | The Chronicle Theatre Company

Safeguarding: The Chronicle Theatre Company Policy

All organisations that come into contact with children should have specific safeguarding policies and procedures in place.

Please ensure you read our policy and familiarise yourself with the reporting forms if you are attending an event involving children, young people and/or vulnerable adults.

Our policy recognises the responsibility of all personnel and volunteers, to children, young people and vulnerable adults.
An individual must be designated to take overall and day to day responsibility for safeguarding at events involving children, young people and vulnerable adults and ensure that all our personnel and volunteers are fully briefed and understand the policy.

1. Introduction

Safeguarding is at the heart of all our work with children, young people and adults at risk. The Chronicle Theatre Company has a duty to ensure that it makes arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people, and to protect adults at risk from abuse or the risk of abuse.

The legislation and guidance relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk includes the following: The Children and Social Work Act (2017), The Children Act 1989 and 2004, Working together to safeguard children (2015), No Secrets (2000), The Crime and Disorder Act (1998), The Health and Social Care Act (2008) and the Care Act (2014).

2. Scope of the policy

The policy is to be used by personnel or volunteer working directly with children and young people, and Adults at Risk, and to any other support staff or Trustee of the organisation who become involved in a child protection concern in the course of their work.

The policy applies to anyone with whom we are in contact in the course of our work, who is a child, a young person, or Adult at Risk. Where the policy or procedure refers to a ‘child’ or ‘young person’ we mean anyone who has not yet reached the age of 18 years. An adult at risk is someone aged 18 years or over ‘who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation’ (Department of Health, No Secrets, 2000).

This policy is reviewed, endorsed and approved by the board of trustees annually, or when legislation changes.

3. Purpose of this policy and procedure

This policy and procedure sets out how The Chronicle Theatre Company implements safeguarding for children, young people, and Adults at Risk with whom they come into contact in the course of their work.

Shakespeare in Italy is committed to devising and implementing policies so that everyone within the organisation accepts their responsibilities for safeguarding children, young people and Adults at

Risk from abuse and neglect. This means following procedures to protect them and reporting any concerns about their welfare to the appropriate authorities.

This policy and procedure helps us to achieve this by:

Supporting us to safeguard children, young people and Adults at Risk in practice, by defining abuse and informing us what to do
Ensuring we all work to the same policy and procedure
Making sure we are accountable for what we do
Being clear what roles and responsibilities we all have in safeguarding
Saying what staff can expect from the organisation to help them work effectively

This policy is informed by and supports our organisational purpose and is how we comply with local Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk policies and procedures in the areas where we operate.

4. Who is a Child, Young Person, Adult at Risk?

Child/Young person

A child or young person means someone who is under 18 years of age, that is, has not reached their 18th birthday.

For The Chronicle Theatre Company, this could refer to the child/young person we are working with directly, or the child of one of these young persons, or of another person, with whom we are in contact in the course of our work.

When concerns are raised about the child of a service user (child or vulnerable adult), the needs of the youngest takes precedence.

Adult at Risk

This policy applies to any ‘Adult at Risk’, defined by the following:

Any person aged 18 or over who –

Is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and
Is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.
The Chronicle Theatre Company will sometimes be working with an Adult at Risk where a child/young person has reached 18 years and support is continuing, usually short term, or where a former service user has joined our youth participation project. Also, The Chronicle Theatre Company will come across adults at risk in the course of their work with families. In all instances, our approach to safeguarding Adults at Risk we are in contact with follows the same principles, and safeguarding processes as we do for safeguarding children.

5. Objectives of Policy

We will achieve the outcome by having these things in place:

Safe organisational ethos
Safe environment
Safe processes for working with service users
Safe collection and use of information, and ways of communicating
Safe staff

Principles

In support of these objectives, we are committed to the following principles:

To achieve a safe ethos, we will -

Promote the safety of children, young people and adults at risk in all our work, both directly and indirectly through our partnership work
Support the spirit and practice of our safeguarding ethos in all that we personally do
Have in place quality assurance processes that help us to ensure we are all safeguarding in practice
Treat all children, young people and adults fairly in being able to access services which meet their needs, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or beliefs

To achieve a safe environment, we will -

Ensure the welfare and safety of children, young people and Adults at Risk is paramount in all our activities
Listen to service users and take account of what they tell us in making decisions about them
Take all reasonable steps to protect service users from harm, discrimination, and degrading treatment
Practice with respect for children’s rights, wishes and feelings
Regularly assess and review safety risks which arise from premises, activities, equipment and travel arrangements

To achieve safe processes, we will -

Take all suspicions and allegations of abuse, from inside or outside the organisation, seriously, and respond to them promptly and appropriately
Be clear about everyone’s roles and responsibilities
Implement safeguarding procedures that are compliant with the expectations of the safeguarding arrangements in the areas where we operate
Have in place clear arrangements for how we would respond to concerns about how we implement safeguarding in practice within the organisation

To achieve safe information, we will -

Be clear with service users how the things they tell us will be used
Publish our Safeguarding policy on our website
Communicate promptly and clearly within Shakespeare in Italy and with external agencies, and follow the requirements of information sharing protocols in the localities in which we operate
Keep good records of our work with service users and also of our management of staff’s work
Hold service users’ information with care, and use it for agreed purposes only

To achieve safe staff, we will -

• Recruit personnel and volunteers with regard to their suitability for work with children, including use of enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks
Provide them with guidance and training in their safeguarding role, and ensure they have access to our policies and procedures
Make sure everyone has access to advice on safeguarding at all times in the course of their work
Be clear with everyone what their individual role and responsibility is in safeguarding
Support staff and volunteers to carry out their job with appropriate supervision

6. What is Child Abuse and Neglect?

Abuse means a child’s rights and needs are not being met as defined in The Children’s Act 2004 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Safeguards for all children and young people are the same regardless of disability or ethnicity.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces or causes ill health to a child whom they are looking after. This situation is called Induced Fabrication Illness by a Carer (formerly known as Munchausen’s by proxy).

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It may involve causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Witnessing the harm of another person, such as in the case of domestic violence, is a form of emotional abuse. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill treatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Sexual Abuse & Sexual Exploitation

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including sexual exploitation, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening, and whether it is for money or reward or not. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative contact (e.g. rape and buggery) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in seeing or receiving or sending sexually suggestive emails or text-messages, or inappropriate behaviour in Internet chat rooms, involving children looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material of watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

Neglect

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur as a result of maternal substance abuse during pregnancy. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including the use of inadequate care-givers, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Abuse of Disabled Children

Disabled children are at increased risk of abuse and those with multiple disabilities are at even more significant risk both of abuse and neglect. Parents of disabled children may experience multiple stresses. This group of children may be particularly vulnerable to abuse for a number of reasons including:

· Having fewer social contacts than other children

· Receiving intimate personal care from a larger number of carers

· Having an impaired capacity to understand what they are experiencing is abuse or to challenge the abuser

· Having communication difficulties resulting in difficulties in telling people what is happening

· Being reluctant to complain for fear of losing services

· Being particularly vulnerable to bullying or intimidation

· Being more vulnerable to abuse by peers than other children

Disability is defined as:

· A major physical impairment, severe illness and/or a moderate to severe learning difficulty

· An ongoing high level of dependency on others for personal care and the meeting of other basic needs

Bullying

Bullying may be defined as deliberately hurtful behaviour, usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those bullied to defend themselves. It can take many forms, but the three main types are physical (e.g. hitting, kicking, theft), verbal (e.g. racist or homophobic remarks, threats, name calling) and emotional (e.g. isolating an individual from the activities and social acceptance of their peer group). There is increasing use of new technologies as a tool for bullying and such incidents should be taken seriously

7. What is Abuse of an Adult at Risk?

Abuse is a violation of a person’s rights or dignity by someone else. It can be done by anyone including relatives and family members, professional staff, paid care workers, volunteers, other users of services, neighbours, friends and associates or strangers. There are many kinds of abuse including:

Physical

This could be hitting, slapping, pushing and kicking.

Sexual

This includes rape and sexual assault or sexual acts to which the adult at risk:

• has not consented

• could not consent

• was pressured into consenting

Emotional/Psychological

This could be:

• emotional abuse

• threats of harm or abandonment

• depriving the person of contact

• humiliating

• blaming

• controlling

• intimidating

• coercing

• harassing

• verbally abusing

• isolating

• withdrawing a person from services or support networks

Financial or Material

This includes:

• theft

• fraud

• exploitation

• pressure in connection with wills, property, inheritance or financial transactions

• misusing or misappropriating property, possessions or benefits

Neglects or Acts of Omission

This includes:

• ignoring medical or physical care needs

• failing to provide access to appropriate health care, social care or education services

• misusing medication

• inadequate nutrition or heating

Discriminatory

This includes:

• racist behaviour

• sexist behaviour

• harassment based on a person’s ethnicity, race, culture, sexual orientation, age or disability

• other forms of harassment, slurs or similar treatment

8. Supporting Procedures and Processes

The following sections summarise the requirements of supporting policy, practice or procedures; readers should look at the whole policy or procedure for further information.

Recruitment of Personnel and Volunteers to Work with Young People

This section summarises some aspects of our Recruitment Procedures. The procedures set out below apply to both paid personnel and volunteers.

Applicants for both paid and voluntary positions that involve significant access to children and young people or their information will complete an initial application form designed to extract information about their past career, and to disclose any criminal record or other matter that has a bearing on their suitability to work with children. Failure to disclose relevant information will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal. All those in direct contact with young people, and/or confidential information about them, will be subject to a DBS check.

Posts will be subject to satisfactory clearance, and consent will be obtained from applicants to carry out Disclosures through the DBS, or a check through the DBS online portal. In line with the Data Protection Act 1998, all information received in relation to applicants will be kept secure and treated with strict confidentiality.

The Board of Trustees recognises that we could take all reasonable steps, but that these do not guarantee that an individual is safe to work with children and/or vulnerable adults. Therefore, the Trustees and senior managers will ensure that appropriate management, supervision, and support systems are in place to reduce any risk to vulnerable people.

Information Sharing Policy and Procedure

This section summarises the relevant requirements of our Confidentiality and Information Sharing Policy and Procedures.

Consents to sharing information

Those we work with should always know what we need to do with information they give us, and their wishes about how this is disclosed and used should be taken account of wherever possible, as long as this does not jeopardise their safeguarding, or make us avoid our responsibilities, or adversely affect their welfare.

ADULTS AT RISK

Information to be shared should only be that which is relevant to safeguard adults at risk. An adult service user should normally consent to information sharing but this consent may be overridden in certain circumstances, especially when there is a risk of harm, and the adult does not have capacity to understand and consent, or there is crime. Guidance is to be found in the relevant Local Safeguarding Board Adults at Risk procedure.

Roles and Responsabilities

This section describes the general roles and responsibilities held by different positions in the organisation with regard specifically to safeguarding.

TRUSTEES

• Uphold the safeguarding ethos

• Have a trustee with lead responsibility for safeguarding

• Agree safeguarding policies and procedures and review these annually

• Satisfy themselves that policies and procedures are carried out

LEAD WORKER

• Act as the Designated Safeguarding Lead for all safeguarding actions and decisions, which come from:

• Making referrals

• Supporting a safeguarding investigation or plan

• Reviewing the assessed level of risk which informs the way staff and volunteers work with children, young people, and adults at risk

• Supervise personnel and volunteers allocated to them and agree and implement individual training plans

• Follow procedures if any concern or allegation arises as a result, and support good practice

• Report any allegation or concern about the safeguarding practice to the Chair of Trustees

PERSONNEL WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

• Act upon concerns and allegations involving service users and safeguarding

• Report concerns and allegations according to these procedures to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and agree what Shakespeare in Italy will do

• Act in a timely manner, taking account of the perceived level of risk, when the Designated Safeguarding Lead is not available

• Record concerns, analysis of concerns, information, decisions, actions, clearly and promptly and keeps a log on the file of work in progress

• Report any concerns about safeguarding practice to the trustees

VOLUNTEERS

• Report concerns and allegations to their supervisor and act upon the advice of the designated Safeguarding Lead.

• Report concerns and allegations according to these procedures to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and agrees what Shakespeare in Italy will

• Act in a timely manner, taking account of the perceived level of risk, when the volunteer’s supervisor, or Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy is not available.

• Record concerns, analysis of concerns, information, decisions, actions, clearly and promptly and keeps a log on the file of work in

• Ensure the supervisor responsible for the volunteer’s work is aware of changes that might affect the perceived level of risk, and generally work with the guidance and within the decisions of the volunteer supervisor.

• Report any concerns about safeguarding practice to the trustees

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