We understand:

 

The welfare of young individuals is vital.

All children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse.

Working in partnership with children, young individuals, their parents, carers, and other third party agencies is essential to promote and encourage young people’s welfare.

 

The Purpose of this policy is

 

To provide protection for the children and young people who receive Bright Futures UK services.

To provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be experiencing or be at risk of harm.

 

This policy applies to all staff, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, agency staff, students or anyone working on behalf of Bright Futures UK.

 

We will seek to safeguard young individuals by:

 

• Making sure any volunteers or members of staff are aware through regular training, supervision, and informal information about their duty of safeguarding and their statutory and voluntry duty to promote effective inter agency safeguarding provisions. This is informed by “working together to safeguard children” 2015, the national guidance.

• Valuing and listening to them

• Sharing information about safeguarding and good child practice with parents and carers.

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Bright Futures UK is committed to keeping up to date with safeguarding guidelines and regulations.

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Guiding Principles:

 

Everyone's responsibility - Everyone at Bright Futures UK has a responsibility to keep children and adults who need care and support safe from abuse and neglect.

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Prevention – We will put sensible measures in place to prevent abuse, including the use of safe recruitment practices, promoting safe working practice and raising awareness of safeguarding.

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Protection – We will provide policy, procedures, information and training to enable all Bright Futures UK staff to identify and respond appropriately to concerns about abuse.

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Partnership – Bright Futures UK will work in Partnership with statutory, hospital and other relevant organisations to ensure that safeguarding concerns are responded to appropriately.

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Empowerment – We will be person-centred and uphold rights in our safeguarding work.

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Accountability - We aim to be transparent in our approaches and recognise the need for continuous learning and improvement.

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Roles & Responsibilities:

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Staff

All staff members at Bright Futures UK, irrespective of their role, has a part to play in safeguarding children who need care and support. All staff will be familiar with BFUK safeguarding policy. Alongside this, all staff members will attend one of our NHS hospital partners lv 1 & 2 safeguarding training (minimum lv 1&2).

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Volunteers

Before we work with any Programme Leader (volunteer), they must complete Bright Futures UK specially designed safeguarding training. This has been designed alongside NHS partners training and has been carefully designed to be able to go with Programme Leaders wherever they are. Ensuring our volunteers are properly trained in safeguarding is crucial to smooth running of services.

 

Trustees

Bright Futures UK trustees approve the Safeguarding Policy and have a duty of care to their charity, which includes taking the necessary steps to safeguard those at risk from abuse, managing risk and protecting the reputation of the charity.

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Breach of Policy: 

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Failure to adhere to Bright Futures UK safeguarding policy may be managed in several ways, depending on the nature and consequences of any incident. In some cases, multiple responses may be required.

• Reporting to NHS partner hospital

• Police investigation

• Referral to the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)

• Disciplinary process

• Reporting to The Charity Commission

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Commitment to Equality 

Bright Futures UK is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. Everyone who accesses our services or works for us in a paid or voluntary capacity should be safe, empowered to play a part in promoting their own welfare and that of others and able to live a life free from abuse. This applies to all, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or belief.

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