Safeguarding Policy


Status:
published
Privacy:
Public

Authored on :
12/01/2025by :
Admin APPCIOS

Containing Groups

January 2025

Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding children & vulnerable adults is of great importance for our members’ practice.

We believe that it is always unacceptable for a child, young person or vulnerable adult to experience abuse/neglect of any kind. But safeguarding is more than protection against current abuse/neglect. It is also the recognition of past abuse/neglect and positive action to ameliorate its effects.

We recognise that:

The welfare of the child/young person/vulnerable adult is paramount and that all people 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 people, their parents/carers, vulnerable adults and their respective agencies is essential in promoting welfare. It is important that all the individuals and organisations around vulnerable adults and children should be in good communication to ensure that any vulnerable client be supported through a secure and integrated network. We believe that this is a prerequisite if the client's situation and needs are to be fully understood.

APPCIOS Members Safeguarding Principles

  • Holding the network together is at the heart of our practice in organisations, especially agencies and individuals looking after vulnerable client groups.
  • Recognising abuse/neglect, including emotional abuse  and financial abuse of vulnerable adults, is an integral part of our work in assessing the needs of children/young people/families/adults and the needs and capacities of their carers and/or support networks.
  • Understanding the effects of abuse/neglect and their impact on the child/young people/vulnerable adults, the carers and the network is integral to our interventions.

APPCIOS Members working with Children/Young People/Vulnerable Adults must:

  • Provide protection for the children/young people/vulnerable adults who receive our services, directly or by consultation with their carers or wider network.
  • Provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that they suspect a child/young person/vulnerable adult may be experiencing, or be at risk of harm.
  • Safeguard children/young people/vulnerable adults by:
    • valuing them, listening to and respecting them
    • following child protection and adult safeguarding guidelines through effective procedures in our organisations
    • sharing information about safeguarding procedures and good practice with children, parents, vulnerable adults, staff and volunteers
    • sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving adult individuals, parents and children/young people appropriately
    • providing effective consultation for staff and volunteers through supervision, support and training.

Sexual or Other Exploitation

Members must not in any situation consider that the sexual or other exploitation of children/young people/vulnerable adults is acceptable. When such exploitation comes to our notice we will immediately raise our concern with the individual involved if an adult, offering appropriate support. If the person we are concerned about is a child/young person, we will consult with the person or body having parental control and if we believe that suitable action to remedy the situation is not being taken we will report it further to the appropriate/relevant child or adult safeguarding board and/or to the police.

Child Protection Policy and Child/Adult Safeguarding Procedures

1. Members will keep under careful consideration the suitability of adults working with or caring for children or with caring responsibilities for any vulnerable adult. This applies to any adult for whom we provide consultancy or therapeutic support as well as to staff where we are involved in management or recruitment.

2. Before accepting a case involving a child/young person/vulnerable adult, members will determine who has full parental responsibility for the child, or decision making power for vulnerable adults. Members will obtain their contact details. Members will take notice of any child protection plan or safeguarding adults support plan.

3. Members will make it clear to children and adults that we will not collude with existing abuse/neglect and we will encourage them to speak openly about any abuse that may be occurring or that they think may be occurring.

4. As well as current abuse/neglect,  members will take disclosures of historical abuse/neglect seriously, and give information about reporting to the police.  They should bear in mind that APPCIOS has a duty of care to ensure that any named perpetrators are not in contact with children/young people or other vulnerable adults. 

5. In any case review/multi agency professional forum members should address the question of child or adult abuse/neglect concerns. They should keep a written record of any concerns about children/young people/vulnerable adults, even where there is no need to refer the matter immediately.

6. Where appropriate they should liaise with other agencies that support the child/young person/vulnerable adult or the family such as children's and adult social services, Child and Adult Mental Health Service, Community Mental Health Teams, GP's and the school.

7. All members offering therapeutic services to children/young people/vulnerable adults will be clear about the limits to confidentiality when considering safeguarding concerns and feel able to address this or get support in addressing this directly with individuals concerned. 

8. All members working with children and/or vulnerable adults need to ensure that they have the appropriate DBS checks, either through their organisations or independently.

Raising Concerns

This following outlines the way in which APPCIOS members can raise concerns about abuse/neglect or other safeguarding concerns.

Please remember that a disclosure of current or historical abuse/neglect may be the subject of a criminal enquiry and leading questions should be avoided. While every case will require a specific response it is regarded as best practice to limit questioning to the following:

  • What happened?
  • When did it happen?
  • Where did it happen?
  • Who did it? (How do you know him/her if the relationship is unclear)

If you have any concerns about children/young people/vulnerable adult with whom you are in contact, their safety, any possibility of abuse (current or historical), physical, sexual or emotional, and financial for adults, you must disclose these to the responsible person within your organisation. This includes concerns which are not necessarily linked to abuse, but which may indicate harm. These include concerns such as the effect of recognised historical abuse, neglect, poverty, delinquent behaviour, etc.

This includes the effects of any behaviour or practice by parents, foster parents, other carers, professional staff or any other person which has a malign or detrimental effect on any child/young person/vulnerable adult.

If you are not happy with the way in which your organisation is dealing with your concerns you should speak directly to any other body having responsibility for the child/young person/vulnerable adult or statutory responsibility for dealing with these concerns.  These may include parents, a fostering or adoption agency, Social Services, the NCPCC, local safeguarding boards or the police.

If your organisation is registered with OFSTED, you can write or telephone OFSTED whose address is: Ofsted, Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester, M1 2WD, 0300 123 1231

APPCIOS Ethics Committee 

Procedure on advice being sought or concerns being raised

APPCIOS' Safeguarding lead is Jeremy Gunson. He sits on the Ethics Committee and acts as lead advisor for any safeguarding concerns 

On being informed of a concern the Chair will:

  1. discuss the matter with the person raising the concern.
  2. Discuss the matter with any other professionals involved in the case including social workers or those having parental authority if they are not the subject of the concern
  3. If the case concerns an allegation or if it raises a safeguarding issue, inform the LADO of the Local authority where the child is domiciled or relevant adult safeguarding team.
  4. If appropriate, or if suitable measures are not being taken, contact the police.

APPCIOS

Procedure on Allegations

  • If an allegation is made against one of our members, it will be dealt with under the Internal Complaints Procedure