CHILD PROTECTION POLICY STATEMENT

 

• Bolton Villas Cricket Club (BVCC) declares its commitment to the safety of young people whilst in the care of club personnel.
• BVCC will ensure that all paid workers, coaches and members of the management committee are familiar with the Child Protection Policy and are able to fully implement it.
• BVCC will work to this policy and will monitor, review and evaluate its effectiveness

 

HISTORY

 

Bolton Villas CC (BVCC) was established around 1905 when friendlies were played generally between competing local parishes. In 1923 BVCC joined the Shipley League and in 1929 entered the Bradford Central League eventually resigning in 1999 to join the Airedale & Wharfedale League. The junior section was established around 1967 with one team in the Bradford Central League.

 

At senior level successes were few and far between. However, the developing junior influence on the club in the late 1970s with the establishing of an Under 14 team in 1973 complementing the Under 18s who had won the T Joy Cup in 1969 was the catalyst to a string of senior and junior honours as follows.

 

Juniors – League champions 1978,79 & 80. T Joy Cup winners 1978 & 1980.

Seniors – League champions 1985 & 86. Cup finalists 1980,81,83,84,85,86 & 87 winning the Waddilove Cup on three occasions.

 

In the late 1980s the successful senior side that began as juniors began to break up as some players went on to a higher level of cricket and successes at senior level were few in the 1990s with a championship success in 1993 and a cup win in 1997.

 

However, the move into the prestigious Airedale & Wharfedale League in season 2000 marked the start of another exciting chapter in the club’s history preceded by the reshaping of the junior structure by current senior players in the late 1990s.

 

The club runs four junior teams at U11, U13, U15 & U17 levels competing in the Bradford Junior League and run coaching sessions on Tuesdays & Fridays each week staffed by the club’s own ECB qualified coaches. In total the club has some 75 junior members and this is increasing annually.

 

In addition the club has close links with one primary school and is looking to extend the use of its facilities to include another local school who have no access to cricket.

 

CHILD PROTECTION

 

The welfare of young people must be paramount at all times as stated in Children Act 1989. 

 

BVCC has a responsibility to prepare, by initial and on-going training, all its paid workers, volunteers and committee members, to work towards the protection of all young people.

 

BVCC has a policy of confidentiality:-

 

‘All information about young people is treated as confidential. Any disclosure of confidential information to any other person may only be undertaken with the expressed permission of the young person for the purpose of assisting the young person, except where it is considered necessary for the protection of a young person when information shall be shared with the appropriate authority.’

 

BVCC supports the principle of openness and honesty with young people.

 

AWARENESS  - WHAT CONSTITUTES ABUSE

 

Definitions of abuse

 

A basic definition of abuse is that it is the abuse of power by a person who is developmentally older and/or stronger than another, resulting in some distress, harm or neglect of necessary attention for the victim.

 

Child abuse is a term, which describes all the ways in which a child’s development and health are damaged by the actions or inaction of others, usually adults.  Although different terms are used to describe particular types of abuse, these often overlap and many children suffer the effects of a range of destructive forms of behaviour.

 

Categories of abuse

 

The following categories are used for entry on the Child Protection Register and for statistical recording:

 

• Neglect
• Physical injury
• Sexual abuse
• Emotional abuse

 

Neglect

 

‘Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.  It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.  It may also include neglect of a child’s basic emotional needs.’

Physical abuse

 

‘Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocation or otherwise causing physical harm to a child.  “Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy” may also constitute physical abuse, whereby a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes, ill health in a child’

 

Sexual abuse

 

‘Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.  The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative or non-penetrative acts.  They may involve non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways’

 

Emotional abuse

 

‘Emotional abuse is the persistent ill treatment 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 involve causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.  Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill-treatment to a child, though it may occur alone.’

Signs and symptoms of abuse

 

Below is a list of signs and symptoms, which may indicate abuse (either current abuse or abuse that has taken place in the past)

 

• Self-injury, self-destructive behaviour, attempted suicide/talking about suicidal feelings
• Eating disorders
• Depression, withdrawal
• Over-compliant behaviour
• Unexplained gifts of money
• Sleep disturbances/nightmares
• Promiscuous behaviour
• Prostitution (male and female)
• Provocative sexual behaviour
• Unexplained injuries (including burns) if recurrent
• Refusal to discuss injuries/improbable explanation for injuries
• Very aggressive/bullying behaviour
• Flinching – fear of physical contact
• Running away from home
• Continual self-deprecation
• Inappropriate responses to painful situations
• Compulsive stealing
• Social isolation
• Desperate attention-seeking behaviour
• Obsessive behaviour
• Phobias
• Drug/solvent abuse

 

What stops young people telling?

 

• Direct threats – young people are taught to obey their parents
• Fear of punishment
• Guilt and shame
• Lack of appropriate vocabulary
• Young people may not recognise the abusive experience as abuse – they may believe that sexual abuse is part of an affectionate relationship
• In sexual abuse the abusive experience may be all they receive in response to their need for love and physical contact
• In sexual abuse the young person may love the abuser and feel they are special, favoured in some way
• Lack of opportunity to be heard
• Awareness of the possible implications, such as family break-up, medical examination – young people may think that their silence protects others
• Young people ‘tell’ in a variety of ways – through their behaviour and creative work as well as through direct disclosure
• Many young people make some attempt to ‘tell’ but are not ‘heard’

 

CHILD PROTECTION – GUIDELINES FOR PRACTICE

 

Dealing with disclosures

 

Receive

 

• Listen to the young person, take what they say seriously
• Accept what the young person says.

 

Reassure

 

• Stay calm and reassure the young person that they have done the right thing in talking to you
• Don’t promise confidentiality; you have a duty to refer a young person who is at risk
• Try to alleviate any feelings of guilt that the young person displays
• Acknowledge how hard it must have been for the young person to tell you what happened
• Empathise with the young person – don’t tell them what they should be feeling

 

React

 

• React to the young person only as far as is necessary for you to establish whether or not you need to refer this matter.  Do not  ‘interrogate’ them for full details
• Do not ask ‘leading’ questions such as ‘what did he do next’.  Such questions may invalidate your evidence (and that of the young person) in any later prosecution in court.
• Do not criticise the perpetrator
• Do not ask the young person to repeat everything to another worker
• Explain what you have to do next and who you need to speak to
• Inform the designated person for child protection
• Try to see the matter through yourself and keep in contact with the young person
• If a Social Services interview is to follow, ensure that the young person has a ‘support person’ (possibly yourself) present if they wish

 

Support

 

• Make sure that you continue to support the young person, providing time and a safe space throughout the process of investigation and afterwards
• Get some support for yourself, without disclosing confidential information about the young person to colleagues.

 

Recording disclosures

 

• Make brief notes at the time of the disclosure on any paper which comes to hand and write these up as soon as possible
• Do not destroy your original notes in case they are required by a court
• Record the date, time and place of the disclosure, along with the words used by the young person and any noticeable non-verbal behaviour.
• Draw a diagram to indicate the position of any bruising
• Be objective in your recording: include statement and observable things, rather than your interpretations or assumptions.

 

Reporting disclosures

 

If concerned:

 

• The member should contact the Coach who has been designated to deal with child protection issues for that age group (name and contact numbers appear in the appendix which will be updated as appropriate).

 

• If the young person is suffering from injury or illness the member must ensure that the young person receives medical attention

 

• If the young person needs emergency medical treatment the member must contact the emergency services and contact the Coach as soon as possible within the next 24 hours.

 

• If the member finds a young person in immediate danger and feels unable to defuse the situation, s/he must contact the police immediately. The member must inform the Coach of the incident as soon as possible within the next 24 hours
• The young person must be informed from the outset that member will discuss concerns regarding them with the Coach and may pass these concerns to Social Services if they feel it is appropriate.

 

Dealing with concerns

 

Where a member shares a concern about a young person with the Coach, it must be discussed fully with regard to:

 

• All details of the concern about the young person
• Where the information came from
• Other information known to BVCC about the Young Person
• The member’s view of the situation.

 

The Coach should be aware of the potential impact on the member and ensure that appropriate support is provided.

 

After discussing the concern, the Coach may seek advice from a representative from Social Services.

 

After discussing the concern, the Coach’s decision may be that no action will be taken at present but that the member will remain aware of the situation, maintain a supportive role and must keep the Coach informed of any future developments.

 

An accurate, detailed and contemporaneous written report will be made of all child protection concerns and kept in the young person’s file.

 

Contacting Social Services

 

The Coach after discussion may decide that the concern needs to be referred to the Child Protection Unit/Social Services.

 

• If the young person already has a social worker the information will be passed to that social worker or, if unavailable, the principal social worker.

 

• If the young person does not have a social worker the referrer will contact the Duty Officer at the local social services office.

 

• If the referrer needs to report a concern outside normal office hours, s/he must contact the Emergency Duty Team

 

• In an emergency, the Coach will contact the police, ambulance or fire services before making contact with Social Services.

 

An accurate, detailed and contemporaneous written report will be made of all concerns referred to Social Services and kept in the Young Person’s file.

 

These procedures will apply to information received from any source within BVCC.

 

Support for Members

 

• The Coach must support the member involved in the disclosure

 

• The Coach must be aware of the potential emotional impact on the member and be able to help and offer support to deal with this.

 

• The member may be asked to attend a ‘case conference’ and guidelines should be given by the Coach as to the limits of the member’s participation.

 

• The Coach must inform the member about the outcome of any child protection case conferences.

 

• The Coach must make a written report of the outcome of the case conference, which will be placed in the young person’s file.

 

The Coach must provide support for the member as required in the period after the case conference.  The Coach should share information as appropriate with colleagues so that they can also give support if required.

 

Allegations against a member of BVCC

 

Action to be taken:

 

• Where BVCC is aware that an allegation of child abuse has been made about a member, the member will be informed by the Coach that he/she must not attend any BVCC meetings, activities involving young people.

 

• The Chairman of the Management Committee will be informed

 

• This procedure will be followed whether the allegation concerns the member’s work with BVCC or in any other capacity.  All relevant information will be reported to Social Service by the Coach in consultation with the Chairman of the Management Committee

 

• The Coach will decide on appropriate action to be taken in consultation with the Chairman of the Management Committee

 

Allegations against a member of the Management Committee

 

Where BVCC is aware that an allegation of child abuse has been made about a member of the Management Committee, the Chairman will immediately suspend the member from the Management Committee pending investigations.

 

This procedure will be followed whether the allegation concerns the member’s work within BVCC or in any other capacity.

 

Failure to disclose a conviction

 

All applicants for paid or unpaid positions, including members of BVCC, are required to disclose all convictions or cautions for any offences committed, no matter how long ago they occurred, and regardless of whether they were committed as an adult or juvenile.

 

Failure to disclose full or accurate information concerning current or spent convictions or binding-over orders would be seen as a fundamental breach of trust.

 

Paid workers – where it is found that any paid worker has failed to disclose a conviction for an offence, s/he will be suspended immediately from her/his post by the Chairman of the Management Committee.  This suspension is in line with the Terms and Conditions of service of the employee.  The Chairman of the Management Committee as appropriate will report all relevant information to Social Services.

 

The Management Committee will meet to consider the appropriate action to be taken.

 

Members – Where it is found that a member has failed to disclose a conviction for an offence, he/she will be told immediately that he/she cannot longer participate in any way in the work of BVCC until this matter has been investigated.  The Chairman of the Management Committee as appropriate will report all relevant information to Social Services.

 

The Management Committee will meet to consider the appropriate action to be taken.

Officers – Where it is found that an Officer of the Management Committee has failed to disclose a conviction for an offence the Chairman will immediately suspend the Officer from the Management Committee.

 

The Management Committee will meet to take action to remove the suspended member from all involvement with BVCC until the matter has been investigated.

 

The Management Committee will meet to consider the appropriate action to be taken.

 

Registration of Coaches

 

All Coaches will be required to complete a registration and declaration form and complete a confidential volunteer reference form. (see appendix)

 

The Criminal Records Bureau (under Part V of the Police Act 1997) will offer much wider access to criminal record information for voluntary organisations (currently access to criminal record checks is limited to statutory bodies for employees who work with under 18s).  While it is vital to undertake a police criminal record check for everyone (employees and volunteers) who is likely to come into contact with young people, this does not provide an adequate level of vetting and should not be relied upon as guarantee of safety and of the prevention of abuse.

 

Training for paid staff and volunteers

 

Child protection training should  be available to all workers and volunteers working with young people and the following areas should be covered:

 

• Values and attitudes – leading to a consideration of what is meant by abuse

 

• Signs and symptoms – helping workers to be alert to significant indicators of possible abuse

 

• What to do – practical action to take, including responding, monitoring, recording, confidentiality and supporting.

 

Reviewing and maintaining the Child Protection Policy

 

The Management Committee of BVCC will undertake to review its Child Protection policy on an annual basis.

 

The Management Committee of BVCC will ensure that this policy is brought to the attention of all workers, volunteers and Trustees and that they adhere to its policy

 

APPOINTED COACHES 2007

 

HEAD COACH/ CHILD WELFARE OFFICER - S Wilson

 

UNDER 17                          R Lawrence / B Shackleton

UNDER 15                          M Patchett

UNDER 13                          S Wilson

UNDER 11                          M Molyneux