Driving range at Rodway hill golf course

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/3248612453/c61d2af3107419ecaf0431cb1deeef95_400x400.jpeg" >Rodway Hill Golf Club

Safeguarding & 

Child Protection Policy

Club Welfare Officer (CWO): Leonard Lucas (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Deputy Club Welfare Officer (DCWO): Dave Taylor (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Rodway Hill Golf Club has considered its responsibilities to the children participating in club activities very carefully and has produced the following Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and underpinning procedures in order to set out the standards we wish to uphold in providing activities for children and safeguarding the welfare of children in our care.

Rodway Hill Golf Club affiliates to England Golf Union (EGU).  The club recognises the policies of the Governing Body, as set out at www.childreningolf.org/about-us/roles-responsibilities.

Policy Statement

Rodway Hill Golf Club acknowledges its duty of care to safeguard the welfare of all children (defined as those under 18 years of age) involved in club activities.  All children have a right to protection, and have their particular needs taken into account.

Rodway Hill Golf Club will therefore endeavour to ensure the safety and protection of all children involved with the club through the Child Protection guidelines adopted by the Committee of the club.  It is the responsibility of all adults within the club to assist the Committee with this endeavour.

Policy Aims

• To provide children with appropriate safety and protection whilst in the care of the club and also help them to enjoy their experience of the sport.
• To reassure parents/carers that their children will receive the best practicable care possible whilst participating in club activities.
• To provide support staff and volunteers to make informed and confident responses to specific child protection issues and to fulfil their role effectively.

Principles

• The welfare of children is paramount.
• All children, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, ethnic origin and religious beliefs have the right to protection from abuse.
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse and poor practice will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
• All staff and volunteers have a responsibility to report concerns to the nominated Club Welfare Officer or Deputy Club Welfare Officer.
• Adults – staff, volunteers, coaches, referees and members will be supported to understand their role and responsibility with regard to the duty of care and protection of children and young people.
• The club Committee will receive support through education and training to be aware of and understand best practice and how to manage any welfare or child protection issues that may come to light.

Rodway Hill Golf Club will work in partnership with parents/carers to review and implement child protection and welfare procedures.

Rodway Hill Golf Club’s policy and procedures are based on the above principles and UK and international legislation and government guidance and take the following into consideration:

• The Children Act (1989 & 2004).
• The Data Protection Act (1994 & 1998).
• The Police Act (1997).
• The Human Rights Act (1998).
• The Protection of Children Act (1999).
• Caring for the young and vulnerable – Home Office Guidance for preventing the abuse of trust (1999).
• The Criminal and Court Services Act (2000).
• What to do if you are worried a child is being abused (2005).
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010).
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Any subsequent legislation relating to child protection would implicitly be incorporated into this document.

Responsibilities & Communication

The Rodway Hill Golf Club Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy will be available to all members, parents/carers, staff, volunteers and participants.

The Policy will be reviewed every three years by the Committee, and amended as appropriate. 

The Committee has responsibility for ensuring that the policy and procedures are implemented, including taking any disciplinary action necessary.

The Club Welfare Officer has responsibility for the responding to any allegations, concerns or child protection incidents, passing information to the NGB Child Protection Officer and informing the appropriate club staff.

Parents/Carers have a responsibility to work together with the club in implementing procedures and providing their children with the necessary information to safeguard themselves.

Dealing with Concerns

It is not the responsibility of those working in golf to decide whether or not child abuse is occurring.  It is however their responsibility to act on concerns about inappropriate behaviour, abuse or bullying.

All information received and discussed must be treated as confidential and only shared with those who will be able to manage and resolve the situation. On occasion it may be necessary to seek advice from the NGB Lead Child Protection Officer (NGB CPO), or inform statutory agencies such as Child Social Care (CSC) or the police. 

Concerns should be dealt with using the procedures outlined on the following pages.  

Safeguarding Children

Physical Abuse:

A form of abuse which 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, illness in a child.

            Signs and Signals

• Fractures
• Cigarette burns
• Human bites
• Bruised eyes
• Fingertip bruising
• Burns and scald marks
• Bruising in sites not easily injured
• Frequent “accidents”
• Unusual cuts or marks
• Parents/carers not leaving the side of an injured child
• Frozen watchfulness
• Aggressive play/conduct problems
• Preoccupation with own body and health
• Account of injuries inconsistent with their appearance
• Unusual degree of parental/carer hostility
• Unusual lack of parental/carer concern
• Different accounts of events
• Injuries and different stages of healing
• Unexplained injuries
• Reluctance to undress/participate in sport.

Neglect:

The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs, likely to result in serious impairment of the child’s health or development.  Neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.  It may also include neglect of; or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Signs and Signals

• Growth failure
• Developmental delay
• Excessive hunger
• Inadequate clothing
• Very poor condition – skin, hair, nails and general physical appearance
• Poor hygiene
• Marked drop in weight/height centiles without reason
• Tired and apathetic presentation
• Poor activity attendance without reason
• Inability to play – due to lack of stimulation
• Parent/carer with mental health/drug/alcohol problems
• Untreated illness or injury
• Evidence of failure to protect a child from exposure to any kind of danger
• Withdrawn
• Food scavenging
• Poor achievement

Emotional Abuse:

The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.  It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person.  It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate.

It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.  These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction.  IT may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another.  It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying), causing children to frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.

            Signs and Signals

• Emotional rejection of the child
• Scapegoating of child by family members
• Child subjected to constant blaming/criticism or ridicule
• Child racially abused by family members
• Breakdown of parental relationship with chronic, bitter conflict over contact/residences
• Major and repeated family changes (separations, etc.)
• Domestic violence
• Child is responsible for caring for other children/parents
• Addiction to drugs and alcohol or involvement in seriously deviant lifestyles
• Bizarre parental beliefs
• Serious physical or psychiatric illness of parent
• Fear, anxiety, depression, despair
• Extreme lack of self esteem
• Poor achievement and concentration
• Over-compliant and passive behaviour
• Dominating and controlling behaviour
• Poor relationships

Sexual Abuse:

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.  The activities may involve physical contact including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing.  They may also include non-contact activities such as involving children in looking at or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet).  Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males.  Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

            Signs and Signals

• Pregnancy – especially where the father is unknown
• Semen in vagina, anus or external genitalia
• Bruising, scratching or other injuries to genital or anal areas, or other “sexual” areas such as breasts, lips, etc.
• Sexually transmitted infections/diseases
• Anal warts
• Urinary tract infections
• Soreness/itching or pain on toileting
• Recurrent abdominal pain, headaches or other
• Psychosomatic features
• A child who hints at sexual activity/uncomfortable secrets
• Inappropriate sexual behaviour to other children or adults
• Preoccupation with sex
• Inappropriate and repeated sexual play talk/drawings
• Running away
• A child avoiding certain people/situations
• Severe eating disorders in older children
• Self-harming behaviour

Further information on Child Sexual Exploitation and Female Genital Mutilation

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people receive something (for example food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, gifts, money or in some cases simply affection) as a result of engaging in sexual activities.  Sexual exploitation can take many forms, ranging from the seemingly ‘consensual’ relationship where sex is exchanged for affection or gifts, to serious organised crime by gangs and groups.  What marks out exploitation is an imbalance of power in the relationship. The perpetrator always holds some kind of power over the victim which increases as the exploitative relationship develops.  Sexual exploitation involves carrying degrees of coercion, intimidation or enticement, including unwanted pressure from pees to have sex, sexual bullying including cyberbullying and grooming.  However it is also important to recognise that some young people who are being sexually exploited do not exhibit any external signs of this abuse.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): professionals in all agencies and groups in relevant communities, need to be alert to the possibility of a girl being at risk of FGM, or already having suffered FGM.  There is a range of potential indicators that a child or young person may be at risk of FGM, which individually may not indicate risk but if there are two or more indicators present this could signal a risk to the child or young person.  Victims of FGM are likely to come from a community that is known to practise FGM. Professionals should note that girls at risk of FGM may not yet be aware of the practice or that it may be conducted on them, so sensitivity should always be shown when approaching the subject.

Listen to the Child

Children who report to a member, staff, volunteer or participant that someone has abused them must by listened to and heard, whatever form the communication may take.

The following points give guidance on how to deal with a child who makes an allegation:

• Listen to the child, but do not conduct an interview or ask the child to repeat the account.  Avoid asking questions and make sure that any questions asked are open-ended (i.e. not inviting yes or no as an answer).
• Do not interrupt when the child is recalling significant events.
• Make a careful note of all information, including details such as timing, setting, who was present and what was said, in the child’s own words.  The account should be obtained verbatim or as near as possible.  Always record what was said as contemporaneously as possible. Notes written up afterwards will carry less weight than those made at the time.
• Take care not to make assumptions about what the child is saying or to make interpretations.
• On no account should you make suggestions to the child as to an alternative explanation for their worries.
• The written record of the allegations should be signed and dated by the person who received them as soon as is practicable.
• All actions subsequently taken should be recorded.
• The Disclosure should be reported to the CWO as soon as possible.
• No member, staff, volunteer or participant should promise confidentiality to a child who makes an allegation.  The member, staff, volunteer or participant should make it clear to any child asking confidentiality that he or she will need to pass on what has been told, to ensure the protection of the child concerned. Within that context, the child should then be assured that the matter will be disclosed only to people who need to know, and the child will know who these people are.

Take Action

The member, staff, volunteer or participant who has listened to the allegations of abuse should report immediately to the CWO, who will pass information to the NGB Lead Child Protection Officer as outlined above.  If the CWO is the person against whom the allegation is made, the member, staff, volunteer or participant should report to the DCWO or a member of the Committee.  The support needs of a child who expresses concerns about significant harm should be considered and met, utilising resources within or beyond the club as necessary.

Specific Issues

Any questions or requests for further information regarding any of the issues discussed in this document should be directed to the CWO/DCWO.