PNH Support’s Children and Young People Safeguarding Policy 

Introduction 

Whilst PNH Support does not provide services directly to children and young people, in our work we will occasionally have contact with children, young people and their families. This contact is always in the presence of a parent/carer, except in the case of a Facebook closed group, whereby any contact is online and in a meeting environment, and the minimum age for membership is 18. 

Definitions and context 

This policy should be read alongside and in the context of our Adult Safeguarding Policy which can be found here.

PNH Support is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in all of our interactions with them.  We believe that individuals should be able to live a life free from abuse and neglect regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs and have their rights and choice respected.  We believe that the welfare of the child is paramount.  We expect that all our employees and volunteers share this commitment.   

Abuse may occur in all races, culture and social circumstances.  It is also important to consider that someone who abuses an individual could be a member of their immediate or extended family, a friend, a neighbour or stranger to them, a member of staff, a volunteer or another member of the PNH Support patient support community. It is therefore essential to remain alert to the possibility that abuse ‘can happen here’ and consequently staff and anyone acting on behalf of PNH Support is required to adopt an approach that is professional, open minded and that respectfully challenges others in order to facilitate this. 

1.  Purpose 

The aim of this policy is to provide a clear framework for how we promote children and young people’s wellbeing and protect them from abuse.  It ensures that concerns are handled sensitively, professionally and in ways that support the needs of the individual.  It provides clear direction to staff and others about their duty of care to all individuals, and how to act accordingly.   

2.  Roles and responsibilities 

This policy applies to all people working/volunteering for PNH Support or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees, trustees, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, contractors and suppliers. 

All staff and volunteers who have contact with children or young people who could be at risk of abuse or neglect have a duty to act if they have any concern that a child or young person is being abused, neglected or exploited. 

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. The Safeguarding Lead (see below) is responsible for addressing any safeguarding concerns, but looking after the safety of the team and those we interact with is up to all of us. This policy applies to all staff and Trustees, as well as freelancers, volunteers, sessional workers and visitors working with PNH Support. PNH Support regularly undertakes community work, and this policy should be kept in mind with all interactions. This policy applies in all circumstances, including digitally. 

Our Commitment  

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by: 

• valuing, listening to and respecting them 

• appointing a nominated Safeguarding Lead  

• adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers 

• developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures 

• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behavior codes confidently and competently 

• recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are made 

• recording and storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance  

• making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern 

• using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately 

• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately 

• creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise 

• ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place 

• ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance 

• building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns. 

3. Legal Framework/Guidance 

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England, Scotland and Wales.  A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from Child protection system in the UK | NSPCC Learning 

4.  Definitions 

4.1 Definition of Safeguarding 

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.    

Safeguarding is defined in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013’ as: 

• Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment 

• Preventing impairment of children’s health and development 

• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care and 

• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes 

• Child protection is part of the safeguarding process and focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. 

4.2 Definition of a child 

This is defined in the Children Act (1989) as someone under the age of 18 years.   

4.3 Definition of Significant Harm 

The Children Act (1989) introduced the concept of Significant Harm as the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention in family life in the best interests of children. 

There are no absolute criteria on which to rely when judging what constitutes Significant Harm, but consideration should be given to the following: 

• The severity of ill-treatment which may include the degree and extent of physical harm including, for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another 

• The duration and frequency of abuse and neglect 

• The extent of premeditation 

5.  Recognising abuse and neglect 

Child abuse is any action by another person, adult or child, that causes significant harm.  It is not always easy to recognise when a child is being abused and/or neglected and often there will be other explanations for the signs you may see and interpret as indicators of abuse.  However, abuse and neglect can cause significant harm and therefore any concerns must be raised as soon as possible.  

Children who suffer abuse may be afraid to tell anybody about the abuse.  They may struggle with feelings of guilt, shame or confusion – particularly if the abuser is a parent, care giver or other close family member or friend.  It is imperative that anyone working with children or young people are vigilant to the signs/indicators (see below).   

All staff and volunteers must be aware that disabled children and young people may be more vulnerable to abuse as a result of a number of factors including: 

• Significant communication needs 

• Physical vulnerabilities 

• Intimate care needs 

• Need for physical handling 

• Having multiple carers 

• Being socially isolated 

• Care needs/behaviour challenging the ability of carers to cope 

• Lack of support/training for parents and carers in dealing with difficult behaviour 

• The child/young person being perceived as being of lower status 

• Parents may accept lesser standards of substitute care as a result of their need for support/respite 

• The child behaving in ways that are self-harming 

• An assumption that behaviour is an integral part of the child’s condition, rather than a response to abusive treatment or a negative reaction to medication 

• Because of the particular needs of disabled children and young people they may also be at risk of being abused in other ways including: 

• Force feeding 

• Their personal care needs may not be met adequately 

• Physical practices such as physical restraint carried out unnecessarily or not in accordance with available guidelines 

• Rough handling 

• Extreme behaviour modification, including the deprivation of clothing, medication or food, limiting movement, restricting freedoms, locking doors, etc. 

• Misuse of medication, sedation, heavy tranquilisation 

• Invasive procedures which are unnecessary and carried out against the child/young person’s will 

• Being denied access to required medical treatment 

• Misapplication of programmes or regimes 

• Ill-fitting equipment e.g. callipers, sleep boards which may cause injury or pain, inappropriate splinting 

• Being more susceptible to bullying 

• Being more vulnerable to abuse using information communication technology 

Incidents of abuse may be one-off or multiple and affect one person or more.  Professionals and others should look beyond single incidents or individuals to identify patterns of harm.  In order to see these patterns, it is important that information is recorded and appropriately shared. 

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ sets out definitions and examples of the four broad categories of abuse: 

• Physical abuse 

• Emotional abuse 

• Sexual abuse 

• Neglect 

If you have any concerns that a child or young person is at risk in any of the ways described, you must always report your concerns. 

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 that indicate physical abuse may have taken place include: 

• bruises, broken bones, open wounds and black eyes 

• any injury for which there is no adequate explanation 

• burns of any shape or size 

• injuries which are untreated or inadequately treated 

Emotional Abuse 

This is defined as 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 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 cyber bullying), 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 maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone. 

Signs that indicate emotional abuse may have taken place: 

Sudden changes in behaviour such as anger, aggressiveness, confusion, agitation, fear or helplessness including: 

• high levels of anxiety, withdrawal or unhappiness 

• lack of confidence, lack of social skills 

• over familiarity towards strangers  

• self-harm 

• 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. 

Online grooming and abuse 

Online abuse is any type of abuse that happens on the web, whether through social networks, phishing emails or playing online games or using mobile phones.   Children and young people may experience cyberbullying, grooming, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, trolling, financial abuse or exploitation or emotional abuse. 

Children can be at risk of online abuse from people they know as well as from strangers.  Online abuse may take place in the real world (e.g. bullying or grooming) or it may be that it only happens online (e.g. persuading children to take part in sexual activity online). 

Children can feel like there is no escape from online abuse – abusers can contact them at any time of the day or night, the abuse can come into safe places like their bedrooms, and images and videos can be stored and shared with other people. 

Child sexual exploitation 

Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse.  It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants (e.g. gifts, money, drugs, food, alcohol), and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator.  The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual.  Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.   

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 during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, 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 that indicate neglect may have taken place include: 

• children who appear hungry 

• children who appear dirty or smelly; inadequate clothing which may be dirty or damaged and offers no protection from the weather 

• children who are left alone or unsupervised 

• failure to thrive 

• the condition of home is squalid, unhygienic or dangerous 

Domestic Abuse  

This is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.  This can encompass but is not limited to, the following types of abuse: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, and emotional.  

Witnessing domestic abuse is child abuse and teenagers can suffer domestic abuse in their relationships.  Children can be directly involved in incidents of domestic abuse or they may be harmed by seeing or hearing abuse happening.  

Forced Marriage 

Forced marriage and honour-based violence are human rights abuses and fall within the Government’s definition of domestic violence.  Forced marriage is defined as a marriage conducted without the full consent of both parties and where duress is a factor.  There is a clear distinction between forced marriage and an arranged marriage.   

Bullying and Cyberbullying 

Bullying is behaviour that deliberately hurts someone else such as name calling, hitting, spreading rumours, threatening or undermining someone.  Bullying can happen anywhere – at school, at home or online.  It usually happens over a lengthy period of time and can harm a child both physically and emotionally.   

Bullying that happens online, using social networks, games and mobile phones is often called cyberbullying.  Cyberbullying can include spreading rumours about someone, sending threatening or abusive text messages or posting nasty or embarrassing messages, images or videos.  

It can also mean excluding children from online games, activities or friendship groups or setting up hate sites or groups about a particular child.   

Female Genital Mutilation 

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for non-medical reasons.  It’s also known as female circumcision, cutting or sunna.    

Religious, social or cultural reasons are sometimes given for FGM.  However, FGM is child abuse, is dangerous and constitutes a criminal offence.  There are no medical reasons to carry out FGM.  It does not enhance fertility and it doesn’t make childbirth safer.  It is used to control female sexuality and can cause severe and long-lasting damage to physical and emotional health.   

There is a legal mandatory reporting requirement for anyone who is aware that FGM has been performed on a girl.   

Child trafficking 

Child trafficking is child abuse.  It involves recruiting and moving or transporting children who are then exploited, forced to work or sold.  Children are trafficked for: 

• child sexual exploitation 

• benefit fraud 

• forced marriage 

• domestic servitude such as cleaning, childcare, cooking 

• forced labour in factories or agriculture 

• criminal exploitation such as cannabis cultivation, pickpocketing, begging, transporting drugs, selling pirated DVDs and bag theft 

Many children are trafficked into the UK from abroad, but children can also be trafficked from one part of the UK to another. 

Radicalisation and extremism 

Radicalisation is defined as the act or process of making a person more radical or favouring of extreme or fundamental changes in political, economic or social conditions, institutions or habits of the mind. 

Extremism is defined as the holding of extreme political or religious views.  

Early recognition and involvement is crucial in cases where children and young people are at risk of being radicalised by others.   The government launched their Prevent strategy in 2010.  It is a key part of the Government’s Counter Terrorist Strategy, CONTEST.  It is the preventative strand of the strategy and its aim is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.  It is well documented that more vulnerable people can be at greater risk of being radicalised.  Indicators for vulnerability to radicalisation include: 

• family tensions 

• sense of isolation 

• migration 

• distance from cultural heritage 

• experience of racism or discrimination 

• feeling of failure 

6. Confidentiality and information sharing 

When there are concerns raised about an individual’s welfare, PNH Support may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies.  A disclosure from a child or young person about a concern or allegation must not be discussed with any other member of staff or volunteer unless specifically needed for liaison and safeguarding purposes, and under the direction of the Safeguarding Lead. 

Sensitive information about a child or young person does sometimes need to be shared both inside and outside the organisation.  This may include an individual’s social worker, care manager or funding authority.  The purpose of this will always be to safeguard the individual from harm and to meet statutory requirements. 

7. Consent to sharing information 

Normally personal information on children and young people, their families or their carers is only disclosed with consent.  However, there are some circumstances where consent may not be possible or desirable.  We have a legal duty to share information where there are child protection concerns.  The welfare and protection of children and young people is paramount and therefore in some cases, personal information will be shared with other agencies without consent.  

8. Working with parents/families 

In our work, especially certain projects, we will work closely with the parents/carers of children and young people.  Careful consideration should be given to when and how parents are informed in certain safeguarding situations such as cases when parents could have been involved as this may prejudice the investigation.  Advice should be sought from the local Safeguarding Team at the local authority to ensure that doing so does not put an individual at greater risk. 

Information sharing with parents/families is also impacted upon by the requests and views of the young person.  Where the person has the capacity to decide that they do not want their parents/families informed about a concern, PNH Support will respect this choice, unless there are clear reasons why this cannot be upheld.  This, however, does not negate our responsibilities to inform other statutory agencies of any concerns of abuse.  

In addition, if you suspect a parent/carer is responsible for abuse of a child, telling them you are making a safeguarding referral may put the child at risk, so may need to be done without consent. This decision would be taken very carefully and only in circumstances when the risk is very high.  

9. Procedure for reporting concerns 

A concern may arise by:  

• a direct disclosure by the child or young person we come into contact with 

• a concern raised by staff or volunteers, a carer or a member of the public 

• an observation of the behaviour of the child, of the behaviour of another person(s) towards the child or of one child towards another 

What to do if you have concerns about a child 

You may have concerns about a child because of something you have seen or heard, or a child may choose to disclose something to you.   If a child discloses information to you, you should: 

• not promise confidentiality, you have a duty to share this information and refer to Children’s Social Care Services. 

• listen to what is being said, without displaying shock or disbelief. 

• accept what is said. 

• reassure the child, but only as far as is honest, don’t make promises you may not be able to keep eg: ‘Everything will be alright now’, ‘You’ll never have to see that person again’. 

• reassure and alleviate guilt, if the child refers to it.   For example, you could say, ‘You’re not to blame’. 

• not interrogate the child; it is not your responsibility to investigate. 

• not ask leading questions (eg: Did he touch your private parts?), ask open questions such as ‘Anything else to tell me?’ 

• not ask the child to repeat the information for another member of staff. 

• explain what you have to do next and who you have to talk to. 

• take notes if possible or write up your conversation as soon as possible afterwards. 

• record the date, time, place any non-verbal behaviour and the words used by the child (do not paraphrase). 

• record statements and observable things rather than interpretations or assumptions. 

• whatever the nature of your concerns, discuss them with the Safeguarding Lead 

• inform or contact anyone the person wishes to have for support. 

9.1 Initial Reporting 

PNH Support’s designated Safeguarding Lead is [insert name] 

After ensuring the individual is safe from any immediate harm (and intervening where necessary and possible to stop further harm), you must: 

Respond to the disclosure – reassure, report and record. 

Where a child or young person discloses abuse, harm or neglect to you, you should: 

1. Reassure – stay calm, listen and show empathy. Reassure them that it will be taken seriously and explain that the issues will be reported internally and what may happen next. 

2. Report – If there is a possibility that a child or young person may be in immediate danger or if there is evidence that a criminal offence has been committed you must act without delay.  Contact the police, dial 999 for emergencies or 101 for non-emergencies. Otherwise immediately report to the relevant authorities or the Safeguarding Lead if you have any concerns about how the case should be taken forward. 

1. If you know where the child resides; contact the local multi-agency safeguarding hub for that area. You can find the details by searching online for the area followed by MASH e.g. Coventry MASH.  

2. Alternatively, you can contact the NSPCC helpline calling 0808 800 5000. if you feel that a child or young person is at immediate risk of harm, please call the police on 999 who can provide an immediate response. 

3. You will be asked to provide as much information as possible.   Such as the child’s full name, date of birth, address, school, GP, languages spoken, any disabilities the child may have, details of the parents.   Do not be concerned if you do not have all these details, you should still make the call.  

4. You should follow up the verbal referral in writing, within 48hrs 

5. You should not start any investigation or confront or contact the alleged perpetrator. 

1. Record – write up notes of the conversation clearly and factually within 24 hours. 

If there remains a child abuse concern refer the matter to the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.  The Safeguarding Lead will be responsible for liaising with the external agencies.   

If any allegation is made about a member of staff or professional working with a child, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) will be informed.  The Safeguarding Lead may need to consider whether to suspend an employee/volunteer if an allegation is made about them.  Suspension is a  

neutral act to provide an opportunity to investigate an allegation, and to protect both parties from further incidents or allegations.  The Board of Trustees will be informed of the decision.   

9.2 Immediate action to safeguard children and young people 

9.3 Next steps 

The local authority will inform PNH Support regarding the next steps.  They could decide on the following actions: 

• for a concern involving a child, a Section 47 enquiry may be completed by the police and/or Children’s Services 

• for a concern about a child to be investigated internally by PNH Support 

• no further action – although PNH Support may decide to act internally such as an investigation under another policy 

PNH Support will be unable to commence any internal investigations (under another policy for example) until given approval to do so by external personnel from the relevant Local Children’s Service and/or the Police.   

An internal investigation will always take place after an external investigation so that PNH Support can determine whether any internal actions are required (such as under another policy) or whether any changes need to be made.  

The PNH Board will need to consider whether serious incidents meet the reporting criteria as defined by Charity Commission and notify as required.  

9.4 Notification about concern 

The Safeguarding Lead will: 

• inform key stakeholders  

• inform the Board of Trustees 

• inform parents/families as required 

9.5 Action following conclusion of investigation 

The Safeguarding Lead must: 

• inform all relevant parties of the outcome as applicable;  

• ensure that any action required arising out of the investigation is carried out within the identified timescales. 

10. Support 

PNH Support recognises that dealing with concerns re abuse is difficult for all parties involved.   

Staff and volunteers have individual supervisions with a line manager/Chair of the Board where they will be offered support and can discuss any safeguarding concerns they may have.   

11. Recruitment 

All offers of employment at PNH Support are subject to satisfactory references, confirmation that the person is fit to work and the required level of DBS check.  Each position is subject to a probation period. Where a particular employee or volunteer role requires close working with children, young people and their families an enhanced DBS check or Disclosure Scotland check will be undertaken. 

12. Training 

All staff and volunteers working with children and young people will be required to familiarise themselves with PNH Support’s Children and Young People Safeguarding Policy. 

13. Whistleblowing  

PNH Support has a whistleblowing policy of which all staff and volunteers should be aware.  The policy is provided to reassure staff and volunteers that it is safe and acceptable to speak up and raise any concern about malpractice/wrongdoing at an early stage and in the right way in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.  

15. Review 

PNH Support safeguarding policies and procedures will be reviewed annually or as required due to legislation change. 

16. Key safeguarding contacts 

Policy owner: Safeguarding Lead 

Last review: February 2025 

Next review: February 2026