Child Protection Policy

ST OSYTH PARISH COUNCIL

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY

St Osyth Parish Council is committed to ensuring that children and young people are protected and kept safe from harm whilst they are engaged in any activity associated with the Council and to establishing the following principles:

• Anyone under the age of 18 years is considered to be a child
• The welfare of the child is paramount;
• All children and young people without exception, have the right to protection from abuse and for their rights, feelings and views to be respected.
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.

In line with these principles the Parish Council will aim to:

• Create a healthy and safe environment for all activities, where children and young people feel safe and secure
• Promote the general welfare, health and full development of  children and young people during activities
• Promote and implement appropriate procedures to safeguard the well-being of children and young people and protect them from abuse.
• Respect the rights, wishes and feelings of children and young people and ensure that they are listened to.
•  Ensure that any allegations made by a child are not allowed to go unchallenged, and that any allegations and suspicions are investigated, recorded and acted upon promptly.
• Ensure that councillors, staff and volunteers are well informed, supported and enabled to provide the best possible practice
• Ensure that all new employees/volunteers who will work with, or come into contact with, children and young people in the course of their work activities will complete a disclosure form from the Criminal Records Bureau to ensure that there are no irregularities in their background that may give cause for concern
• Ensure that all new employees/volunteers will be provided with the Child Protection Policy and asked to sign to confirm that they understand it and will abide by it.

• The Parish Council will appoint a Child Protection Officer who will ensure that procedures are put in place to enable the aims of the Parish Council to be met and to initiate appropriate action should any allegation of improper conduct be made.

The Council’s Child Protection Officer is The Clerk to the Counci

GUIDE TO GOOD PRACTICE WHEN WORKING WITH CHILDREN

When working with children you should:

• Always be publicly open.
• Avoid any situations where you and an individual child are completely unobserved.

When working with children you should never:

• Engage in rough, physical or sexually provocative games
• Allow or engage in any form of inappropriate contact
• Allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged
• Make sexually suggestive comments to a child, even in fun
• Allow allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon
• Do things of a personal nature that the child can do for itself

Approved by St Osyth Parish Council under G-13-161, at the Ordinary Council Meeting held on Thursday 16^th January 2014.