 Statement of intent
Music of Life Foundation recognises the personal dignity and rights of all young or vulnerable people, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care while we are working with them. We undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for them, and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse. We will liaise closely with the statutory agencies to ensure that any allegations or disclosures of abuse are promptly and properly dealt with, victims supported, and perpetrators held to account.
THIS POLICY APPLIES TO:
• all programme team workers used by Music of Life Foundation, including temporary staff, those on work experience with us, and those who join a team for a particular activity;
• all employees of Music of Life Foundation in whatever capacity and wherever they work;
• all adults accompanying groups of children and young people, who take part in the events, organised by Music of Life Foundation;
• all activities organised by Music of Life Foundation wherever they run;
Appointment procedures
This section applies to all employees of Music of Life Foundation. Application forms for jobs at Music of Life Foundation will contain a full CV including details of all previous experience of working with young or vulnerable people. They will provide photographic or other robust evidence of identity. References will be sought from previous employers where the work has involved substantial contact with children, and all referees will be asked to state whether they know of any reason why the applicant should not be trusted with young or vulnerable people. Applicants will always be interviewed and their experience of working with children explored. Applicants should be asked about their ability and commitment to fulfil the duty to prevent the abuse of young or vulnerable people. All appointees will be checked if possible through the CRB. All paperwork relevant to this process will be retained indefinitely.
This section applies to people who are working as part of the Music of Life Foundation team, but are not employees:
Long term helpers or work experience students who are preparing for a career in youth work, and who form part of regular teams at Music of Life Foundation, will go through the procedures outlined above.
Short term helpers and work experience students will be considered to be clients, and therefore people requiring protection as part of our normal work, and will therefore not require clearance. However, they may not exercise leadership or work in any other way with clients without supervision from staff, and may not be in any one-to-one situation with any client.
This section applies to other adults who potentially have substantial contact with young or vulnerable people taking part in events organised by Music of Life Foundation.
All adults leading or supervising activities with young or vulnerable people at Music of Life Foundation, or during any activity for which Music of Life Foundation is responsible, must follow our protection policy.
All adults who are leading or supervising activities with young or vulnerable people involved in Music of Life Foundation’s events must have a child protection policy in place which is of equivalent standard to ours.
Management of staff
 All members of staff have clear job descriptions, outlining their roles and responsibilities, and staging that it is a primary task and responsibility of all staff to prevent the abuse of young or vulnerable people.
To minimise the risk of abuse or allegations of abuse, a code of practice must be followed by staff and all accompanying adults; see appendix A.
Training in issues concerning the protection and welfare of young or vulnerable people will be provided for all new staff, and regularly to all staff. This is outlined in appendix B.
The existence of this policy will be made known to every adult escorting a youth group to any of our events.
Management of disclosures or discovery of abuse
The member of staff who received the original disclosure of abuse will be the only person on our staff who interviews the young or vulnerable person who makes the disclosure. S/he will make careful notes about how the disclosure occurred, and what the young person said.
All such disclosures are immediately referred to and dealt with by senior staff as follows:
The designated person will be informed about all disclosures, concerns, and all other related matters, and his/her advice and guidance will be sought by the person receiving the disclosure and by staff who have to take executive decisions. The designated person will advise on all decisions relating to the management of the allegation, and will be informed about all relevant matters and all decisions taken. The designated person is familiar with all related policies and undertakes training to ensure that s/he is able to give wise and sound advice.
The designated person is a permanent appointment, and can be consulted by phone. If s/he cannot be contacted, or if the allegation is against him/her, the task is taken on by the first available person in the list below.
The senior executive member of staff will make all decisions relating to passing on disclosures, suspending or sending away staff (whether our own or not) and all other decisions, always consulting the designated person of what is intended and of what decisions are to be taken.
The senior executive member of staff is the director, and can be consulted by phone. If s/he cannot be contacted, or if the allegation is against him/ her, this task is taken on by another person as outlined in the list below.
If either of the two people above cannot be contacted within a reasonable time, then the tasks are delegated as follows. Any person against whom allegations are made is excluded from either role. The roles of the designated person and the senior executive member of staff may not both be done by the same person.
Designated person: the director, programme team staff who have been here longer than two years in decreasing order of seniority, a member of the management committee.
Senior executive member of staff: the assistant director, the chair of the management committee.
To ensure the availability of senior staff, the director, the assistant director, and the most senior programme team worker, will make arrangements to ensure that at least two of them can be contacted within three hours.
If the allegation is against a member of staff, whether our own or not, then that person will normally be suspended;
If the allegation is not against a member of the Music of Life Foundation staff, then senior staff at the organisation from which they come must be informed both by phone and in writing of what has occurred, and agree to take appropriate action for the protection of the child(ren) involved, and for the proper management of any member of staff concerned. This procedure is followed if the disclosure is of abuse by someone who is not currently supervising the young or vulnerable people.
In all such cases our local social services will be informed, and asked to ensure that the concern is properly dealt with (which may be by passing it on to another authority).
If the youth group/school etc. does not have either a suitable policy or the resources to deal with the complaint, then the project will contact the parents directly.
Appendix A: Code of practice for staff.
No member of staff may be left alone in a room with a single young person.
If a member of staff needs to speak to a young person on a one-to-one basis, he/she must inform another member of staff. Only public rooms should be used for such meetings and there must always be the possibility of monitoring by someone else, such as by having another person present, by using a room with glass panels or windows which give onto a public area where people are likely to pass, by leaving the door slightly open, or by adopting some other agreed means of ensuring that occasional unforeseen monitoring takes place.
No member of staff goes to a young person’s bedroom even in an emergency without being accompanied by another member of staff.
Where a worker may come into physical contact with a young person e.g. icebreakers, games, or first aid, staff must be extremely aware of and sensitive to the feelings of the young person and to the ways in which their own actions may be interpreted or perceived. Staff should think carefully in choosing and planning appropriate activities at all times.
Appendix B: Training for Music of Life Foundation staff.
Training for Music of Life Foundation staff will be as follows:
All staff:
• training on the code of practice regarding contact with children or vulnerable adults;
• action to be taken if a disclosure is received;
All programme team staff:
On induction:
• this policy
• the code of practice regarding contact with children or vulnerable adults. |
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