Safeguarding Policy for children and vulnerable adults

Note: The following is a short extract from the Policy document. Click here to read or download the full policy document (17 pages PDF).

The North Herts Minority Ethnic Forum (referred in this document as NHMEF) is concerned to safeguard the wholeness and the well-being of every person in our community, of whatever age. It is the responsibility of each one of us to prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse of every member of our community, and particularly the abuse of those most vulnerable among us, including children and young people.

It is the duty of all those who work with children and young people to prevent harm and abuse of every kind, and to report any abuse discovered or suspected.

Policy Statement

NHMEF accepts the responsibility to implement procedures to provide a duty of care for children and vulnerable adults, safeguard their well-being and protect them from abuse when they are engaged in services organised and provided by the Forum. We aim to do this by:

1. Respecting and promoting the rights, wishes and feelings of children and vulnerable adults.
2. Raising the awareness of the duty of care responsibilities relating to children and vulnerable adults.
3. Promoting and implementing appropriate procedures to safeguard the well-being of children and vulnerable adults to protect them from harm.
4. Creating a safe and healthy environment within all our services, avoiding situations where abuse or allegations of abuse may occur.
5. Recruiting, training, supporting and supervising staff, elected members and volunteers to adopt best practice to safeguard and protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, and minimise risk to them.
6. Responding to any allegations of misconduct or abuse of children or vulnerable adults in line with this Policy and Procedures document.
7. Requiring staff and volunteers to adopt and abide by the Forum’s Children and Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.
8. Reviewing and evaluating this Policy and Procedures document on a regular basis.

Principles and Definitions of Vulnerability

This policy and these procedures are based on these principles:

1. The welfare of children and vulnerable adults is the primary concern.
2. All children and vulnerable adults irrespective of their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, socio-economic status, religious belief and/ or sexual orientation have the right to protection from abuse.
3. It is everyone’s responsibility to report any concerns about abuse.
4. All incidents of alleged poor practice, misconduct and abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
5. All personal data will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Act 2018.
6. The term ‘child’, or ‘young person’ is used to refer to anyone under the age of 18 years.
7. The term vulnerable adult can include people with learning disabilities, older people (irrespective of age), people with physical or sensory disabilities, people with mental ill health, people with certain physical illnesses or people with drug or alcohol problems.
8. The term parent is used as a generic term to represent parent, carers and guardians.
9. The terms staff, trustee and volunteers is used to refer to employees, Board of Trustees, volunteers and anyone working on behalf of, delivering a service for, or representing the Forum.

Click here to read or download the full policy document (17 pages PDF).