SAFEGUARDING POLICY

Updated July 2024

This policy covers all users of Oakbrook Community Farm, their visitors, and volunteers.

Legislative Context

Current government legislation around the safeguarding of children, young people, and vulnerable adults states that:

“The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.”

Policy Statement

Oakbrook Community Farm takes its responsibility to children, young people, and vulnerable adults with great seriousness. We have established comprehensive measures to protect them from potential dangers and believe that keeping these groups safe is everybody’s responsibility.

Key Principles:

  • Rights: All children, young people, and vulnerable adults have an absolute right to a life free from abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
  • Access to Procedures: All children, young people, and vulnerable adults should have access to relevant procedures and services for addressing issues of abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including the civil and criminal justice system and victim support services.
  • Staff Responsibilities:
    • Be mindful of issues related to young people’s safety and welfare.
    • Recognize instances of abuse and address them effectively.
    • Report and refer any concerns about possible abuse, neglect, or exploitation, however minor they may appear.
  • DBS Checks and Training: Oakbrook Community Farm will ensure that all staff who oversee activity with young or vulnerable people will have a DBS check and Safeguarding Training.
  • Safeguarding Culture: We will create a safeguarding culture and environment where the opportunities for abuse, neglect, or exploitation are minimized. We will also ensure that children, young people, and vulnerable adults have the confidence to voice any concerns or fears they may have about abuse, neglect, or exploitation and feel able to disclose allegations of harm or abuse.
  • Equality of Protection: Oakbrook Community Farm recognizes that all children and vulnerable adults, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse.

Purpose of the Policy

  • Protection: To provide protection for the children, young people, and vulnerable adults who visit Oakbrook Community Farm.
  • Guidance: To provide employees, tenants, and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt if they suspect a child, young person, or vulnerable adult may be experiencing, or be at risk of, harm.

Creating a Safe Culture

Oakbrook Community Farm will create a safe culture by:

  • Ensuring appropriate supervision of staff, children, and young people.
  • Knowing who its service users are.
  • Working in a safe environment.
  • Providing information to children and young people.
  • Understanding how children, young people, and vulnerable adults communicate.
  • Supporting parents or carers who wish to take part in activities.
  • Ensuring appropriate checks are made on staff and volunteers.
  • Maintaining up-to-date child protection policies and procedures.
  • Ensuring staff are trained appropriately.

Training and Procedures

  • Proactive Safeguarding: Oakbrook Community Farm takes its safeguarding responsibilities seriously and will be vigilant and proactive in both the prevention and early identification of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, promoting a safe and open culture.
  • Communication: We encourage land users and volunteers to discuss any concerns they may have regarding safeguarding issues with the Board of Directors. The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Craig Johnson, who can be contacted at craig@oakbrookfarm.org.uk.
  • Professional Standards: Staff and volunteers should consistently display high standards of professional behavior, acting as positive role models and encouraging a respectful and inclusive culture.
  • Safeguarding Leads: Oakbrook Community Farm land users and volunteers will have a Safeguarding lead connected with the organization they are visiting, who will have a thorough understanding of safeguarding knowledge and procedures.
  • Risk Assessments: Risk assessments will be undertaken for all key activities.
  • Training: Oakbrook Community Farm acknowledges the value of staff training in supporting a respectful and inclusive culture, enabling the identification of abuse, and encouraging proactive communication about safeguarding concerns.

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

The need to protect the child, young person, or vulnerable adult is paramount. It is the responsibility of all staff to report and record any safeguarding concerns they may have and not to decide whether a concern constitutes abuse or not.

Procedure for Reporting:

  1. Noticing a Concern: If anybody notices something concerning or problematic, they should refer the problem to the leader in charge.
  2. Escalation: If a director, staff member, or volunteer does not uphold our policy and procedures, this should be reported to the DSL (or any other director if the DSL is failing to uphold standards) as soon as possible and within 24 hours. The DSL and/or a group of directors will then decide on further action within 48 hours.
  3. Immediate Action: If there is an immediate risk of harm, action must be taken immediately, which may include:
    • Asking the suspect perpetrator to leave the site immediately, pending review by the relevant DSL.
    • Calling the police if necessary.

Specific Reporting Process:

Due to the nature of the farm and many organizations being on-site, the reporting procedure is as follows:

  1. Report to Session Leader: Report any concerns to the leader in charge of the session the individual(s) are attending the farm for.
  2. Report to Safeguarding Lead: If the concern is about the leader, report to the relevant Safeguard lead listed below.

Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL), Deputies (DDSL), and Safeguarding Leads (SL):

< li>Wild Kids Forest School (Oakbrook):

  1. Escalation to Craig Johnson: If concerns relate to anyone named as an SL or there is any doubt about who to report to, contact Craig Johnson at craig@oakbrookfarm.org.uk.
  2. Serious Reports: All serious reports will be recorded on a secure database by the DSL.
  3. External Reporting: If concerns relate to anyone named as a DSL, contact the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership:

Definitions

  • Child: A young person under the age of 18. In line with the Sexual Offences Act 2003, this age limit may be extended for young people with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (LLDDs).
  • Vulnerable Adult: A person (18 or over) who is, or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or another disability, age, or illness, and is, or may be unable to take care of themselves, or unable to protect themselves against significant harm or exploitation. At Oakbrook Community Farm, this also applies to vulnerable adults in education.
  • Designated Safeguard Lead (DSL): A trained safeguarding lead independently responsible for their organization’s reporting process.
  • Safeguarding Lead: A responsible person for individual organizations under the Oakbrook policy or activities being run by Oakbrook Community Farm.

Policy Agreement and Review

We, the Directors of Oakbrook Community Farm, agree upon this policy and will review it once a year to remain in line with regulations set out by GOV.UK Safeguarding and Child Protection.

 

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