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The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
Safeguarding Children Policy is as follows:
1. The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare
of every child and young person who has been entrusted
to its care and is committed to working to provide a
safe environment for all members. A child or young
person is anyone under the age of 18 engagedin any club
football activity. We subscribe to The Football
Association’s (The FA) Safeguarding Children – Policy
and Procedures and endorse and adopt the policy
Statement contained in that document.
2. The key principles of The FA Safeguarding Children
Policy are that:
• the child’s welfare is, and must always be, the
paramount consideration
• all children and young people have a right to be
protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender,
disability, race, sexual orientation, faith or belief
• all suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken
seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
• working in partnership with other organisations,
children and young people and their parents/carers
is essential.
We acknowledge that every child or young person who
plays or participates in football should be able
to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be
protected from poor practice and abuse.
The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
recognises that this is the responsibility of every
adult involved in our club.
3. The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all
children and young people by protecting them from
physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or
bullying. It is noted and accepted that The Football
Association’s Safeguarding Children Regulations (see The
FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in
a paid or voluntary capacity. This means whether you are
a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours,
football coach, club official or medical staff.
4. We endorse and adopt The FA’s Responsible Recruitment
guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:
• Specify what the role is and what tasks it involves
• Request identification documents
• As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and
where possible interview people before appointing them
• Ask for and follow up with 2 references before
appointing someone
• Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure where
appropriate in line with FA guidelines.
All current Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development
Centre Club members who are regularly caring for,
supervising, training or being in sole charge of
children and young people will be required to complete a
CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit1. If there
are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an
individual who is already involved or who has approached
us to become part of The Sir Tom Finney Preston
Soccer Development Centre guidance will be sought from
The Football Association. It is noted and accepted that
The FA will consider the relevance and significance of
the information obtained via The FA CRB Unit Enhanced
Disclosure and that all decisions will be made in the
best interests of children and young people.
It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a
history of relevant and significant offending from
having contact with children or young people and the
Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures
Let’s make football safe – not sorry.
TheFA.com/Footballsafe Let’s make football safe –
not sorry Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures
opportunity to influence policies or practice with
children or young people. This is to prevent direct
sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise
the risk of ‘grooming’ within football.
5. The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
supports The FA’s Whistle blowing Policy. Any adult or
young person with concerns about a colleague can
‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Safeguarding Team on
0207 745 4787, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The
Football Association, 25 Soho Square, W1D 4FA or
alternatively by going direct to the Police, Children’s
Services or the NSPCC.
The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if
necessary.
6. The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer in line with
The FA’s role profile and required completion of the
Safeguarding Children and Welfare Officers
Workshop. The post holder will be involved with Welfare
Officer training provided by The FA and/or
County FA. The Club Welfare Officer is the first point
of contact for all club members regarding concerns
about the welfare of any child or young person. The Club
Welfare Officer will liaise directly with the
County FA (CFA) Welfare Officer and will be familiar
with the procedures for referring any concerns. They
will also play a proactive role in increasing awareness
of Respect, poor practice and abuse amongst
club members.
7. We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of
bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any
kind is not acceptable at our club. If bullying does
occur, all players or parents/carers should be able
to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with
promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the Club
Welfare Officer in cases of serious bullying the CFA
Welfare Officer may be contacted.
8. Respect codes of conduct for Players,
Parents/Spectators, Officials and Coaches have been
implemented by The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer
Development Centre Football Club.
In order to validate these Respect codes of conduct the
club has clear actions it will take regarding repeated
or serious misconduct at club level and acknowledges the
possibility of potential sanctions which may be
implemented by the County FA in more serious
circumstances.
9. Reporting your concerns about the welfare of a child
or young person. Safeguarding is everyone’s
responsibility if you are worried about a child it is
important that you report your concerns – no action
is not an option.
i. If you are worried about a child then you need to
report your concerns to the Club Welfare Officer.
ii. If the issue is one of poor practice the Club
Welfare Officer will either:
• deal with the matter themselves or
• seek advice from the CFA Welfare Officer
iii. If the concern is more serious – possible child
abuse, where possible, contact the CFA Welfare Officer
first, then immediately contact the Police or Children’s
Services
iv. If the child needs immediate medical treatment take
them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them
this is a child protection concern. Let your Club
Welfare Officer know what action you have taken, they in
turn will inform the CFA Welfare Officer.
v. If at any time you are not able to contact your Club
Welfare Officer or the matter is clearly serious then
you can either:
• contact your CFA Welfare Officer directly
• contact the Police or Children’s Services
• call The FA/NSPCC 24 hour Helpline for advice on 0808
800 5000 or Deaf users text phone 0800 056 0566
NB – The FA’s Safeguarding Children Policy and
Procedures
are available via
www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe – click on the
‘downloads’ under Policy and Procedures. The policy
outlines in detail what to do if you are concerned about
the welfare of a child and includes flow diagrams which
describe this process. How to make a referral is also
covered in the Safeguarding Children workshop.
Participants are given the opportunity to discuss how
this feels and how best they can prepare themselves to
deal with such a situation. For more information on this
workshop contact your County Welfare Officer.
10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can
be obtained from:
• The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Development Centre
C/O UCLan Sports Arena, Tom Benson Way, Cottam Preston
PR2 1SG
T: Contact Kath Mason 07730 570688
E:
enquiries@prestonsoccercentre.net
Lancashire County Football Association’s Welfare
Officer
T: Tel: 01772 624000
Fax: 01772 624700
E:
Dave Woodfine -
David.Woodfine@lancashirefa.com
•
www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe
• Emailing –
Footballsafe@TheFA.com
• The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line 0845
210 8080
(1) The policy on CRB Enhanced Disclosures will be
subject to change, in light of the implementation of the
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, 2006 due to come
into effect in July 2010. Further information will be
provided on this via
TheFA.com and via the County FA Welfare
Officers.
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