Child welfare

Regents Park Football Club Child Protection Policy 

1 Regents Park Football Club 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 engaged in any club football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s child protection and best practice policy and procedures and endorse and adopt the policy statement contained in that document.

 2  The key principles of The FA child protection 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, culture, language, racial origin,religious beliefs or sexual orientation

• 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 or 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.

Regents Park  Football Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club. 

3  Regents Park Football Club 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 child protection regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This includes those who are a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours, football coach, club official or medical staff.

4 We endorse and adopt The FA’s child protection and best practice guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:

• Specify what the role is and what tasks and what it involves

• Request identification documents

• As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before  appointing

• Request and follow up with two references before appointing someone

• Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.

All current Regents Park Football Club members with direct access to children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit.

If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Regents Park  Football Club 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 CRB 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 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 Regents Park Football Club supports The FA’s whistle blowing policy.

Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Child Protection Manager on 0207 745 4771, by writing to

The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, London W1D 4FA or by going direct to the police, social services or the NSPCC.

Regents Park  Football Club encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.

6  Regents Park  Football Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer

(CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile and required completion of the child protection and best practice workshop. The post holder will be involved with

Welfare Officer training provided by The FA and/or County FA.  The CWO is the first point of contact for all club members and parents or guardians regarding concerns for the welfare of any child or young person. They will liaise directly with the CFA CPO and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in increasing an awareness of poor practice and abuse amongst club members.  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, parents or guardians 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 or spectators, officials and coaches have been implemented by Regents Park Football Club.

In order to validate these codes of conduct the club has clear sanctions to deal with any misconduct at club level and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by leagues or the CFA in more serious circumstances. All prospective members will be informed of these codes.

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.

• If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the Club Welfare Officer
• 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

• 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
• If the child needs immediate medical treatment take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them there 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
• 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

 Further advice on child protection matters can be obtained from:

Danielle Houliston – Club Welfare Officer

T: 07815 930 150

E: dannihouli@gmail.com

Sue Gill – County Football’s Welfare Officer

T: 020 7751 2420

E: Sue.Gill@londonfa.com

www.thefa.com/footballsafe

Emailing – footballasfe@thefa.com

The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line: 0845 210 8080