Safeguarding
What is Safeguarding?
In order to grow and thrive young people need to be challenged as well as kept safe by those offering opportunities for them to develop.
Safeguarding young people is about much more than child protection. It means taking a comprehensive approach that prevents young people from any potential source of harm.
This is not just about preventing and acting on the worst case scenarios, such as abuse happening to a young person, but it is about educating parents as well as those working with young people to deal with them in the most appropriate ways. It is about making sure that the right people are recruited as employees and volunteers to work with young people in all settings, and creating a culture of openness and honesty, and protecting young people from harm and danger without smothering their potential and need for challenge and excitement.
The Local Safeguarding Children Board Northamptonshire (LSCBN) is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in Northamptonshire will cooperate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the locality and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do.
Safeguarding Policy
If you would like support and advice on putting together a Safeguarding Policy within your own organisation, please 'Contact Us' for more information.
Keeping it Safe
Keeping it Safe is a young person-centred approach to safety and child protection. It is a comprehensive guide including recommended standards in all areas of policy and practice in safeguarding young people, guidelines on how to reach these standards as well as sample forms and templates to help you get there. It also incorporates a workbook which is a useful tool to measure your own organization against the standards, and which you can use to work towards Sound Systems Accreditation.
To order a copy of Keeping it Safe contact NCVYS on 020 7278 1041. NCVYS members price is £30 plus P&P.
Sound Systems Accreditation
The Sound Systems Accreditation scheme is a way in which organizations can critically examine their own policies and practices around safeguarding, measure them against the recommended standards and work towards reaching those standards. It encourages, promotes and accredits good practice in accordance with the Keeping it Safe standards.
To start working towards Sound Systems accreditation contact NCVYS on 020 7278 1041. Sound Systems is free, although you will need a copy of Keeping it Safe.
Think You Know Resources
The Think U Know (TUK) resources have been produced to help teach young people to stay safe online. The resources have been developed largely with the direct help and advice from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centres Youth Advisory Panel. So when we say these products are designed by young people for young people ... it's true.
This means TUK has street credibility! The products incorporate the latest classroom chat, lingo and music to effectively portray key safety online messages. Why not see for yourself and download the TUK resources.
Within Northamptonshire we have a trained Ambassador for TUK resources. Training will be available shortly to all voluntary sector organisations and will be advertised on the 'e-bulletin' section of this website.
Reporting
If you think a child is at immediate risk call 999.
Want to report suspicious behaviour online with or towards a child?
Click the 'Report Abuse' button at the bottom of this page.
Want to report illegal content online?
Report to the Internet Watch Foundation
Want to report other non-emergency crime?
Report it to Northants Police
Want to report a crime anonymously?
Contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
Last updated on 12/11/08 by Tiffany Irons