The Footballers Academy – Safeguarding Children Policy 2024
1. The FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY - acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in 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 their parents/carers is essential.
We acknowledge that every child 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 Footballers Academy recognises that this is the responsibility of every member of staff involved in our club.
3. THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children 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 upon appointing someone
• Require an FA DBS Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.
All current THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY staff who are regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of children will be required to complete a DBS Enhanced Disclosure via The FA DBS Unit.
If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY, 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 DBS 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 and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise the risk of ‘grooming’ within football.
5. THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY supports The FA’s Whistle blowing Policy. Any child 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 Footballers academy encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.
6. THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY has appointed a 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 Welfare Officer is the first point
of contact for all Foundation staff regarding concerns about the welfare of any child or young person. The 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 staff 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 e dealt with promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the 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 Football Academy 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 Welfare Officer.
ii. If the issue is one of poor practice the 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 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 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 click on the ‘The complete downloads directory’ and you will find useful resources along with The FA Safeguarding strategy updates. 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.
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10. Further advice on Safeguarding can be obtained from:
Birmingham County FA
Tel: 0121 357 4278 (option 1)
Email: Safeguarding@BirminghamFA.com
DBS queries – Support@BirminghamFA.com
The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line: 0845 210 8080
NSPCC: 0808 800 5000
Dudley Children's Front Door: 0300 555 0050 (MASH)
If a child is in immediate danger of serious harm or has been left alone, dial 999 immediately and let the operator know that it is a possible child protection issue.
Late Collection Policy
Introduction:
Late collection of children by parents presents THE FOOTBALLERS ACADEMY and its coaches with a potentially difficult situation.
a) Guidelines for Parents:
It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure they have contact details for their child’s coach.
b) It is not the coach’s responsibility to transport children home on behalf of parents
who have been delayed.
c) Parents/carers MUST phone their child’s coach/school if there is any likelihood of late
collection.
d) Parents MUST provide, where possible, two alternative contact names and numbers
including the relationship to the child, for staff to use when they are not available on
their usual numbers.
2. Guidelines for Coaching Staff:
In the event of a parent/guardian failing to collect a child at the agreed session finish time.
a) the coach will wait with the child/young person at the sport facility, with other
staff/volunteers or parents present if at all possible.
b) Coaching staff will keep a record of all calls, times and outcomes.
d) The coach will then make all the necessary arrangements to attempt contact with
the parent/guardian using emergency contact numbers.
e) If all attempts fail, the coach will then contact The Footballers Academy Welfare Officer or his line manager for further guidance. Where possible, this will be done in an open environment with another coach in attendance.
3 Coaching Staff will:
• Never take the child home or to any other location.
• Never send the child home with another person without permission from a parent or carer.
• Never ask a child to wait in a vehicle or sport facility with you alone.
• Never spend time alone with children away from others.
• Never transport a child to or from an event or activity.
• Never send a child away from the facility alone.