Safeguarding Young People and Referring Safeguarding Concerns
Scope of this chapter
This chapter explains the procedure to be followed where there are concerns that a young person placed with you has suffered, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.
You should have been made aware of these procedures for responding to concerns about the safety of a young person, and these procedures must be followed in all cases. You should have up to date training in place around how to prevent, recognise and respond to allegation of abuse and neglect.
When a young person is placed with you, you will be provided with all relevant contact details, including for the Designated Safeguarding Lead, your Supervising Worker, the child’s social worker and who to contact outside of standard office hours.
Please note: As the Supported Lodgings scheme in Derby supports young people aged 16-21, you may have a young person living with you who is over 18 and therefore an adult. If you have safeguarding concerns about an adult in your care, you will need to follow the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding adults policy and procedures guidance. The following link explains what constitutes a concern, and how to report: Safeguarding Adults Decision Making Guidance.
Related guidance
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and, in particular protecting them from abuse and harm, is everyone's responsibility and depends on effective joint working between supported lodgings hosts and relevant agencies and practitioners.
The supported lodgings Service is committed to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of young people who are placed in the Service, so that they can experience a healthy and happy childhood free from abuse and neglect.
The local authority has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all young people, and to investigate and take action as necessary to protect young people when there are concerns that they have been abused or neglected.
You have a responsibility to report any concerns of abuse or neglect and to take all allegations seriously, and report them to the local Safeguarding team and follow the advice given.
If it is an emergency situation then the police will need to be called.
If it is out of hours then the out of hours service will need to be called.
The procedures in this chapter are mandatory and any failure to comply with them will be addressed through appropriate procedures.
The supported lodgings Service will ensure that arrangements are made for you and young people placed by the Service to be provided with contact details for the area authority, and Ofsted, for the purposes of referring any concern about child welfare or safety to them. Ofsted can also be contacted on 0300 123 1231.
Young people should feel and be safe, understand how to protect themselves and be protected from significant harm, including (but not limited to) neglect, abuse, sexual and criminal exploitation, accidents, bullying, self-harm, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, homophobic behaviour, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and radicalisation. Any discriminatory behaviours must be challenged and help and support given to young people about how to treat others with respect.
When young people raise concerns, it is essential that you listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond and report appropriately.
Care and placement planning ensures that any risks associated with young people such as offending, misusing drugs or alcohol, self-harming, going missing, being affiliated with gangs, being subject to sexual or criminal exploitation, extremism or radicalism are known and understood by you.
Young people’s safety and welfare is promoted in all placements and you will actively safeguard and promote the welfare of young people in placement. You must make positive relationships with young people, generate a culture of openness and trust and be aware of and alert to any signs or symptoms that might indicate a young person is at risk of harm. You will be trained in appropriate safer-care practice, including how to support young people who have been abused.
Young people must be helped to understand how to keep themselves safe, including when outside of the household or when using the internet or social media see Internet, Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure and Extremism and Radicalisation Procedure.
Proactive and creative safeguarding practice means that all young people, including the most vulnerable, have a strong sense of safety and well-being and they are unlikely to be missing from placement on a regular basis. Young people who do go missing will experience well-coordinated responses that reduce the harm or risk of harm to them, risks are well understood and minimised, there is a clear plan of urgent action in place to protect them and to reduce further harm or risk of harm. See Missing Young People Procedure.
As a supported lodgings host, you are prepared and supported to manage situations and behaviour which contribute to a feeling of well-being and security for young people. Young people are involved in creating ways to de-escalate situations and finding creative alternative strategies that are effective. See Positive Behaviour Support Procedure.
Young people must be supported to take age-appropriate risks, as a normal part of growing up, that are considered with you, placing social workers (as appropriate) and the young people themselves. The supported lodgings Service implements a proportionate approach to risk assessments to ensure that these work in practice, are fit for purpose and provide enough information to all relevant people so that they can support young people safely and appropriately. Individual up-to-date risk assessments must address any known vulnerabilities for each young person effectively and set out what action should be taken to address and minimise the risks, and reduce harm or the risk of harm (see Risk Assessment and Planning).
You and the supported lodgings Service work effectively in partnership with other agencies concerned with child protection and have good links with these agencies, e.g. the accommodating authority, schools, hospitals, general practitioners, etc., and do not work in isolation from them.
Allegations or suspicion of harm must be shared with the appropriate agencies and be handled fairly, quickly and in accordance with statutory guidance. Young people must be supported and protected. Support must be given both to the person making the allegation and the person who is the subject of the allegation. The supported lodgings Service makes sensitive and carefully assessed decisions if young people need to be removed from hosts if a host is subject to an allegation (see What Happens If an Allegation is Made Against Me or My Family?).
Any child protection concerns must immediately be shared with the accommodating local authority or the local authority for the area where the supported lodgings placement is located as required and a record of that referral be retained.
Outside office hours, the Children's Social Care Out of Hours Service should be contacted.
Allegations that another young person, a visitor, a person in the community, teacher, social worker, parent or any other person has harmed the young person in placement should also be reported to the young person's allocated social worker, your Supervising Worker or Out of Hours Service.
Where a concern or allegation about historical or non-recent abuse is made this must still also be shared with the young person’s allocated social worker and your Supervising Worker - there should not be an assumption that the concern has been dealt with.
All actions should be recorded in full by you.
Where there is an immediate risk to a young person, you must take the immediate necessary steps to protect the young person, which may include calling the emergency services e.g. the police or ambulance service.
If the young person is taken to hospital or the police are called, you must inform them of any concerns in relation to possible abuse or neglect.
Wherever possible, the young person's allocated social worker and your Supervising Worker should be contacted as soon as you become aware of the young person's need for emergency attention. However you should not delay taking action in order to do so. If the young person's allocated social worker and your Supervising Worker are not contacted before the emergency services are called, they should be notified as soon as practicable afterwards. The Designated Manager for Safeguarding within the Service should also be notified.
All actions should be recorded in full by you.
Last Updated: May 10, 2024
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