Child Protection Policy

Part A – 1.0 Introduction 

1.1 Who does this policy apply to? 

This policy applies to all staff, mentors and volunteers working for or engaging with Teens in AI as part of Teens in AI events, whether in the UK, or internationally either as a permanent member of staff, contractor or freelancer, mentor or volunteer and regardless of seniority or role. 

Everyone has a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, regardless of how a child might come into contact with us.

1.2 Engaging with children is at the very heart of what we do.

The Teens in AI engages with children across the globe through events and services that we provide.

1.3 In all that we do, the Teens in AI has a legal duty to ensure that the children with whom we engage have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity. It is an obligation we take very seriously. 

1.4 The Teens in AI does not tolerate any form of child abuse including online grooming, possession and distribution of child abuse images. Any such behaviour will result in the Teens in AI Child Protection policy being implemented including disciplinary action and, potentially, summary dismissal. Should the Teens in AI become aware of past or current convictions or upheld disciplinaries for gross misconduct that suggest there may be a risk to children, these will be considered in accordance with relevant legislation and alongside the requirements of the Child Protection policy. 

Terminology 

– Children and young people means anyone under the age of 18 years of age. 

– Staff means anyone who has a contractual relationship with the Teens in AI. 

– The policies, regulation and guidance relevant to child protection are available on the website and are regularly reviewed and updated in www.teensinai.com

2.0 Policy Objectives 

2.1 To ensure a culture within the Teens in AI where safeguarding children, including child protection, is everybody’s business 

2.2 To inform all staff, mentors, volunteers, contractors and freelancers are  ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities to safeguard children in all areas and activities  of the Teens in AI 

2.3 To ensure that staff know what to do if they are concerned about the welfare of a child or concerned about the behaviour of an adult who works with children. 

2.4 To ensure staff know where they can go for advice and support if they are not sure about any aspect of working with children. 

3.0 Definition 

3.1 Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. 

3.2 Safeguarding means: 

• Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment 
• Preventing harm to children’s health or development 
• Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care 
• Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes. 

3.3 Child protection is part of the safeguarding process and focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. 

3.4 The child protection policy and safeguarding children guidance apply to all children up to the age of 18 years of age.  

4.0 What is Child Abuse? 

4.1 Child abuse is any action by another person – adult or child – that causes significant harm to a child. It can 

be physical, sexual or emotional, but can also be about a lack of love, care and attention. We know that neglect, whatever form it takes, can be as damaging to a child as physical abuse. 

4.2 An abused child can experience more than one type of abuse, as well as other difficulties in their lives. It can often happen over a period of time, rather than being a one-off event, and increasingly it can happen online. 

4.3 We know that children are more vulnerable to abuse because they have a disability, or because they are experiencing parental and child mental health issues, bullying, parental or child substance misuse, (such as drugs or alcohol), and behavioural issues including exclusion from education, social isolation etc. 

Types of child abuse 

4.4 Physical Abuse is deliberately hurting a child causing injuries such as bruises, broken bones, burns or cuts. 

4.5 Emotional Abuse is the emotional maltreatment or neglect of a child. It is sometimes called psychological abuse and can cause children serious harm. It may lead to a child thinking that they are worthless, unloved and inadequate. It may include expecting a child to be able to do more than their stage of development would allow, such as expecting a baby to feed themselves, be toilet trained or not to cry, as well as being over protective and stopping children from having opportunities to explore or participate in normal social interaction. It can also include seeing or hearing domestic abuse, being subject to or witnessing bullying (including cyber bullying) which can cause a child to frequently feel frightened or in danger. Emotional abuse is a factor in all forms of abuse although it may exist alone. 

4.6 Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet a child’s basic needs. It is dangerous and children can suffer serious and long-term harm. Neglect may occur during pregnancy because of maternal alcohol or drug misuse but once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter, lack of supervision, access to medical care or keeping the child safe from danger. It may also include unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs. 

4.7 Sexual Abuse is when a child is forced or persuaded to take part in sexual activities. This does not have to be physical contact, but could involve children looking at, or being the subject of, sexual images, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult men; women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. 

4.8 What is grooming? 

Grooming is defined as developing the trust of an individual or his or her family for the purposes of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or trafficking. Grooming can happen both online and in person. 

4.9 Online Abuse is any type of abuse that happens on the web, whether through social networks or playing 

games online. Sexual abuse can happen online too. 

4.10 We want to ensure that anyone working with children has sufficient knowledge and confidence to report any concerns that they might have for a child or about the behaviour of an adult or other young person, towards a child through an understanding of this policy and related training. Some adults will try to groom children over a period of time while others may act opportunistically. It is therefore up to all who work at or for the Teens in AI to create a safeguarding culture and working environment where the potential to perpetrate abuse is minimised and prevented.

Part B – What do I do if I am concerned about a child? 

5.0 Types of Concern 

5.1 You may be concerned about the welfare of a child for a number of reasons. For example: you may have observed an injury; witnessed or heard an interaction between children or between an adult and a child; you may be concerned about bullying or inappropriate use of mobile phones; you may know of someone who has been, or is, accessing or sharing child sex abuse images; a child may exhibit inappropriate sexualised behaviour or awareness, or look neglected or withdrawn in their behaviour; or a child might make a disclosure to you that they or someone they know is being abused. 

5.2 If a child says they want to tell you a ‘secret’ or they disclose information that may suggest they are at risk of, or have been, abused it is important that you tell them that you cannot keep secrets and that, depending upon what they tell you, you may have to tell someone else in order to keep them safe. In the majority of cases the child will disclose to you anyway as, quite often, a child will have prepared themselves to make a disclosure. 

5.3 It is important that you: 

• Remain calm and do not show shock or disbelief 
• Listen carefully to what is being said 
• Do not ask detailed, probing or leading questions 
• Tell them that you take what they are saying seriously 
• Tell them what you are going to do next and that you will only tell people who you think need to know. 
• Tell them that when you have spoken to someone they will be told what is going to happen next. 

5.4 In most situations the child is unlikely to be in immediate danger, but if they are you must contact the police. 

5.5 Whatever your concern – whether you have been told something by a child or another person, whether you have seen or heard something that has made you uncomfortable, or whether you become aware of a breach of Teens in AI policy – YOU MUST SHARE IT. It does not matter how you have become aware or how the child has come into contact with the Teens in AI. 

5.6 Potential outcomes, dependent on the seriousness of the concern, could be a referral to a statutory agency such as police, Children’s Services or the NSPCC or to the child’s school or parent who will know the child better. The information you hold may be important in building a bigger picture and in helping to safeguard the child. 

5.7 Dependent on the seriousness of your concern it may not be possible to maintain your anonymity, but this will be discussed with you and you will be offered support throughout. Social workers will always consider how best to protect the referrer, but ultimately such decisions must be made in the best interests of the child and it is always possible that the alleged perpetrator may guess who made the referral. 

6.0 Safeguarding Children Online 

6.1 If you have any online safeguarding concerns, whether related to online grooming or child abuse images, these must be referred to our Safeguarding Officer immediately. They are responsible for taking the necessary action to refer and alert the appropriate agencies. Regardless of how you have become aware of online child abuse images, be it via your personal or work e-mail account, you must refer it in accordance with this policy as the referral policy will ensure that agencies such as the Internet Watch Foundation are able to remove child abuse images from the internet. 

7.0 What do I do if I have concerns about an adult’s contact with children 

7.1 If you have concerns about the behaviour of an adult towards a child, be they a manager, colleague, friend, mentor, volunteer, chaperone etc., you must speak to the Safeguarding Officer.You can be confident that you will not suffer any personal detriment by sharing your concerns. 

7.2 You may be concerned that an adult: 

• Is behaving, or has behaved, in such a way that a child has been harmed or may be harmed; 
• May possibly have committed a criminal offence against a child; or 
• Has behaved towards a child or children in a way that makes you think they may pose a risk of harm to children 

AND/OR 

• The behaviour of the individual compromises the reputation and ability of the Teens in AI to safeguard children and young people. Examples of such behaviour (not exhaustive) could be: 
• Contravening or continuing to contravene any safe practice guidance for working with children given by the Teens in AI; 
• Exploiting or abusing a position of trust and/or power; 
• Consistently demonstrating a failure to understand or appreciate how their own actions could adversely impact upon the safety and well-being of a child; 
• Exhibiting an inability to make sound professional judgements which safeguard the welfare of children; 
• Failing to follow adequately Teens in AI policy or procedures relating to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; 
• Failing to understand or recognise the need for clear personal and professional boundaries in their work; or 
• Behaving in such a way that it seriously undermines the trust and confidence placed in them by the Teens in AI. 

Having shared your concern, the escalation route is to the Safeguarding Officer, who will then be responsible for initiating the process. 

Part C – Safeguarding 

8.0 Code of Conduct 

8.1 The Teens in AI has a strict Code of Conduct to which all staff working with children, in whatever capacity, must adhere. The importance of this Code is that it makes explicit the behaviour that is expected when working within any environment that includes children and therefore makes any deviation from the Code of Conduct easily identifiable. It is not meant to inhibit normal interactions with children, but rather to support respectful relationships between Teens in AI staff and children. The Code of Conduct can be found at: www.teensinai.com/code-of-conduct

9.0 Criminal Background Checks 

9.1 When recruiting mentors to work with children, we follow safe recruitment practice to determine whether someone is a suitable person to work with children. 

9.2 The criminal background check must be in place prior to the individual undertaking their role and can be requested via HR of the company providing mentors or a government website. In circumstances where the DBS/PVG certificate has not arrived, or was impossible to arrange due to the international nature of events happening online, arrangements must be put in place to ensure that the individual is subject to enhanced restricted or standard restricted duties which means they must work under direct supervision during an event taking place. Teens in AI staff will be at the event to ensure positive interaction between a mentor and a team.

9.3 Where an event takes place online (Discord, Slack, Teams or other), young people will be supervised by their own parent/guardian and all young people will ensure their privacy settings are set to not allow any direct messaging. Staff members and moderators will supervise activities during mentor interactions with the teams as an added precaution. Further guidance for parents, children and mentors is available on. https://blog.discord.com/parents-guide-to-discord-c77d91793e9c  https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/discord/ 

10.0 Consent 

10.1 Informed consent from the child, parent, legal guardian or organisation with parental responsibility for the child must always be obtained in advance of working with children in any capacity and documented evidence of consent must always be kept. 

11.0 Online and Social Media 

11.1 All those coming into contact with young people is required to follow our Online Safety and Social Media Policy: https://www.teensinai.com/online-safety-and-social-media-policy/

11.2 Teens in AI staff, Freelancers, Mentors & Volunteers

The Teens in AI has a zero tolerance to any form of abuse of children including the inappropriate use of any computers, mobile phones, video/digital cameras or other electronic devices to commit online grooming, possess, distribute or create child abuse images. Disciplinary action which is proportionate and justifiable will be taken if anyone is found to be in breach of the above. 

Part D – Legal Context 

12.0 Acts and Guidance 

12.1 The UK is governed by a range of legislation that seeks to protect the child and these have an impact on 

how the Teens in AI functions in respect of its relationship with children. 

12.2 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) says that every child has: 

• The right to a childhood including protection from all forms of violence (Article 6, 19, 34, 36) 
• The right to have their best interests at the heart of all we do (Article 3) 
• The right to be educated (Article 28, 29, 32) 
• The right to be healthy (Article 6, 31) 
• The right to be treated fairly (Article 4) 
• The right to privacy (Article 16) 
• The right to be heard including considering children’s views (Article 12, 13, 14, 15, 23) 
• Access to information from the media in a form they can understand (Article 13, 17) 

12.3 The Equality Act 2010. This Act places a responsibility on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity. This applies to the process of identification of need and risk faced by an individual child and the process of assessment. No child or group of children must be treated any less favourably than others in being able to access effective services which meet their particular needs; 

12.4 Key Safeguarding Children Legislation 

• England – Children Act 1989 introduced the principle of the best interests of the child being paramount, parental responsibility and significant harm (the threshold at which compulsory intervention into family life by Local Authorities is possible). 
• Children Act 2004 
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups 2006 
• Children and Adoption Act 2006 
• Children and Young Persons Act 2008 
• Children’s Services & Wellbeing Act 2014 
• Scotland – Children (Scotland) Act 1995 
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) 2007 
• Children and Adoption Act (Scotland) 2007 
• Children and Young People(Scotland) Act 2014
• Wales – Children Act 1989 
• Children Act 2004 
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups 2006 
• Children and Adoption Act 2006 
• Children and Young Persons Act 2008 
• Children’s Services & Wellbeing Act (Wales) 2014 
• Northern Ireland – The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 
• Children’s Services Co-operation Act (2015) 
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 

12.5 As well as legislation each nation has statutory guidance which directs how safeguarding and child 

protection services should be managed. 

• England – Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (Department for Education, 2015). 
• Scotland – National Guidance for Child Protection 2014 
• Wales – Safeguarding Children: Working Together under the Children Act 2004 (Welsh Assembly Government, 2007). 
• Northern Ireland – Co-operating to safeguard children and young people in Northern Ireland (DoH 2016) 

12.6 All guidance documents are aimed at statutory public bodies. However, it has resonance for the Teens in AI in that 

they emphasise three areas of importance when working with children: 

• A child centred approach 
• It’s everyone’s responsibility to keep children safe 
• Everyone who comes into contact with children has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action 

13.0 Criminal Background Checks 

13.1 Disclosure & Barring Service. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) carries out criminal record checks for specific positions, professions, employment, offices, works and licences included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and those prescribed in the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) regulations. 

13.2 Disclosure Scotland. Disclosure Scotland undertakes criminal background checks under Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 Scheme and Part V of the Police Act 1997. They also manage the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme. This is a membership scheme for people who work with children or vulnerable adults. Employers can check a member’s record at any time to make sure they’re still safe to work with these groups. 

13.3 Access NI. AccessNI is a branch within the Department of Justice, established in April 2008. Its job is to supply certificates that show whether people who want to work in certain types of jobs, for example with children and or vulnerable adults, have a criminal record or if other important information is known about them. This enables employers to make safer recruitment decisions. AccessNI is a Criminal History Disclosure Service within the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland. It operates within Part V of the Police Act 1997. 

14.0 Child Performance Licenses – Key Legislation 

• England – Children & Young Persons Act 1963 and Education Act 2002 
• Scotland – Children (Performances and Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 and Children (Protection at Work) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 
• Wales – Children & Young Persons, Wales 2015 

• Northern Ireland – Children (Public Performances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 Statutory Rules No. 48