Safeguarding
It is everyone's responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all chaperones should make sure their approach is child centred. They should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.
All chaperones need to be aware of possible abuse of children and young people. They have a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking appropriate action.
Information sharing is an important part of working with children and young people. Section 1.8 of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures sets out how information should be shared and situations in which it is important to not share with specific people.
Chaperones should be aware of their organisation's child protection and safeguarding policy, including procedures for dealing with allegations against adults. All allegations must be taken seriously and investigated in accordance with the local procedures and statutory guidance. Chaperones that are the subject of an allegation must inform the local authority that issued their licence.
If a chaperone has a safeguarding concern about a child, they should follow the procedures set out in our children's safeguarding policy. This includes directions on how and when to share information in such circumstances. Chaperones must contact children's services immediately where concerns relate to :
- sexual abuse
- forced marriage
- fabricated illness
This must be done without the knowledge of the parent or carer or those deemed to be perpetrators, as this may increase the risk posed to the child. Further information can be found in the Lincolnshire safeguarding children partnership procedures.
This means that chaperones should:
- be familiar with the organisation's child protection and safeguarding policy
- take responsibility for recording any incident and passing on information where they have concerns about any matter pertaining to any adult in the workplace
- record and report any disclosures regarding a young person to the designated safeguarding lead of the organisation.
- record and report any concerns, or allegations, about another adult to the local authority designated officer (LADO) in the local authority in which the incident has occurred