Constructively dismissed by Girlguiding

I absolutely believe that risk assessments etc are not done . I pulled dd from Scouts after a group of them (aged 11 I think) were left miles away with no supervision, in the middle of nowhere and told to make their own way back. Parents were waiting to collect the children and a search party had to be sent out when they didn't show up.

exactly

Where did you get "sell" from?

Anyway, as others have mentioned, safeguarding in GG has been the subject of legal action fairly recently (I believe they settled with the claimant) - their evidence made it pretty clear that safeguarding is an afterthought, if that.

Obviously what happens in practice varies from place to place but as an org they need to have set processes for safety, and they need to follow them. I'm not surprised by your allegations, tbh.

OP I’m so sorry this has been your experience.

I would like to say though my daughter has SEND and her group are fantastic in supporting her in all the activities, including camps. As she has moved up from brownies, guides and now rangers - they have included us in decisions about where and how she does her badge work. They have provided her with many opportunities to lead activities and she is a valued members her group.

I say this to show a balance and whilst I do not dispute what you say - please don’t think your experience is a universal one.
💐💐

I spoke to a few journalists at length about this.

So you're actively trying to sell your story to journalists? It makes me question your motives, to be honest.

@Quveas
''You absolutelyu cannot be dismissed - constructively or otherwise - if you are a volunteer''

That's nonsense. Of course a charity can dismiss/sack/let go a volunteer.

I have worked for charities for almost 25 years and I have recruited and managed many volunteers.

Volunteers just like paid staff have to follow company policies and procedures in their role and I have had to dismiss volunteers, which means I told them they would no longer be able to volunteer for us and why, because some of them breached confidentiality procedures for example or did not perform their duties correctly. Volunteers also need to have appropriate DBS checks and references everywhere I worked, just like staff.

Back to the OP if you have safeguarding concerns that you raised (which could be staff or volunteers not having been DBS checked or staff or volunteers behaving inappropriately towards the children and their care and discriminating against children with disabilities) the charity should have immediately acted upon them and investigated your concerns. These are serious allegations that would get alarm bells ringing in any decent charity.

I would suggest contacting the organisation's Board of Trustees if you were not listened and reporting the organisation to the Charity Commission and even contacting your local authority if you believe vulnerable disabled children are being targeted.

It should not take a year or two for this to be looked into. This is a safeguarding issue that needs urgent investigation.

It could be that your local group is trying to keep things quiet but the organisation central office should be taking action.

I think your daughters being removed because you raised issues is where you could get them.
However do you want them to go back to be part of that?

Not saying your concerns are not valid but I fail to see how you be constructively dismissed. As a volunteer, surely it’s just a case of them advising they don’t require your volunteering services anymore? Same as if you decided you didn’t want to volunteer anymore, then you just don’t?

I don’t comprehend why, if you believe there are gross and systemic safeguarding issues and children are at real risk, you are upset your children are no longer attending? Surely if these were/are your concerns you would have pulled them out yourself as no parent would knowingly leave children in this situation?

OP shares extremely worrying information about the Girl Guides and the pedants focus solely on whether a volunteer can be constructively dismissed or not.

Only on MN.

OP I just want to say I believe every word you say

Surely if an organisation gets rid of a volunteer for raising concerns then that shows they have even less due process that previously thought? So it's completely relevant to the substantive issue actually

Anyway OP your thread is bringing people together with similar concerns, so well done for posting it

What are the other parents saying about this? in particular the ones whose children were bullied? Am assuming you are sending them the evidence?

There've been threads on Mumsnet before about the Girl Guides and safeguarding issues. Like this one:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4408927-safeguarding-issues-in-the-girl-guiding-movement

I had a similar experience with a UK teacher recruitment company. They got the UK DBS but I’d just been living abroad in a country with a complicated DBS system and their legal compliance team absolutely refused to follow the correct procedure to get me vetted to work with children from my time in that country and kept gaslighting me, telling me I was confused etc when the police in the other country were telling me I was right and the employer was wrong. They wanted me to start before this could be sorted, with zero verification of my time (years) in this other country.

There is literally nowhere to report breaches of criminal record check law/procedure and there should be a national point of contact to do this. It’s a huge loophole.
Based on PPs experience on this thread, THAT is the angle this story needs.

Actually depending on how long ago this was you weren't send a copy of the result as an individual for a DBS carried out by an organisation in the days when CRB were around rather than DBS>

OP I'm sorry to hear about your experiences, and how it's also affected your own children.
It's not libellous to share your own truthful account of what's happened to you, and it's interesting to note that a fair few other posters have popped up with similar stories (of DBS/CRB checks not being carried out, volunteers' children being dropped, girls with additional needs being dropped, HQ ignoring concerns or not following their own policies etc). It makes me hope that a mainstream media outlet does pick up on it, and have the guts to run a story.
It's really sad to hear that such a well-respected, national, organisation, that's provided so many opportunities for girls for years, isn't functioning as well as it could be.
I imagine you're feeling a lot of grief right now, and would urge you to take care of yourself.

It's a vile organisation and you're better off out of it OP.

It’s not an organisation you get on with and one that’s clearly not interested in you volunteering with them so I’d let it go unless you have evidence. Without any evidence this is all hearsay and you can end up in court for libel.

I know for a fact that GG have been working on their disability approach through improving training etc. I'm involved in GG and speak to HQ regularly.

However, if you feel your daughters have been treated unfairly due to you raising concerns of other girls being disability discriminated against then you could have a victimisation claim.

Many years ago I volunteered with Rainbows and had the most awful experience. It’s probably not recent enough to add to a current case of how volunteers are treated but more than welcome to share what happened OP.

As someone who attended Brownies and Guides when I was younger I really wanted to give something back as I enjoyed those years so much. Sadly I only lasted a couple of terms

I’m sorry they treated you like this.

I lost all respect for GG when my daughter was basically forced out because her autism was making it difficult to join in with everything. I still have that email.