Child safeguarding- who is right?

[sparkycats]

Who is right in this situation?

My DH is one of the coaches for a children's sports team which DS attends. The coaches are all volunteers giving up there own time to coach the teams which all their dcs attend along with other dcs. It's busy up at the venue with lots of other teams playing of all different ages with matches against away teams too with other parents and dcs.

On the coaches group they get a message from a disgruntled parent saying that her DH arrived to pick her child up at the venue afterwards and no-one was there, they were worried about where their dc was and when they went home they found their dc9 had walked home alone. The dc had said everyone left and he was all alone so decided to walk home.

Discussions happen on the group and it turns out several of the coaches were still there 20 minutes after pick up time, and had not seen this child. More coaches comment that they saw this child on their way out at the end when coaches etc were all still around. They stopped him and asked if he was ok, he said he was, they assumed he was allowed to walk home alone. Turns out he had been dropped off unattended and the parents were late to collect.

The club is very lax on safeguarding, parents aren't told implicitly that they have to stay but all other parents do. There is no sign in/sign out procedure. Coaches keep an eye out for the kids during/after the matches as much as they can. But it's not an official club, it's run totally by volunteers and payment for membership is paid annually.

This parent/ child has form.

Who is right?

Parent is wrong.

They should not allow a child to leave alone without written permission from parent. Definitely a safeguarding issue and the club should review using a register. Being run by volunteers makes no difference.

The parents. That is really worrying.

It doesn’t matter if they’re volunteers, I volunteer with the scouts and there is no way we’d let a 9 year old just wander off. Sounds like everyone needs some safeguarding training and a new far more robust sign in/out procedure. What if there was a fire, someone needs to know exactly how many children they are responsible for at all times. If they require parents to stay and be responsible for their own children then that needs to be explicitly stated.

The club should be aware of which children are allowed to go home alone and wait until all children are collected as expected.

You can’t be ‘informal’ when organising activities for children.

The coaches are absolutely wrong, you shouldn’t just let a 9 year old walk home.

Both parents and club are in the wrong. Being volunteer run doesn't mean that they have less of a responsibility towards child safety

Think it’s a bit of both parent and coaches but leaning more towards the parent being in the wrong.

Why was the parent late? Do parents usually stay but this one doesn’t? Why didn’t the parent message to say they would be late?

Regarding the coaches they asked if he was ok and he said yes, did they not ask if he was being picked up or had he been told to walk home etc?

It’s not informal if it’s a paid membership.
The club and volunteers are responsible for the children who pay and attend.

I volunteer in a role with children and had to be fully trained on safeguarding procedures, volunteer or not it's essential.

They have a responsibility towards the child to ensure they are safe and should never just assume something like that is OK.

Both are wrong and the club needs to not run again unless safeguarding procedures sorted

Child definitely shouldn’t have been allowed to leave alone with a coach having express permission from a parent.

The whole safeguarding policies need reviewing.

Well both are wrong.

Nah coaches need to be aware of who is allowed to walk home alone and who needs to be collected. Doesn't matter if it's volunteer based or not they have a duty of care towards the children. If anything were to happen their excuses wouldn't be good enough. What would they say "oh we keep an eye on them" "oh we thought he was ok to go home alone"

But then again at age 9 surely the kid would know whether or not they were allowed to go home alone and whether parent was coming to collect so shouldn't have taken it upon themselves to walk home if that's not the arrangement with the parents. They're not that young to not understand that either.

Also parent shouldn't have been late - or should have called a coach to tell them she was going to be late so that they could have waited until she arrived.

@LIZS

They should not allow a child to leave alone without written permission from parent. Definitely a safeguarding issue and the club should review using a register. Being run by volunteers makes no difference.

Yes I think they are. It is very lax and I very busy. I have thought myself before something like this could easily happen. But all other parents always stay to watch.

It's come apparent the child lied and actually left of their own accord without telling anyone. They have no sign in/out system, attendance is confirmed or not on the WhatsApp group. There is no confirmation of how dcs will be picked up.

As far as they were concerned the dc had left with a parent when he wasn't there or when seen on the way out was walking home alone with permission from parents.

I used to run a club. Register, sign in, sign out. Parents sign contract. Strict drop off and pick up times and location. 3 strikes and you are out.

Not sure why anyone’s saying the parents are wrong (unless they are late every week), I assume it was a one off. Can’t quite understand why the parent didn’t come in and ask where the child was though and would just go home. All sounds a bit odd.

The club is at fault and urgently needs to review its drop off and pick up procedures. At DD’s gymnastics a coach has to have eyes on a parent before the child will be released to them.

@Merryoldgoat

The club should be aware of which children are allowed to go home alone and wait until all children are collected as expected.

You can’t be ‘informal’ when organising activities for children.

Everyone just leaves from all directions at the end with no sign out with parents so as far as they were concerned a parent had taken him home. It's outside and on huge grounds with numerous pitches and games on different pitches.

The club needs to stop running until they get proper registers for in and out in place and safeguarding training for everyone.

I volunteer for one of my children's extra curricular clubs, I've done a safeguarding course which I have to keep up to date which is run by social services in my local council.

You can't just let a 9 year old wander off.

The parents were silly to leave their cubism without ensuring someone was taking over their care but the club should have far more robust procedures in place.

Are these volunteers all DBS checked?

@BertieQueen

Think it’s a bit of both parent and coaches but leaning more towards the parent being in the wrong.

Why was the parent late? Do parents usually stay but this one doesn’t? Why didn’t the parent message to say they would be late?

Regarding the coaches they asked if he was ok and he said yes, did they not ask if he was being picked up or had he been told to walk home etc?

No they didn't. It was actually two parents who know the child who saw him walking alone. Yes- I must admit if that was me I would have questioned it more when I saw him walking alone.

The parents were around 20 minutes or more late picking up. I think the coaches would have stayed with him if he had not decided to wander off on his own to go home. He told no-one he was going to do that. Coaches were still around who he could have gone to to say his parents weren't there.

The club is at fault. When the parent leaves then the child is THEIR responsibility until the child is back in the parents care. So had the child been kidnapped or hurt on the way home, the club would be negligent in their duty of care.
The coaches need a system NOW or the club ceases to run until one is in place. Ignorance isn’t an excuse. Parents need a sign in and sign out register- even if online. They need to agree a pickup point the children must not leave until collected. And if they have children older than 12 who are allowed to walk home alone they need paperwork to show parents permission.

It’s just not good enough to just assume a child has been collected. If children can be left unattended it should be someone’s responsibility to make sure each and every child has gone home with an adult they are supposed to be going home with.

I think the group should get urgent advice on how they run the group. This issue has highlighted that they don't have a clear plan
Sport England give plenty of advice to volunteer led sports groups about safeguarding procedures.

The parents seem lax yes but the club should not be able to run like this. They had absolutely no idea where he was or how he arrived. Yes it may be voluntary but with taking money it needs procedures in place