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?

I dont know what you mean by who is right but I can tell you the group is definitely wrong.

they assumed he was allowed to walk home alone

you cant assume with a child, at my kids school you sign a consent form at 10 years old about if they are allowed to walk home alone or not.

you need to know who is meant to attend and have a list of names of who is attending so you know that no one has vanished on the way and you can check that list throughout the time to make sure they have not suddenly vanished, and you need to know who is allowed to walk home and who is meant to be picked up and have a time when you will phone the parents like if they are 15 mins late to pick up and have a clear cut off time and information about where the child will be taken if no one has turned up to collect them by that time.

Yes, you're right, they need much better systems. If the email the coach sends now states that parents must stay to supervise their child and collect them is this enough? Should they have a sign in/out sheet too? It was also said that a couple of children turned up who had previously said they weren't coming. Don't know how you can police that though. A firm policy I guess.

Agree with pp with the fact that a clear safeguarding policy needs to be drawn up, signed by all club leaders and all parents, and adhered to completely. It would also be good practice for all volunteers to attend regular safeguarding trainings.

If it is required that parents stay for the whole time and attend to things like toileting, this needs to be stated in the policy.

The club need a clear signing in/out procedure so you know who has attended and see that they have all been seen out at the end of the session to an appropriate adult (it would also be worth having a pick-up list with names of only 2 or 3 adults that are allowed to pick up, just to ensure no random/unknown people pick up). Until an adult has collected, eyes should be on the children at all times. Perhaps have a designated bench children need to wait at.

Even if parents are attending to watch, the children will need to see to a club leader that an appropriate adult has collected, and this can be ticked off on the attendance register.
Also all volunteer helpers should be DBS checked.

It really does sound extremely lax and it shouldn’t be, this is the safety of children and should be taken very seriously.

You need WRITTEN AGREEMENT from each parent to agree to stay and supervise. No agreement, kid goes home with parent. If parent has scarpered and you can't get hold of them you phone social services. And you don't give kids lifts home unless their parents have given permission or you want to be accused of grooming.

Safeguarding isn't about what's likely on a day to day basis, it's about the worse case scenario and removing those risks.

@sparkycats

Yes, you're right, they need much better systems. If the email the coach sends now states that parents must stay to supervise their child and collect them is this enough? Should they have a sign in/out sheet too? It was also said that a couple of children turned up who had previously said they weren't coming. Don't know how you can police that though. A firm policy I guess.

They need a policy of what will happen if a child turns up without an adult. A policy of what happens if the parent leaves. Who will they call, at what point will they escalate it and how many times can it happen before the place is removed.

A sign out sheet is a pain outdoors, but it’s a helpful record of who signed the child out. A sign-in sheet stating at the top that the adult must stay may be a better option as there is a record of who brought the child.

They need a policy of what they do at the end - sending 30 kids off a field in one group makes it impossible to see whose parent is where. So they need a way of ensuring that they can see exactly who is with Mum/Dad/Granny and who isn’t (we do that by pulling the kids together in a group at the end for a “well done, today was good, this is tomorrow’s plan” chat and then sending them to parents 5/6 at a time.

The DBS and lack of training thing needs rectified though - a sign out sheet doesn’t fix that.

Same with things like policies for toilets - who goes in with children, do adults use the same toilets, is the “parent must take them” thing strictly adhered to?

@sparkycats

Yes, you're right, they need much better systems. If the email the coach sends now states that parents must stay to supervise their child and collect them is this enough? Should they have a sign in/out sheet too? It was also said that a couple of children turned up who had previously said they weren't coming. Don't know how you can police that though. A firm policy I guess.

Honestly I would say no, the supervising you own child in a big group of people whom I assume are in a public park, I dont think would be good enough if anything happened.

I mean you cold say oh well that parent is always on their phone and never takes any notice of their kid or they walk off to piss or something and then something happens, I think as a place that is acting as a club it doesnt matter if you are volunteers or not, your acting as a childs sports club and getting paid for the service part of that service has to be safeguarding and making sure the volunteers are aware of the kids and looking out for them.

I dont think it would cut it in a court of law if a kid disappeared when a parent went for a piss.

Thinking about it - a sign in sheet with a tick out box would be a good idea for this set up.

A clear record of who brought the child, with the sheer reminding parents every week that they must stay, and then the coach can tick out at the end when they realise they child.

Also the registration forms (I’m assuming they at least have those) should have a bit on them stating that an adult must stay for each session.

you do need a clear list of who is allowed to pick up, what if an estranged ex turns up who doesnt have custody rights.

The important bit is that they need to realise that the volunteer part is totally unimportant.

If you work with children it doesn’t matter if you get paid £100 an hour, £10 an hour or if it costs you petrol money to get there - responsibilities are exactly the same.

Also, groups like this really annoy me as it’s why (understandably) some parents won’t ever send their kids to volunteer run groups as they think they’re all like this. Whereas some of us take the responsibilities seriously.

@VelvetChairGirl

you do need a clear list of who is allowed to pick up, what if an estranged ex turns up who doesnt have custody rights.

That would be resolved by actually making it clear that the parent must stay, therefore only the person bringing the child can leave with them.

I think the people who run the club need to think less "what's the minimum formalities we can overlay onto how we run things now and get away with it" and more along the lines of "how can we set this up so that it is safe for everyone".

I would have thought at the minimum some sort of registration system so that kids are booked in or a record is made when they arrive for training and then the same when they leave. Then they would have a record of each child at the end of each session.

Thanks all. I will see what they are planning on putting in place and then may email the safeguarding person.

I don't really want to give my email address to the safeguarding person though incase it gets back to the coaches. It's the kind of club where everyone knows everyone and several of the parent's dcs in my Ds group and older/younger groups go to my dcs school.

I expect the national club have very firm safeguarding policies in place and either this particular coach or this particular club don't follow it enough. It's strange how none of the literature says explicitly that parents must stay. It's all about spectators conduct and respect etc. I am going to ask some of the parents I know with dc in the older/younger groups what their sign in/out policies are. I guess it should be more like the policies holiday clubs have.

Sorry, I asked DH and the coaches are CRB checked including DH. The head coach has had the safeguarding training.

Don't ask here if x or y would be OK. Get all coaches on a safeguarding course immediately, and don't operate until they have passed the course.
Then they will know what to do.
I appreciate this will disrupt the league and the other teams, but rather that than a safeguarding incident.

@erinaceus

I think the people who run the club need to think less "what's the minimum formalities we can overlay onto how we run things now and get away with it" and more along the lines of "how can we set this up so that it is safe for everyone".

I would have thought at the minimum some sort of registration system so that kids are booked in or a record is made when they arrive for training and then the same when they leave. Then they would have a record of each child at the end of each session.

Attendance is only confirmed informally through WhatsApp and/ or an app. I have never seen a register taken.

Thinking about it this is also the case for my dcs other sporting club he attends and one he used to attend.

It seems, OP, that you have no idea what you are talking about.
First you said it was an informal club, turns out it's it's national organisation. Then you said your OH definitely is not dbs checked, now you say he has a CRB. (If it is a crb then it must be at least 10 years old and should be updated to a dbs)

You weren't actually present when the incident occurred and neither was your OH.

If I was you Id leave it well alone and let OH sort it out.

Maybe informal confirmation of attendance is standard then but it would surprise me. Perhaps ask other clubs in the area what they do, or ask the safeguarding lead for the local FA what is expected.

You don't want to go overkill on the formalities, but you do want the kids to be safe.

If the adults running the club aren't prepared to do these things then they shouldn't be volunteering to work with DC.

I think most people end up being roped in rather than stepping forward saying they would love to volunteer.

The parents shouldn't have been so late to pick up. Nor should they have left the child unattended without telling anyone. Whether it's formally written down or not. At 9 years old they could hurt themselves & if no parent was around who would sort them out?

Should people who can't be bothered to stay/are always late to pick up from volunteers be told not to bring their child to the activity?

My dh has beeb a coach volunteer and they wait for the last parent to come before they leave , unless they know child allowed home alone
But its also one parents are asked to ideally stay but many don't the you have an injury and are looking for them
But yes he always makes sure they are collected but parents do also need to make sure they collect on time etc and some really do treat these things like free babysitting

@JustLyra

The important bit is that they need to realise that the volunteer part is totally unimportant.

If you work with children it doesn’t matter if you get paid £100 an hour, £10 an hour or if it costs you petrol money to get there - responsibilities are exactly the same.

Also, groups like this really annoy me as it’s why (understandably) some parents won’t ever send their kids to volunteer run groups as they think they’re all like this. Whereas some of us take the responsibilities seriously.

Excellent post. OP is still in a little bit of denial/shock I think.

But they didn't. They thought he had left with a parent. No way would they have let him walk home alone if they had known that's what he was doing

But they did.
If that kid had be hurt or gone missing on the way home, do you think "assuming" would cut it?

Also the way you speak about this child is abhorrent, and you should be ashamed of yourself really. You're implying that because of his behaviour he's not worthy of basic safeguarding?!
Cop on to yourself!!!

Coaches and club are clearly at fault here.

They need to tell parents if they are expected to stay.

They need to make sure all children are picked up by a parent.

Blaming the child/parents is just a way of shifting blame from your DH and other coaches unwillingness to take responsibility.

I feel bad for the kid in this situation.

This is also why less and less people want to volunteer as many parents want to just leave and go and turn up when they like , then if child is hurt its someone elses fault
My dh is giving up coaching after years as its getting harder and harder to do with less respect from many parents for the time they give up

Its hard for coaches to coach kids and make sure there parents are on the sideline as the focus is on the kids
Generally he has a good set of parents who will say that they are nipping off and have asked xyz parent to keep an eye etc
But over the years there have been some who haven't turned up to collect until 30 mins later , some who have not answered phone when child has been hurt or unwell and trying to contact them

@CornishTiger

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

I agree with this. Lax procedures. Just because it’s volunteers doesn’t mean safeguarding isn’t essential. I think fo most children’s sports and clubs there is a legal requirement to have a safeguarding officer, does this club have one? If not is it registered to a national body eg RFU or the FA - I’d be surprised it’s not been highlighted. Plus I’d be worried the club also doesn’t have the correct Liability insurance in place either, which affects potentially your DC too as well as all others. Whether the Parent was late or stays is not the issue, I’d be really angry if this had happened .

Most football clubs would be drop off ones - my kids are. The problem is not parents who want to scarper and get free childcare, it's the lack of clear message from the club that parents need to stay.