to think this is a potential safeguarding issue?

[WickedWitchoftheDesk]

Or am I overthinking it?

Part of my role involves signposting and providing information to local services, one of which is an LGBT youth group. It runs as a drop in (i.e no sign-up required) in a lovely coffee lounge location in the town centre after school and is staffed by a (MTF) trans person. It operates as part of a wider local and longstanding charity, which arranges counselling and provides other youth groups and events.

What is making me uncomfortable is, that it covers the full age range of 11-21 in just one session. It is promoted as somewhere to go for secondary school children, sixth formers and university students alike - all completely different cohorts in terms of development and experience. Therefore we have unvetted and unqualified adults socialising with children and discussing issues of sexuality and gender with them.

I completely understand the funding and volunteer recruitment issues that such charities face, but it doesn’t sit right with me that it isn’t split into discrete age ranges.

Any adult running a service for any child or group of children is a "potential safeguarding risk"

What evidence do you have that this group has not taken the appropriate safeguarding measures

It sounds like an echo chamber. I wouldn’t be comfortable with my children attending

I wasn’t specifically referring to the person who runs the group, rather the potential for adult users of the group to be having inappropriate conversations and contact with child users of the group.

I agree the age range is problematic
I wouldnt be mixing adults and children

It would be better if they separated by age group. 11 to 21 isn't great

Safeguarding aside for a second, what does an 11yr old even have in common with a 21yr old? Why would they WANT to attend the same social event? It's a very odd set up.

But I totally agree that a (hypothetical) potentially vulnerable 11yr old girl being (indirectly) encouraged to socialise with 20yr old men who can drop in without vetting is putting everyone at risk.

The age range of the group is not okay. Would be better to have 11-15 and then 16 plus.

I think i actually know which group you mean… west London?

Definitely too big an age range. I would want to see the risk assessment.

I would say that over 18s on site should be DBS checked if they are mixing with under 16s.
as others have said the groups should be split .

If there are adults interacting with kids they need a DBS, regardless of the subject matter. I think you can get DBS from 16 so really it should be all over 16s. I would flag the safeguarding on this.

That's a wildly inappropriate age range surely? I can't think of a single activity aimed at under 18s I know of where the age range is anything like this broad (for example Scouts, Guides etc are obviously broken down into smaller age cohorts). What organisation is running it? Some people seem to just forget about safeguarding when LGBT stuff comes into play. Its wild that anyone thinks getting 11 year olds and any random unvetted 20 year old who walks into the building together to discuss sexuality is a good idea. Also I'm presuming the coffee lounge isn't also open to the public?

I asked a similar question and was told as long as the leader of the group was dbs checked others didn’t need to be. I agree with you though

Definitely not thought through. I would be concerned that one volunteer in charge couldn't keep an eye on everyone at the same time, so there is the opportunity for an older someone to take advantage of a younger someone.

Also, my young-for-his-age and small-for-his-age13 year old son was encouraged by SS to attend one of their drop-ins and he absolutely did not want to go back after the first one as he found the tall, well-built 15 year old boys talking about shagging and weed very intimidating. I couldn't see how this would help, so didn't insist he went back. Other parents may not be quite so aware of the dynamics.

It's a "no" from me.

talking of echo chambers, you’re about to enter one

Struggling to understand not only the age range but why parents would think their 11 year old needs to attend a group like this.

I am GC, concerned with safeguarding and totally agree this is inappropriate. But I think probably the fairest way to proceed would be to contact the charity and share your concerns. How they respond would determine what I would do next. I would hope that this has somehow been missed and they would immediately narrow the age range and confirm that 2 safely recruited adults will be running the group in future with no over 18s and systems to protect younger attendees from inappropriate content.

Thank you for your responses, you have helped articulate what it is I am uncomfortable with. I tried to look up the safeguarding policy and risk assessments online but could only see a brief paragraph (compared to the comprehensive confidentiality policy I found).

I think I’ll hold off signposting to the service for now, rather than go in all guns blazing and demand answers. Like most charities I’d imagine they have funding and recruitment issues and I don’t want to denigrate them as they appear to do an awful lot of good in the area of young people’s mental health.

I am currently doing a university level course and experience in this sector might be beneficial for my own employment prospects, so might even offer to volunteer some time myself if they’ll have me (although not at that particular club). At least then I would feel like I have a more legitimate reason to ask questions! Although am also aware that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. It’s a tough one.

There should be 2 DBSd and trained adults, surely. And while it’s laudable to want to support all ages, I’d run different groups overlapping. 3pm-6pm slot for youngest, 5-8 older teens, 7 onward and all day for students. So the oldest never mix with the youngest.

That's a very wide age range. Things like youth clubs/scouts/guides usually seperate out the ages far more.

I think sometimes teens 13+ can attend adult classes for specific hobbies, but then everyones there to do a specific skill rather than to chat/socialise.