Constructively dismissed by Girlguiding

[iloveholidays1]

Hi all,

I have been constructively dismissed by Girlguiding for raising concerns. And no, not their trans policy ones. My daughters have also been excluded as result. They never investigated or dealt with my concerns.

I'm putting this here because:

1. I want people to know that volunteering with them is dangerous and you could find yourself in the very difficult situation I find myself in with my girls
2. If anyone else experiences this in the future, please get in touch. I spoke to a few journalists at length about this. A handful were interested in the story, but ultimately their editor said it couldn't fly without multiple people saying the same things.

I appreciate this is a very brief post and I'm happy to give more details, but I'm aware that short posts are easier to process. If I was reading this a few years ago I'd think "there's more to this than meets the eye", and there definitely is, but I'm keen to keep this short and sweet.

There is absolutely no way that HQ would allow someone who should have had a DBS to volunteer without one. It's a massive massive risk in terms of reputation and charity commission rules. I suppose OP is being deliberately vague to avoid being outing but it is making it difficult to understand what is going on here.

I should add that i am a GG volunteer, i have been for many years, and have always found the safeguarding team at HQ in particular to very hot on responding to issues.

I'm so sorry that this has happened. You dedicated your time to allow children to have a few hours a week to have fun and gain some fantastic skills.
Whistle blowing should be a skill that children learn is safe and good practice in advocacy.
Thank you for the time you gave to the children in your responsibility.

From her posts, the OP has felt she had to resign, and her girls are no longer allowed to attend. Even if at a local level, safeguarding should not be ignored - I am amazed they have volunteers without DBS clearance (even knowing it takes a while and costs). Risk assessments for activities are needed so that volunteers like the OP are not sued for when something inevitably goes wrong. Sorry for you OP but it sounds like you are well out of it. I would sign your girls up for cadets instead.

The WIP has the wellbeing of women at heart which is similar to a girl-guide ethos I think?

I imagine that your experience would be really useful to a similar organisation. Some of these ladies who have been to prison have probably never been camping or the likes in their lives.

I know that not everyone believes in redemption, so it might not be your bag, but could you imagine the happiness (and stress!) of bringing a load of women on their first camping trip lol.

@TheNosehasit thanks - maybe in the future but I have too much going on at the moment to take on any new roles. I'm not especially wagerring some campaign against them, I just want it here when others think of volunteering for them or if the same happens to someone else. I can't be unique given they did it to me and they also kicked Katie and Helen out for asking safeguarding questions. Re Katie and Helen, I actually see how it's very difficult to balance the rights and needs of different groups, but surely kicking them out just for asking the questions isn't not ok? I'm shocked at what happened and there is a public interest in this.

@Findingmypurposeinlife I agree. They had about 16 months sitting on this before I decided enough was enough. Doubt they've investigated it to this day. It put me in a really difficult position because I would feel responsible if one of the volunteers at the unit I ran was actually on the barred list of offenders and went on to abuse a girl (even though I'd been lied to about the recruitment checks being carried out).

@MindfulBear there was more to why I felt I needed to resign than just their inaction, although their inaction, and the implications of this was a major part. For example, I remained a trustee of the unit which was an independently registered charity yet they prevented me from having any control over it - but still expected me to shoulder the responsibility for it, which could include if something went wrong as a result of the issues I knew existed. They excluded my girls. I got an email saying that they'd been removed, and a subject access request showed that the district commissioner instructed this for both of my children.

@NoIncomeTaxNoVAT do you want me to share some screenshots to show you that recuitment checks were not carried out and I was lied to about it? It happened. I was shocked too, and would never have thought it possible. HQ didn't investigate for 16 months, and then I left - I've no idea if they subsequently have but I doubt it. I'm not sure if I could live with myself if one of the girls was abused by a known offender that they'd not bothered to do recruitment checks on.

@Tigerbus and @VickyGiggIesStrictlyHaIIoweenHorrors thank you.

@TheNosehasit defo believe in redemption and would love to be involved... I'm just really struggling with time right now. I will defo remember it for a later date. Thank you

@VickyGiggIesStrictlyHaIIoweenHorrors - DBS checks are free for volunteers!

If you are a trustee of an individual unit, then i assume you are in Scotland? In which case you can complain to the office of scottish charity regulator, which will be of more value in protecting the girls in the unit than a random vague MN post.

@NoIncomeTaxNoVAT have done that. I'm sorry if you feel my post was too vague. Are there points you want clarified? I just didn't want a post that was too long because then people (myself included) can't be arsed reading it. There is a public interest issue in this, and if my girls were still included, I, as a parent, would want to know about this, and would want to know if it was widespread, hence my post. Thanks for giving your time to girls. Would you like me to share the screenshots demonstrating recruitment checks weren't done? Or if easier I can forward you all the email PDFs.

There was apparently a case at the Supreme Court that set a precedent regarding whistleblowing protection being extended to volunteers. You should ask them (HQ) to make their whistleblowing policy available and explain its purpose.

@Findingmypurposeinlife I told them I was making a protected disclosure and they came back to me and refused to use their whistleblowing policy. Pretty good indication of what was ahead of me when they did that! All it effectively gives me is protection from detriment as a result of making the disclosures - and they explicitly said no to this. I was aware of a few WB volunteer cases making their way through the courts, but there's no way I can be bothered with any of that.

Sorry you've gone through that OP.

A Scout leader near here was absolutely destroyed over the way he was treated after an unfortunate incident beyond his control. It was shocking to see the way the organisation closed ranks to protect itself, at the expense of a good person who had dedicated a huge chunk of his life to their cause.

I want to pop in to say I am so sorry this happened to you. I am in the US and a long time volunteer for our equivalent here, and I can imagine how I would feel if I were in your position.

I hope that if anyone had similar concerns they will make contact with you OP ans strengthen your case.

If a volunteer is no longer allowed to volunteer for an organization I don't know what the term is, but there must be one.

Anyway thank you for seeing concerns and raising them. Not enough people do it and unfortunately standards slip as a result.

Original Poster, beware of those posters who are trying to goad you into revealing more information than you intended, and perhaps more information than it is wise to reveal. You don’t have to respond to every query or accusation. Your situation is not entertainment for people who are bored with their lives.

You initially stated that you wanted to hear from others in a similar situation. You’ve given more than enough information for people to do that. If you also want to air your grievances here, please check you are okay to do so legally.

@NoIncomeTaxNoVAT I was a volunteer for quite a few years. My DNB check was never carried out. I found out the first time (maybe 2 years in) when I was asked to complete the forms a second time. I found out when I left that it still hadnt been done (because I was told they could stop chasing it). Meanwhile I had a check carried out for a different volunteer role that was completed very rapidly, so definitely no issue had the forms been submitted. This was not a local issue but HQ obviously didnt give a fuck.

Whenever a tragedy happens, especially involving failure to safeguard, everyone is so quick to cry out, “How did this happen? Why didn’t anyone speak out sooner?”

Yet now I understand why. OP’s trying to speak out and has been dismissed and punished and had her CHILDREN punished and now having to really defend herself on this thread, which I’m really shocked by. A few people being quite argumentative about really pedantic and off-topic things.

If it’s relevant, I was once given a care job without a DBS. The company forced me to start working immediately even though I was undertrained and didn’t have the DBS. This was literally being given entry to elderly and extremely vulnerable peoples homes (by being given codes to their key boxes! So I could have told anyone the codes and they could have broken in too! The company had no clue what kind of person I was) and being alone with them, having access to their drugs, etc.

The company was awful and I handed in my notice after a few weeks and they tried to without my pay until I threatened to contact the local paper about the above.

Some companies just don’t seem to care.

@iloveholidays1 did you make your complaint via the Girlguiding whilstleblowing policy, as it sounds like their whistleblowing policy would have been the best avenue?

I'm afraid my experience isnt much support to you, OP, because it was years ago, not recent. It was my first DBS check although I've had several since. So I didnt realise I should have had something sent to me until I got a DBS elsewhere. Possibly after I had a DBS it wasnt chased as vigorously. Still the insistence that HQ wouldnt allow this to happen annoyed me enough to rejoin mumsnet to give my experience.

I haven’t read the full thread. Have you reported this to the LADO?

OP, thank you for your post.

I also resigned although not for safeguarding reasons I had concerns about inclusivity and risk assessments. The problem lies IMHO that this a National organisation pushing down statutory responsibilities (and heavy responsibility) onto volunteers, from DC downwards. As a result, they are loosing volunteers and have been over a long period of time as this burden has increased. The desperation then causes units to rush volunteer recruitment which ends up in the situation you describe and I also experienced.

Parents aren’t aware of this - externally it looks like any other kids activity or club where subs are paid and adults are employed. The only sensible solution to this is a fundamental reorganisation and upping fees so that adults are paid and as a result take appropriate accountability.

Thank you for the difference you made to girls lives. Take care.

Do you think that Girl Guiding in their pursuit of inclusivity might be not getting DBS checks done incase they have to say no to someone and have to exclude them

@NoIncomeTaxNoVAT i also know of a case where volunteers were not being required to do DBS screened at a local level.

The guider who was concerned escalated her concerns up through the levels - district/county/ national. Nothing was done.

Guider left as they felt they could no longer be part of an organisation that was only paying lip service to their statutory obligations.

I tweeted about it at the time and talked about it on mumsnet under another user name.

so unfortunately this story rings true.