We believe that our residential services have a key role by providing safe and effective care and taking the right action at the right time in order to keep children safe.

Our commitment to safeguarding the children we support, educate and care for is informed by relevant legislation, statutory guidance and good practice guidance. In order to fulfil our commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children we abide by the following values and principles:

• The welfare of the child is paramount;
• All children regardless of age, disability, sex, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity have the right to equal protection from all types of harm and abuse;
• Working in partnership with children, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential to safeguard children and promoting their welfare;
• Demonstrating a clear commitment and line of accountability by senior management to the importance of safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare through both the commissioning and the provision of services;
• Demonstrating a culture of listening to and engaging in dialogue with children – seeking their views in ways appropriate to their age and understanding, and taking account of those both in individual decisions and the establishment or development and improvement of services;
• When following procedures and processes, positive outcomes for children are always our priority. All children will have a child specific care plan in place that will take into account their individual needs and circumstances;
• Recruitment and personnel management procedures that take account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; including arrangements for appropriate checks on new colleagues, carers and volunteers and adoption of best practice in the recruitment of new colleagues, carers and volunteers;
• A clear understanding of how to work together to help keep children safe on-line by being adequately equipped to understand, identify and mitigate the risks of new technology;
• Procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against colleagues and volunteers;
• Arrangements to ensure that all colleagues and carers undertake appropriate training to equip them to carry out their responsibilities effectively, and keep this up to date by refresher training at regular intervals and that all colleagues, including temporary colleagues and volunteers who work with children, are made aware of the company’s internal safeguarding procedures;
• Procedures that are in accordance with statutory guidance, National Minimum standards and Regulations as well as the local area Safeguarding Partnership inter-agency procedures;
• Arrangements are in place for effective information sharing and inter-agency collaboration to safeguard children and promote their welfare;
• Appropriate Whistle- Blowing procedures and a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be addressed;
• Welcoming and encouraging proportionate and regular scrutiny (internal & external) of our practice standards.

Roles & responsibilities

Whilst every colleague shares the responsibility for safeguarding the children we support, educate and care for we have certain roles that carry additional expectations and responsibilities. These additional roles specifically include;

• Ensuring that all colleagues know the procedures for safeguarding children and know who to go to for further advice and support;
• Supporting Operations Managers with safeguarding and in conjunction with designated managers for safeguarding, ensure all colleagues have access to relevant information i.e. local area safeguarding procedures for each authority in which they operate;
• Liaise with local Safeguarding Partners to ensure compliance;
• Resolve any inter-agency issues and ensure effective working collaboration with other agencies;
• Take the strategic lead in the development of safeguarding procedures on behalf of Compass Community and the children we support, educate and care for.