Child Safeguarding Policy

Policy Statement

Kids Inspire is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people with whom we work. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and our practice is child-centred, trauma-responsive, inclusive and anti-discriminatory. We will listen to children, consider their lived experience and context, and work with families and partner agencies to provide help, support and protection at the earliest opportunity.

This policy applies to all children, including unborn children where there are concerns, children living with birth or extended family, children in kinship care, children who are adopted, and children who are looked after or care experienced. Kids Inspire recognises that children may experience multiple and overlapping harms, including harm online and offline, and that additional vulnerability must never reduce professional curiosity or delay action.

We aim to achieve this by:

·        Ensuring that the responsible adults are aware of the need for young people to be protected from harm and the risk of harm.

·        Creating a non-abusive culture for all of those involved with Kids Inspire.

·        Having knowledge of what to do if it is thought that a young person may be at risk of harm (See section 5. Procedures).

·        Creating a secure, safe and healthy environment.

·        Respecting the rights of young people.

·        Where possible working in partnership with parents and carers.

·        Understanding that young people should be listened to.

·        Having a Designated Safeguarding Lead for child protection; Sue Bell OBE (CEO and Clinical Director) and five Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads; Victoria Haylock (Chief Operating Officer), Kamila De Nadai (Deputy Clinical Director – Services), Emma Ritchie (Deputy Clinical Director – Team), Louise Colledge (Volunteer and Mentoring Project Manager) Christine Vincent (Therapy Support Services Manager).

·        Having a dedicated reporting email address for any concerns – safeguarding@kidsinspire.org.uk

·        Respecting all of the young people regardless of their backgrounds.

·        Endeavouring to ensure that the physical environment is safe.

·        Continuing to keep knowledge and awareness current.

·        Endeavouring to ensure that the young people maintain age-appropriate awareness of personal safety.

·        Understanding the need to be aware that parents, co-workers or trusted adults can and may abuse children, or put them at risk of harm.

·        Developing and maintaining strategies to try and ensure that (child-on-child) bullying does not take place.

·        Creating a culture of mutual self-respect between all of those involved with Kids Inspire.

·        Advising all parents/carers that any abusive behaviour towards young people, staff and/or volunteers of Kids Inspire will not be tolerated.

·        Making all parents/carers, staff and volunteers of Kids Inspire aware that it may be necessary to refer a child who is thought to be at risk of abuse to social services.

·        Ensuring all volunteers and staff will receive training in child protection.

·        Recognising Kids Inspire’s responsibilities in terms of the law, government guidance and procedures.

·        On an annual (or more frequent if necessary) basis reviewing Kids Inspire’s child protection policies and procedures.

·        Acknowledging the reciprocal right of staff and volunteers not to be abused by the young people.

·        Ensuring that internal policies and procedures correspond with their local, regional and national equivalents.

For a glossary of terms relating to this policy, please see Appendix 1.

The Legal and Procedural Framework for Safeguarding Children

There is government guidance set out in Working together to safeguard children 2026 on how agencies must work in partnership to keep children safe.  This guidance places a shared and equal duty on three Safeguarding Partners (the Local Authority, Police and Health) to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area under multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.  In Essex, Southend, Thurrock and Suffolk the statutory partners are the Council, the Police and the Integrated Care Board covering the county. In Southend, the arrangements sit under the Southend Safeguarding Partnership (SSP), in Essex under the Essex Safeguarding Children’s Board (ESCB), in Thurrock under the Thurrock Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (TLSCP) and in Suffolk under the Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership. In London, each borough has a Safeguarding Children Partnership.

In Essex, Southend and Thurrock all professionals must work in accordance with the SET Procedures (2026). In London, this is the London Safeguarding Children Procedures (2026).

From time to time, professionals may disagree on the course of action that is in the child’s best interest. Local escalation procedures will be applied in this instance to ensure that nothing is overlooked in getting the best outcome for the child.

See Appendix* 2 for a full list of documents that Kids Inspire works in accordance with.

Kids Inspire’s Accountabilities Framework

This policy applies to all trustees, staff, students and volunteers. Any allegation or concern about abuse must be responded to. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everybody’s responsibility although our individual roles in the process may be different. Kids Inspire staff understand that in line with the Children Act, children who are at ‘significant risk of harm’ must be protected.

If a staff member has concerns about the attitudes and /or behaviours of a Kids Inspire colleague or volunteer, they have a duty to comply with Kids Inspire’s Whistle Blowing policy and procedures.

A referral will be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service if there are concerns that a person in the employ or volunteering with Kids, or who has been dismissed or left during a safeguarding or disciplinary investigation, has caused harm or poses a risk of harm to children or vulnerable groups.

It is the responsibility of managers to identify any differences between this policy and procedures and that of their Local Safeguarding Children Board (which will take precedence) and to ensure all staff, students and volunteers are fully aware and informed of them.

See Appendix 3* for the full Accountability Framework for Kids Inspire’s Team.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead for Kids Inspire is Sue Bell (CEO and Clinical Director).

The Deputy Designated Leads are Victoria Haylock (Chief Operating Officer), Emma Ritchie (Deputy Clinical Director - Team), Kamila de Nadai (Deputy Clinical Director - Services), Louise College (Volunteer and Mentoring Project Manager) and Christine Vincent (Therapy Support Services Manager). safeguarding@kidsinspire.org.uk

Types of Abuse

Physical harm

Physical harm is defined as physical contact, action or omission that causes discomfort, pain, injury or a risk of injury. It may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, inappropriate or unauthorised restraint, withholding essential care, or otherwise causing physical harm. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates, induces or exaggerates illness in a child, or presents a perplexing account of a child’s health needs that may place the child at risk.

Emotional and psychological harm

Emotional harm is defined as action or inaction by others that causes mental anguish. It involves the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child, which causes severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include verbal abuse, such as persistent criticism, belittling, or name-calling, as well as not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. Such harm may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on a child. These can include interactions that are beyond the child’s development capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. Emotional harm may also involve witnessing aggressive, violent or harmful behaviour towards another individual (e.g. domestic violence). It may also involve serious bullying, frequently causing a child to feel frightened or in danger, exploitation or corruption. Some level of emotional harm is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child (e.g. grooming, harassment, or inappropriate emotional involvement), though it may occur alone.

Sexual harm and exploitation

Sexual harm is defined as any form of sexual activity involving a child under the age of consent. It involves forcing, causing or coercing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. Such activities may involve physical contact, whether that is with a part of a person’s body or an object including penetrative (e.g. rape,or assault by penetration) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching over clothes. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in the looking at, or production of, pornographic material, causing them to watch sexual activities, or encouraging them to behave in sexually inappropriate ways or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Downloading child pornography, taking indecent photographs of children, and sexualised texting, are all forms of sexual harm.

Neglect and acts of omission

Neglect is a persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, which is likely to result in serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:

• provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment)

• protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger

• ensure adequate supervision and/or adequate care-givers

• ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.

It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, without medical justification. It is also known as ‘female circumcision’ or ‘cutting’, and by other terms such as initiation, infibulation, sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan. FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts. It is very painful and can seriously harm the health of women and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth and mental health. UK communities most at risk of FGM include Kenyan, Somalian, Sudanese, Sierra Leonean, Egyptian, Nigerian and Eritrean. Non-African countries that practise FGM include Yemen, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand (South) and Pakistan. FGM is a form of child abuse and is illegal in the UK. It is a mandatory duty for a regulated healthcare professional to report any concerns they have about a female under 18 years old, and to record when FGM is disclosed or identified as part of NHS healthcare. This is a personal duty: the individual professional who becomes aware of the case must make a report, and the responsibility cannot be transferred. The Home Office’s Multi-agency Statutory Guidance on Female Genital Mutilation offers comprehensive information on FGM; Mandatory Reporting of Female Genital Mutilation: procedural information gives guidance on when and how to report a case of FGM.

Fabricated Illnesses and Perplexing Presentations

A perplexing presentation is described as when the actual state of the child’s physical / mental health is not yet clear. A fabricated illness is a clinical situation where the child is likely to be harmed due to a parents’ behaviour or action carried out to convince the practitioner that the child’s physical or mental health is impaired. Where either of these are suspected, an onward referral would be made to statutory services, usually starting with the child’s GP.

Peer-on-Peer Abuse

Kids Inspire recognises that children can be vulnerable to abuse by other children. Peer-on-peer abuse can include:

• Bullying (including cyberbullying)

• Sexual violence and sexual harassment

• Physical abuse such as hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, or otherwise causing physical harm

• Initiation/hazing type violence and rituals

• Upskirting (which is a criminal offence)

• Harmful sexual behaviour

• Racism, faith targeted abuse and other forms of discriminatory behaviour and other prejudice-based incidents

• Consensual and non-consensual making or sharing of nudes and semi-nudes

All such concerns must be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and will be taken seriously. Children who perpetrate abuse may also be in need of support. Kids Inspire will work with statutory services and families to safeguard all children involved.

Children with Additional Vulnerabilities

Certain groups of children are at increased risk of harm, including but not limited to:

• Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

• Children with mental health needs

• Young carers

• Children missing from education

• Children who identify as LGBTQ+

• Children from minoritised or marginalised backgrounds

Kids Inspire recognises these vulnerabilities and ensures staff are trained to identify additional risks and provide tailored support. Safeguarding responses will always take into account the individual child’s context and needs.

Domestic abuse, coercive control and teenage relationship abuse

Children may be harmed by seeing, hearing or experiencing the effects of domestic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, or abuse within their own intimate or teenage relationships. Staff must remain alert to patterns of fear, control, isolation, intimidation, humiliation, online monitoring, threats, stalking, physical harm and financial or emotional abuse. Concerns must be recorded and referred to the Designated Safeguarding Lead without delay.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation

Child sexual abuse may be hidden, cumulative and difficult for children to disclose. Staff must be professionally curious about indicators such as changes in behaviour, fearfulness, sexualised language or behaviour, unexplained gifts or money, secrecy around devices, contact with older individuals, going missing, substance misuse, or signs of exploitation. Sexual abuse and exploitation can occur in person, online, within families, in peer groups or through organised networks.

Procedures

Kids Inspire works with key local partners to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. This includes providing a co-ordinated offer when additional needs are identified, contributing to family help, Child in Need, Child Protection, looked-after child and care-planning processes, and sharing relevant information with partner agencies. These procedures also apply to unborn children where there are safeguarding concerns and to Looked After Children; contact details for the allocated Social Worker are clearly listed on the child’s records.

All staff members have a duty to identify and respond to suspected / actual abuse or disclosures of abuse. Any member of staff, volunteer or visitor who receives a disclosure or allegation of abuse, or suspects that abuse may have occurred must report it immediately (within 24 hours) to the designated safeguarding team. An acknowledgement to Causes for Concern should be expected within 24 hours and if not received, this should be chased.

All action is taken in accordance with guidance from the local safeguarding body.

Any staff member or visitor must refer any concerns to the designated safeguarding team. Where there is risk of immediate harm, concerns will be referred by telephone to the relevant Children and Families Hub and/or the Police. Less urgent concerns or requests for support will be sent to the Children and Families Hub via the Essex County Council Request for Support Page or the MASH teams at Southend, Thurrock, Suffolk and the London Boroughs. Kids Inspire may also seek advice from Social Care or another appropriate agency about a concern, if unsure how to respond to it. Wherever possible, safeguarding concerns, or an intention to refer a child to Children’s Social Care, will be shared with parents or carers. However, not where it is felt that to do so could place a child at greater risk of harm or impede a criminal investigation. On occasions, it may be necessary to consult with the Children and Families Hub and / or the Police for advice on when to share information with parents / carers.

If a member of staff continues to have concerns about a child and feels the situation is not being addressed or does not appear to be improving, all staff understand they should press for re-consideration of the case with the designated safeguarding lead.

If, for any reason, the designated safeguarding lead (or deputy) is not available, this will not delay appropriate action being taken. Safeguarding contact details are provided at induction and regularly in team meetings to ensure that all staff members have unfettered access to safeguarding support, should it be required. Any individual may refer to Social Care where there is suspected or actual risk of harm to a child.

Where the concern relates to a child who may need help, support or protection, staff must not wait for certainty before taking action. Concerns should be discussed with the safeguarding team promptly and, where thresholds are unclear, advice should be sought from the relevant Children and Families Hub, MASH, Social Care, Police or local safeguarding partnership procedures.

When working in schools or other settings, Kids Inspire therapists will adhere to the host’s child protection guidelines and report all concerns to the host’s Safeguarding Lead (in addition to Kids Inspire’s safeguarding team). For Looked After Children, the assigned Social Worker is always informed of any reported concerns.

All practitioner’s email addresses contain the contact details of the out of hours Crisis Team for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and it is made clear to parents and carers that Kids Inspire is not a 24-hour crisis service and that should their concerns escalate, they must contact CAMHS, their GP or attend A&E.

Kids Inspire is not an acute mental health service. If there is a concern about mental capacity of the client, this will be referred on to the relevant statutory service.

A summary of our procedure is listed below:

• You have a concern

• If session is taking place within a school, report concern to the school Designated Safeguarding Lead

• If session is taking place at Head Office, it may be appropriate to speak with the parent when the session has ended

• Complete a Kids Inspire cause for concern form

• Submit cause for concern form to safeguarding@kidsinspire.org.uk

• Wait for acknowledgement from KI Safeguarding Team

• Wait for follow up questions or actions from KI Safeguarding Team

• Take any requested actions and record this

Please see Appendix* 4 for additional guidance on reporting concerns.

Professional Challenge and Escalation

Kids Inspire promotes a culture of professional curiosity and respectful challenge. Staff must be prepared to question decisions and escalate concerns if they feel that a child is not being adequately safeguarded.

·        If a member of staff believes a referral has not been responded to appropriately, or that professional disagreement may leave a child at risk, they must follow the relevant local escalation procedure, including the SET Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures escalation route where applicable.

• Staff should never feel their duty ends with making one referral; they must persist until they are satisfied that the child is safe.

Records and Information Sharing

Well-kept records are essential to good child protection practice. Kids Inspire is clear about the need to record any concern held about a child or children within our organisation and when these records should be shared with other agencies. Concerns about Looked After Children are always shared with the assigned Social Worker.

Where there are concerns about the safety or welfare of a child, timely and proportionate information sharing between organisations can reduce the risk of harm. Data protection legislation, the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 do not prevent information sharing where information is needed to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child. Practitioners do not need consent to share personal information where a child is at risk, or there is a perceived risk, of harm. Wherever it is safe and appropriate, children and families should be informed about what information will be shared, with whom and why.

Any member of staff receiving a disclosure of abuse or noticing signs or indicators of abuse, will record it as soon as possible, noting what was said or seen, giving the date, time and location.  All records will be dated and signed and will include the action taken. This is then presented to the designated safeguarding team who will decide on appropriate action and record this accordingly. All Cause for Concern forms are sent to safeguarding@kidsinspire.org.uk

Any records related to child protection are kept on the young person’s file. All child protection records are stored securely and confidentially and will be retained for 7 years in-line with our Data Retention guidelines.

Records must clearly explain the concern, the child’s words where relevant, the date and time, who was informed, what decisions were made, the rationale for sharing or not sharing information, and any follow-up actions. Where information is shared, staff should share only information that is relevant, accurate, necessary and proportionate for safeguarding purposes, while protecting the identity of any person who may be placed at risk if their details become known.

See Appendix* 5 for a copy of the Cause for Concern form.

Training

Kids Inspire is committed to training all staff, students and volunteers (including Trustees) as part of the induction process. In addition, they will be required to undertake either refresher training or more advanced training (as appropriate) bi-annually thereafter.

When new staff, trustees, volunteers or regular visitors join they are informed of the safeguarding arrangements in place, the name of the designated safeguarding lead (and deputy/deputies) and how to share concerns with them.

Internal safeguarding training is delivered at least annually and all team members are required to sign to acknowledge they have received this. Updates, resources and useful information is disseminated via email and weekly team meetings where appropriate.

The designated safeguarding lead (and deputies) undertake Level 3 child protection training at least every two years.

Every effort will be made to ensure that staff, students and volunteers recruited to work for Kids Inspire are suitable to do so. Those who are responsible for appointing staff will be trained in safer recruitment practices. All references will be robustly scrutinized, and other checks sought at the appropriate level. All staff, students and volunteers (including Trustees) will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check upon appointment. 

Equality and Diversity

This policy should be read in conjunction with the Kids Inspire Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

The fundamental principle of the policy is that no one should be discriminated against on the grounds of age, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, sex or disability (the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010).

In addition, Kids inspire does not tolerate any discrimination on the basis of a person’s culture, cultural background or socio-economic background.

Whistleblowing

The charity has a whistleblowing policy in place, to encourage employees and others with serious concerns to come forward. There are internal routes to enable this communication, and externally via the relevant Local Authority.

Please also refer to the Kids Inspire Whistleblowing Policy.

Links to other Kids Inspire Policies

All staff involved with safeguarding and child protection work, need to bear in mind the other organisational policies which support their work and provide guidance organisational policies which support their work and provide guidance:

• Child Sexual Exploitation

• Incident Management

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Whistle blowing

• Confidentiality

• Safeguarding Adults at Risk

• Code of conduct

• Lone working

• Health and safety

• Complaints

• Internal communications strategy

Please get in touch if any are not listed on our website.

Monitoring and Compliance

The Kids Inspire Board of Trustees are responsible for overall monitoring and review of this policy. A database of all reported concerns will be kept and used for monthly reporting to the Board.

Every Board meeting will include a minuted update on Safeguarding to ensure compliance with organisational policy and any cases requiring escalation will be (anonymously) recorded.

A representative from the Trustees will attend a working meeting of the Safeguarding Team once per quarter and feed back to the Board a review of practice.