​Link to downloadable Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures

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1.  Walsall Junior Youth Football League acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in any Youth League football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s Safeguarding Children - Policy and Procedures and endorse and adopt the Policy Statement contained in that document.

2.  The key principles of The FA Safeguarding Children Policy are that:

• The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
• All children and young people have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, culture, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation 
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately • Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents/carers is essential.
We acknowledge that every child or young person who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse. Walsall Junior Youth Football League recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our league.

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3. Walsall Junior Youth Football League has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying. It is noted and accepted that The Football Associations Child Protection Regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This means whether you are a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours, football coach, club official or medical staff.

4.  We endorse and adopt The FA’s Responsible Recruitment guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:

• Develop a role profile
• Request identification documents
• As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before appointing
• Request and follow up with 2 references before appointing
• Require an FA DBS Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.
 

All current Youth League members with direct access to children and young people will be required to complete a DBS Enhanced Disclosure via The FA Disclosure team. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of The Youth League guidance will be sought from The Football Association. It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance and significance of the information obtained via The FA Disclosure team and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people.

It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant offending from having contact with children or young people and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children or young people. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimize the risk of ‘grooming’ within football.

5. Walsall Junior Youth Football League supports the FAs Whistle Blowing Policy*. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting the following: 

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Staffordshire FA email: Support@staffordshirefa.com Phone 01785 256994
The FA Safeguarding Team email: safeguarding@TheFA.com phone 0800 169 1863
NSPCC helpline number 0808 800 5000
Child Protection in Sport Unit via cpsu@nspcc.org.uk
You may also wish to escalate to the Police or your Local Authority Children’s service’s

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6.  Walsall Junior Youth Football League has a Youth League Welfare Officer (YLWO) in line with the FA’s role profile and required completion of the Safeguarding Children and Welfare Officers Workshop. The post holder will be involved with Welfare Officer training provided by The FA and/or CFA. The YLWO is the first point of contact for all league committee members regarding concerns about the welfare of any child or young person. The YLWO will liaise directly with the CFA Welfare Officer and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in increasing awareness of Respect, poor practice and abuse amongst CWO and their members and league committee members. In addition to this all League committee members will complete the on line safeguarding for committee members course in line with FA safeguarding 365 standards.

7. We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our league. If bullying does occur, all players or parents/carers should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the relevant CWO or YLWO or alternatively in cases of serious bullying we may contact the CFA Designated safeguarding Officer.

 

8. Respect codes of conduct for Players, Parents/ Spectators, Officials and Coaches have been implemented by Walsall Junior Youth Football League. In order to validate these Respect codes of conduct the league has clear actions it will take regarding repeated or serious misconduct at club level and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by the CFA in more serious circumstances. All registering clubs will be required to adopt the Respect codes.

9. Reporting your concerns about the welfare of a child or young person:
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility if you are worried about a child, it is important that you report your concerns – no action is not an option.

i. If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the YLWO.
ii. If the issue is one of poor practice they will either: deal with the matter themselves or - seek advice from the County FA Designated safeguarding officer. 
iii. If the concern is more serious – possible child abuse they will where possible contact the County FA Designated safeguarding Officer first, then immediately contact the Police or Children’s Services.
iv. If the child needs immediate medical treatment take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them this is a child protection concern. Let your County FA Designated safeguarding Officer know what action you have taken.
v. If at any time you are not able to contact your YLWO or the matter is serious then you can either: contact your County FA Designated safeguarding officer via email support@staffordshirefa.com or call The FA/NSPCC 24 hour Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000 or contact the Police or Local Authority Children’s Services.
 

NB - The FA’s Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures available via https://www.thefa.com/football-rulesgovernance/safeguarding/policy-downloads click on the ‘downloads’ under Policy and Procedures, outlines in detail what to do if you are concerned about the welfare of a child and includes flow diagrams to describe this process. This is also covered within the Safeguarding Children workshop, where participants are given the opportunity to discuss how this feels and how best they can prepare themselves to deal with such a situation.

10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can be obtained from:

•  Staffordshire FA Designated safeguarding officer email support@staffordshirefa.com • The Football Association (The FA) Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London, SW1P 9EQ Tel: 0844 980 8200 Email: info@thefa.com www.thefa.com/governance/safeguarding
• Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) National Training Centre 3 Gilmour Close, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, LE4 1EZ. Tel: 0116 234 7278 Email: cpsu@nspcc.org.uk www.nspcc.org.uk
• Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) 33 Vauxhall Bridge Road London, SW1V 2WG To report a crime; please contact CEOP using the following Email:
enquiries@ceop.gsi.gov.uk

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