CHILD PROTECTION POLICY

 

 
  1. Clarendon Juniors Football Club 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 club football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s child protection and best practice policy and procedures and endorse and adopt the policy statement contained in that document.
  2. The key principles of The FA Child Protection 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 or 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. Clarendon juniors Football Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club.
  1. Clarendon Juniors Football Club 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 Association’s child protection regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This includes those who are a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours, football coach, club official or medical staff.
  2. We endorse and adopt The FA’s Child Protection and Best Practice Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers and 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 two references before appointing
  • Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.

All current Clarendon Juniors Football Club members with direct access to children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Clarendon Juniors Football Club, 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 CRB Unit Enhanced CRB Disclosure 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.

  1. Clarendon Juniors Football Club encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary Clarendon Juniors Football Club supports The FA’s ‘whistle blowing’ policy. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting:

    The FA Child Protection Manager on 0207 745 4771, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, London W1D 4FA or by going direct to the police, social services or the NSPCC.

 
  • Clarendon Juniors Football Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile and required completion of the child protection and best practice workshop. The post holder will be involved with designated person’s training provided by The FA.

    The CWO is the first point of contact for all club members and parents or guardians regarding concerns for the welfare of any child or young person. They will liaise directly with the CFA CPO and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in increasing an awareness of poor practice and abuse amongst club members.
  • We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our club. If bullying does occur, all players, parents or guardians should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the CWO, a member of the committee or, in cases of serious bullying contact the CFA CPO.
  • Codes of conduct for players, parents or spectators, officials and coaches have been implemented by Clarendon Juniors Football Club.

    In order to validate these codes of conduct the club has clear sanctions to deal with any misconduct at club level and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by leagues or the CFA in more serious circumstances. All prospective members will be informed of these codes.      
  • Further advice on child protection matters can be obtained from:
    • The County Football Association’s Child Protection Officer, whose details can be found in the County Handbook
    • The Football Association/NSPCC Child Protection 24-Hour Helpline 0808 800 5000
    • Www.TheFA.com/Goal
    • The FA child protection team on 0207 745 4649.

     

    WEBSITE POLICY

     

    The protection and security of the clubs players is paramount and therefore the website has the following policies on various safeguards.

    Site Content (click for further details of content)

    • All contents of this site is, in the main, for the benefit of those registered as members of the club.
    • Club members names will be used by the site, but no personal details will be disclosed apart from club playing history.
    • News stories, match reports and features may be accompanied by images but no direct identification will be disclosed.
    • Any personal contact information held by the club of registered club members will not be:
      - included in this site.
      - forwarded to associated sites.
      - made available to third parties.
      - disclosed to any other medium.

    Locations of matches will, where possible not be revealed in their entirity, however in some cases it will be necessary to give details to inform the players/parents

     

    Pictures, Photographs and Images

    • Any images of players on the club website will not be accompanied with their first or surname unless parents have requested it to be given. (See registration form policy below)
    • Images may be accompanied in news and reports relating to certain players but they will not necessarily be in the correct order in which they are stated in that news or report.
    • No inappropriate images will appear on this site, any images deemed unsuitable should be outlined by emailing the address below.
    • Parents/Guardians of all registered club playing members have the right to request the removal of any image material that appears on site.

     

    Message Forum/Message Board

    • The forum is an interactive source and there is humourous element to some threads and as a result anything can be posted. However there are a number of safeguards in place...
      - All posts/messages are regularly monitored.
      - Posts and messages can be deleted by the webmaster.
      - Access to the forum is by registration only.
      - IP addresses are recorded and can be traced if needed.
      - IP addresses can be blocked if required.

     

    Registration Forms

    • Parents/guardians have the option when registering their child(ren) to give or deny their consent to their child(ren) being featured...
      - Parents/guardians who give their consent for their child(ren) to be featured on the club website are permitting the use of a picture (without being named as stated above) and not just there name.
      - If you wish your child(ren)s name to be ommitted for the site altogether, then please email the address below outlining this immediately.

     

    Withdrawal of information

    • Parents/guardian's can withdraw their consent and ask that information about their child(ren) be deleted from the site at anytime. Every effort will be made to delete the information as soon as possible.
    • When a parent/guardian revokes consent, the website will stop collecting, using or disclosing information from that child.
    • The site may end a child's participation in an activity if the information it collected was necessary for participation in the website's activity.
    • The club itself may also decide that in the interests of security and safety to withdraw information.

     

     

    Patents/Guardian notice

    • Every effort has and will be made to make the club website as accessible and safe as possible, we hope by outlining the safeguards, the site will be used for the purpose it has been intended.
    • If you are unaware of the full extent in which your child(ren) is/are featured on the site, all relevant information will be made available to you.
    • You may request any information the club website has collected to be deleted.
    • You may request further collection or use of information to be prevented.

     

     

    Please email childprotection@clarendonjuniorsfc.co.uk with any questions or concerns.