Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults
First of all, what is safeguarding?
Safeguarding means the actions taken to protect children, young people and adults and keep them safe from harm.
As a charity that supports bereaved young people, we know it’s our responsibility to do everything we can to ensure you feel safe and protected.
We believe:
- It is never acceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse, of any kind. Ever!
- Every child, whatever their age, ability, gender, ethnicity, beliefs, background or identity, should have the right to protection from all types of harm or abuse.
- The safety and wellbeing of every child or young person we support is the most important thing to us.
These are the things we do to make sure children and young people are safe and protected from abuse or neglect:
- We listen to everything a child or young person tells us.
- We follow strict rules and all of our staff and volunteers agree to demonstrate good and appropriate behaviours.
- We give children and young people information about what good behaviours and actions look like so they can recognise if they experience the opposite.
- We make sure all our staff and volunteers receive regular safeguarding training and we offer them support and opportunities to talk about any worries or concerns they may have about a child or young person.
- We also thoroughly check the background of every person who works at Winston’s Wish.
- We’ll let social services or the police know if a child, young person or adult tells us that someone is at risk of abuse or neglect and sometimes, if it’s the right thing to do, we let parents and guardians know what’s going on as well
- We keep notes of all conversations on a secure and private online database that can only be accessed by Winston’s Wish staff.
Every single person at Winston’s Wish has a responsibility to make sure that children, young people and adults are safe from abuse and neglect. Everyone at Winston’s Wish MUST report any concerns or issues, wherever or however they might come up. That might be during our sessions supporting children and young people, at fundraising events, or during any in-person or online conversations with a child, young person, family member or adult.
All of the people who work at Winston’s Wish have read and signed our full safeguarding policy and procedures, which means they commit to making sure they behave appropriately.
The policy is updated every two years or sooner if there is a change in law, guidance for the government or if there are any changes in how we work at Winston’s Wish. The next policy review is scheduled for July 2025.
If you’d like to see a copy of our policy you can request one by emailing info@winstonswish.org.
