Southowram Cricket Club - Child Protection Policy - Page 2

SOUTHOWRAM CRICKET CLUB GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

• Always work in an open environment avoiding private or unobserved situations and encouraging open communication.
• Always treat all young people/disabled adults equally with respect and dignity.
• Always put the welfare of each young person first.
• Always maintain a safe and appropriate distance with players (e.g. it is not appropriate for staff or volunteers to have an intimate relationship with a child or to share a room with them).
• Build balanced relationships based on mutual trust and empowering children to share in decision making.
• Make sport fun, enjoyable and promoting fair play.
• Ensure that if any form of manual/physical support is required, it should be provided openly and according to guidelines provided by the Coach Education Programme. If it is difficult to maintain hand positions when the child is constantly moving, young people should always be consulted and their agreement gained.
• Keep up to date with technical skills, qualifications and insurance.
• Involve parents/carers wherever possible. If groups have to be supervised in the changing rooms, always ensure parents, teachers, coaches or officials work in pairs.
• Ensure that if mixed teams are taken away for the day or night, they should always be accompanied by a male and female member of staff.
• Ensure that at tournaments or residential events, adults should not enter children’s rooms or invite children into their rooms.
• Always be an excellent role model – this includes not smoking or drinking alcohol in the company of young people.
• Always give enthusiastic and constructive feedback rather than negative criticism.
• Recognise the developmental needs and capacity of young people and disabled adults – avoiding excessive training or competition and not pushing them against their will.
• Secure parental consent in writing, if the need arises, to administer emergency first aid and/or other medical treatment.
• Keep a written record of any injury that occurs, along with the details of any treatment given.
• Request written parental consent if club officials are required to transport young people in their cars.
• Avoid spending excessive amounts of time alone with children away from others.
• Avoid taking or dropping off a child to an event.
• Never engage in rough physical or sexually provocative games, including horseplay.
• Never share a room with a child.
• Never allow or engage in any form of inappropriate touching.
• Never allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged.
• Never make sexually suggestive comments to a child, even in fun.
• Never reduce a child to tears as a form of control.
• Never allow allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon.
• Never do things of a personal nature for children or disabled adults that they can do for themselves.
• Never invite or allow children to stay with you at your home unsupervised.