How does TWMAD safeguard the children we support?
This is a question which holds huge significance at TWMAD, our response has to be at the core of how we operate as a growing children’s and young peoples service.
How we apply safeguarding
Our safeguarding procedures are there to assist TWMAD in making sure we keep children and young people safe and to inform our staff on what they need to do when they have concerns about a child’s wellbeing.
We work closely with services who are heavily regulated, therefore TWMAD has to be as proficient with our implementation of safeguarding to give them peace of mind and assurances that who they place with us is in safe hands.
Safeguarding is an ongoing process and our procedures starts with the implementation of our policies, our designated safeguarding lead (DSL) ensures that they remain up to date and in line with government guidance. All the relevant documents are shared with our partners upon requested.
Members of our leadership team are qualified to level 3 in safeguarding children and our staff undergo training to achieve their level 2 and also attend CCE & CSE awareness training.
Staff
Safer Recruitment is implemented to ensure that all staff are suitable and safe to work with children and young people.
All safeguarding documents are shared with our staff during their induction process where we provide them with risk assessments and mentor FAQ’s to ensure that they are well informed on the actions required to do their job efficiently. We encourage them to look at these documents frequently so it is fresh in their mind and ensures they are able to keep both them and the children they support safe whilst at work.
Any training gaps are filled and opportunities to up skill and receive education to assist there performance are regularly provided and undertaken by our staff.
Referrals & Reporting
The way we conduct our referrals is hugely important, we speak with a child or young persons parents/carers, teachers, and support workers. These conversations prove pivotal in ensuring that we have all key contact details and consents ahead of beginning any support. We gain a comprehensive understanding of the child’s situations and we discuss expected outcomes that they would like us to work towards when supporting the children.
We use all the gathered information to allocate the most suitable mentor and to inform the planned approach when working with the child.
Each mentor completes a report following each session which they share via a secure link, this immediately uploads to our encrypted online server. The reports are monitored by our DSL and this enables immediate action should any concern have been raised, these reports are also shared as updates to our partners on a regular basis. Our reporting also gathers statistics on the child’s engagement, mood and offer insight into any themes that the children are needing support with.
Safeguarding in Practice
Supporting children with complex needs and chaotic behaviours can lead to tricky situations and the feelings that are experienced when things don’t go quite right can be very stressful and also become very damaging if due care and attendance is not given.
There are many moving parts that are associated with this line of work TWMAD ensure that our safeguarding journey is one of continued learning and progression. As a growing organisation delivering varied activities and interventions, we strive each day to be the best that we can be, we aim be children and young people favourite time of their day their safety is our number one priority and TWMAD welcomes all the responsibilities that come with it.