Garter Lane. Photo: Derek Speirs.
Minister Katherine Zappone T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, announced on Monday 2 October 2017 that following almost two years of preparations all remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 will be commenced on 11 December 2017.
These include the provisions in relation to mandatory reporting of child abuse and in relation to placing a legal obligation on organisations providing services to children to prepare and publish a Child Safeguarding Statement.
Minister Zappone was speaking at the launch of Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children [2017] which revises and replaces the 2011 edition of the Children First Guidance.
The revised Guidance includes reference to the provisions of the Children First Act and is available on the website of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs at www.dcya.gov.ie.
At the same launch, Tusla published an accompanying suite of Children First resource documents for those individuals and organisations who will acquire legal obligations under the Children First Act 2015. Tusla also launched a comprehensive 90 minute basic Children First training programme, to be universally available on line, free of charge. The Tusla suite of Children First resource materials and information on access to the e-learning module is available at www.tusla.ie for the most up-to-date guidance in relation to child protection and welfare.
Following the enactment of the Children First Act 2015 and publication of the revised Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare 2017, the Arts Council is continuing to support the arts sector in the promotion of best practice in child protection and welfare.
All arts organisations, groups and individual artists working with children have a responsibility to protect children from harm and contribute to their safety and well-being, in accordance with legislation and national guidance.
The Arts Council promotes the key principles that inform best practice in child protection and welfare, and acknowledges the rights of children to be protected from harm, treated with respect, listened to and have their views taken into consideration; recognising that the safety and welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility and the best interests of the child should be paramount.
Child protection and welfare national policy is based on a legal framework provided primarily by the Children Act 1991 and the Children First Act 2015. The policy and practice that applies in this area is outlined in Children First, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children.
Children First, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children was first published in 1999 and revised in 2011, and 2017. The need to revise the National Guidance and current edition came about because of the enactment of the Children First Act 2015. This act places a number of statutory obligations on specific groups of professionals and on particular organisations providing services to children.
Many arts organisations provide ‘relevant services’ as defined in the Children First Act 2015, Schedule 1 and therefore have specific statutory obligations under the Act.
Child protection and welfare national policy is based on a legal framework provided primarily by the Children Act 1991 and the Children First Act 2015. The policy and practice that applies in this area is outlined in Children First, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children.
Children First, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children was first published in 1999 and revised in 2011, and 2017. The need to revise the National Guidance and current edition came about because of the enactment of the Children First Act 2015. This act places a number of statutory obligations on specific groups of professionals and on particular organisations providing services to children.
Many arts organisations provide ‘relevant services’ as defined in the Children First Act 2015, Schedule 1 and therefore have specific statutory obligations under the Act. One of the main objectives of the Children First Act 2015 is to ensure that your organisation keeps children safe from harm while availing of your service. The legislation and this associated guidance relate to the obligations of relevant services to prevent, as far as practicable, deliberate harm or abuse to the children availing of their services. While it is not possible to remove all risk, your organisation should put in place policies and procedures to manage and reduce risk to the greatest possible extent.
The Children First Act places specific obligations on organisations which provide services to children and young people, including the requirement to:
- Keep children safe from harm while they are using your service.
- Carry out a risk assessment to identify whether a child or young person could be harmed while receiving your services.
- Develop a Child Safeguarding Statement that outlines the policies and procedures which are in place to manage the risks that have been identified.
- Appoint a relevant person to be the first point of contact in respect of your organisation’s Child Safeguarding Statement.
The legislation imposes deadlines on organisations in both carrying out a risk assessment and preparing a Child Safeguarding Statement. Organisations were required to complete a risk assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement within three months of the relevant sections of the Children First Act 2015 coming into force, which was 11 December 2017. For newer services, organisations must comply with the requirements within three months from the date their services commenced.
The Children First Act, in section 11(4), requires providers of relevant services to have due regard to any guidelines issued by Tulsa, Child and Family Agency concerning child safeguarding statements. Any guidance issued by Tusla concerning Child Safeguarding Statements may be found on its website (www.tusla.ie)
Every organisation or individual artist providing services to children should ensure that they have policies and procedures in place which protect children from harm. It is the responsibility of organisations to ensure that all staff members and volunteers have good quality information to enable them to recognise and report child protection and welfare concerns. If you are an adult working on your own to provide a service to children, you should ensure that your procedures follow best practice in child protection.
It is a condition of financial assistance from the Arts Council that those in receipt of funding or grant-aid whose work brings them into contact with children meet their obligations with regard to national legislation, and have policies and procedures in place to create a safe environment.
Child Safeguarding Statement
If your organisation provides a relevant service, as listed in Schedule 1 of the Children First Act 2015, this will be achieved by preparing and implementing your Child Safeguarding Statement. Guidance on developing a Child Safeguarding Statement is available here
All organisations that provide services to children and families should develop specific policies and procedures to keep children and young people using their services safe from harm. A best practice guide for all providers to develop guiding principles and safeguarding procedures is available here. (PDF, 1.11 MB)
In preparing your safeguarding statement and other safeguarding procedures you should consider the following:
- Dealing with child protection concerns
- Reporting child protection concerns
- Working safely with children
- Recruiting and managing staff and volunteers
- Child safeguarding awareness and training
- Involving parents and children
- Implementing and reviewing the safeguarding strategies
Tusla has prepared guidance on child safeguarding and on reporting child welfare and protection concerns, which your organisation may find useful. This may be found on the Tusla website www.tusla.ie. Children First, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children can also be obtained from the Tusla website.
The use of images plays an important role in many aspects of work with children and young people. Images in many formats can be used to record, document, demonstrate, promote and celebrate activities and experiences. Increasingly accessible and diverse technology has meant that recording, sharing, disseminating and publicising images is more widespread than ever before, and this practice will undoubtedly continue and expand.
Guidelines
Concerns about misuse of images have also grown and for this reason guidelines on good practice (PDF, 0.55 MB) have been formulated to help organisations, artists and practitioners to use images in ways that respect privacy and do not expose children or young people to unnecessary risk.
Please note: these guidelines were originally developed and published in 2009 and are due to be updated. They should be read in conjunction with subsequent changes in child protection legislation and national guidance, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
Statutory obligations on employers in relation to Garda vetting requirements for persons working with children and vulnerable adults are set out in the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012–2016.
These Acts, provide a legislative basis for the mandatory vetting of persons who wish to undertake certain work or activities relating to children or vulnerable persons, or to provide certain services to children or vulnerable persons. The Acts create offences and penalties for persons who fail to comply with its provisions. Arts organisations, groups and individual artists should ensure that they fully comply with all the requirements of this legislation.
The National Vetting Bureau of An Garda Síochána issues vetting disclosures to organisations employing people who work in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or student placement basis with children and/or vulnerable adults. The National Vetting Bureau does not decide on the suitability of any person to work with children and vulnerable adults. Rather, in response to a written request for vetting, the National Vetting Bureau releases criminal history and other specified information on the person to be vetted to the prospective recruiting organisation.
Decisions on suitability for recruitment rests at all times with the recruiting organisation and the results of vetting should form only one part of your organisations recruitment decision.
Information on Garda Vetting can be found at the following link vetting.garda.ie
It is the responsibility of your organisation to identify what training your staff and volunteers need and to ensure that they receive adequate and appropriate child welfare and protection information and training. Your organisation should provide all staff members and volunteers with good-quality information on the recognition and reporting of child protection and welfare concerns. Training should also include clear information about the role of the statutory agencies with primary responsibility in child protection and welfare, namely, Tusla and An Garda Síochána.
If your organisation has employees who are mandated persons under the Children First Act 2015, you should also ensure that training specifically on the statutory responsibilities of mandated persons under the Act is made available to them.
If your organisation has a nominated designated liaison person and/or deputy designated liaison person, you should ensure that they receive adequate child protection and welfare information and training to enable them to undertake this role.
Tusla has developed a suite of resources including an e-learning training module, Introduction to Children First, which covers recognising and reporting child abuse, the role of mandated persons, mandated assisting, the responsibilities of organisations working with children to safeguard children using their services, and the role of designated liaison persons. You can access the e-learning module and other Tusla resources through the Tusla website www.tusla.ie
Information is also available on the Tusla website to assist your organisation if it wishes to develop its own specific Children First training (Tusla Children First– Best Practice Principles for Organisations in Developing Children First Training Programmes).