All children and young people have the right to be protected from abuse and exploitation.  All children and young people are entitled to grow up in a safe environment within their own families wherever possible. All children and young people have the right to be listened to and taken seriously and for their wishes and feelings to be considered.

Other than in exceptional circumstances, parents have the responsibility and the right to provide the appropriate emotional and physical care for their children and young people.

All Safe Space staff/volunteers have a fundamental duty of care to children and young people.  Safe Space will work in an open and collaborative way, including the appropriate sharing of information, so that children and young people in Fife will get the help they need when they need it.

Practice Guidelines

The following guidelines are provided to enable the implementation of this policy within the remit of Safe Space.  These guidelines should be read in conjunction with all other Safe Space policies:

• Staff/volunteers are required to alert the Manager/Chair should they have concern about the safety of a child.
• Where the child is also a client of Safe Space, her/his views will be taken into consideration at every stage.  Information will be shared with the relevant agency when a child is perceived to be in danger of significant harm or a life threatening situation. However, there will always be an informed judgement as to whether the child can give realistic consent to act on his/her behalf. There may be occasions where a child is not in a position to give their consent and confidentiality may have to be breached. Good practice would suggest that where a client can give permission this should always be sought.
• In such situations and before confidentiality is broken (e.g., where a child or other children are perceived to be at risk and permission for Safe Space to take action is being withheld) information must be shared with the Manager and co-ordinator.  Share with the client the action that Safe Space intends to take and the possible implications.

Implementation

All staff / volunteers are appointed subject to PVG disclosure.  All staff / volunteers are required to complete Child Protection training.  All staff / volunteers are provided with a ‘Safe Space Handbook’ which is updated when required.  All staff / volunteers are expected to attend in-service training and staff development sessions which relate to child protection.  Any information shared with police/social work departments will be recorded appropriately.