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Child Protection Safeguarding Statement

1          Nature of Services and principles to safeguard children from harm

Exchange House Ireland National Travellers Service acknowledges its duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is committed to ensuring our safeguarding practices reflects statutory responsibilities, Government guidance and complies with best practice.

Exchange House Ireland works from a social inclusion, equality and human rights perspective to provide Education, Youth, Family Support and Crisis Intervention Services to the Traveller community. Exchange House Ireland aims to create a safe environment for all children and persons working with children but in particular for the children and young people using Exchange House Ireland facilities and services where they feel secure, knowing that if they have concerns, they will be listened to with understanding and respect and their concerns will be addressed.

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. While protecting children from abuse is one part of safeguarding, children and young people also need safeguarding in order for them to grow, develop and achieve their full potential. Our service believes that the welfare of children attending our service is paramount. We are committed to a child-centred practice in all our work with children. We are committed to upholding the rights of every child and young person who attends our service, including the rights to be kept safe and protected from harm, listened to and heard.

Services provided by Exchange House Ireland are as follows

  • Education and Training
  • Family Support and Crisis Intervention
  • Children and Young People’s Service
  • Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

These services are provided in house at Exchange House, 61 Great Strand Street, Dublin 1 and on an outreach basis.

 

2          Procedures

Our child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, the Children First: National Guidance, and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice. In addition to the procedures listed in our risk assessment, the following procedures support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service;

  • Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against workers/volunteers of a child availing of our service
  • Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children
  • Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm
  • Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla
  • Procedure for maintaining a list of the persons (if any) in the relevant service who are mandated persons
  • Procedure for appointing a relevant person. Designated Liaison Person is Sarah Murray, Senior Social Worker. Emma Parsons and Sarah Corby are also DLPs. 

All procedures listed are available upon request

This Child Safeguarding Statement is supplementary to Exchange House Ireland’s Child Protection Policy, a link to which can be found below, along with outer relevant policies.

 

3          Implementation

At Exchange House Ireland we recognise that implementation of Child Protection policies is an ongoing process. Exchange House Ireland is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while accessing services. This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed by 11th March 2020 or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.

This statement has been published on the service website and is displayed in the service. It has been provided to all staff, volunteers and any other persons involved with the service. It is readily accessible to parents and guardians on request. A copy of this statement will be made available to Tusla if requested.

Signed:

Erika Ruigrok                                       Kevin Kelly

Chairperson                                         Family Support & Crisis Intervention Service Manager

16th August 2022

 

For queries, please contact Kevin Kelly – 087 902 1998

Relevant person under the Children First Act 2015

 

Relevant Policies

Child Protection Policy

Garda Vetting Policy

Confidentiality Policy

Recruitment Policy

Complaints Policy

Data Protection Policy

Supervision Policy

Indicents and Accidents Policy

Code of Conduct for Working with Childrean and Young People

Risk Assessment 

Download version of Safeguarding Statement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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