1. Oakwood Football Club acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in any Club football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association's Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures and endorse and adopt the Policy Statement contained in that document.

2. The key principles of The FA Safeguarding Children Policy are that:

The child's welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
All children and young people have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, culture, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation
All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents/carers is essential.
We acknowledge that every child or young person who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse.

Oakwood Football Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club.

3. Oakwood Football Club has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying. It is noted and accepted that The Football Association's Child Protection Regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This means whether you are a volunteer, match official, helper on club tours, football coach, club official or medical staff.

4. Oakwood Football Club endorse and adopt The FA's Responsible Recruitment guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:

Develop a role profile
Request identification documents
As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before appointing
Request and follow up with tworeferences before appointing
Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.

All current Oakwood Football Club members who are regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Oakwood Football Club, guidance will be sought from The Football
Association. It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance and significance of the information obtained via The FA CRB Unit Enhanced CRB Disclosure and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people.

It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant offending from having contact with children or young people and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children or young people. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise the risk of 'grooming' within football.

5.Oakwood Football Club supports The FA's Whistle blowing Policy*. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can 'whistle blow' by contacting The FA Child Protection Team on 0207 745 4787, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, W1D 4FA, or alternatively by going direct to the Police, Children's Services or the NSPCC.

Oakwood Football Club encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.

6. Oakwood Football Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with
The FA's role profile and required

1. The policy on CRB Enhanced Disclosures will be subject to change, in light of the implementation of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups
Act, 2006, due to come into effect in October 2009. Further information will be provided on this via TheFA.com and via the County FA Welfare
Officers.
1
The FA Charter Standard
Club Programme
Safeguarding Children Policy
and Procedures Template
completion of the Safeguarding
Children and Welfare Officers
Workshop. The post holder will be
involved with Welfare Officer training
provided by The FA and/or CFA. The
CWO is the first point of contact for
all Club committee members
regarding concerns about the welfare
of any child or young person. The
CWO will liaise directly with the CFA
Welfare Officer and will be familiar
with the procedures for referring any
concerns.They will also play a
proactive role in increasing
awareness of Respect, poor practice
and abuse amongst their Club
members.
7. We acknowledge and endorse The
FA's identification of bullying as a
category of abuse. Bullying of any
kind is not acceptable in our league.
If bullying does occur, all players or
parents/carers should be able to tell
and know that incidents will be dealt
with promptly. Incidents need to be
reported to the CWO or alternatively,
in cases of serious bullying, we may
contact the CFA Welfare Officer.
8. Respect codes of conduct for
Players, Parents/Spectators, Officials
and Coaches have been implemented
by FA
Charter Standard Club. In order to
validate these Respect codes of
conduct the Club has clear actions it
will take regarding repeated or
serious misconduct at Club level and
acknowledges the possibility of
potential sanctions which may be
implemented by the CFA in more
serious circumstances. All registering
members will be required to adopt
the Respect codes.
9. Reporting your concerns about the
welfare of a child or young person -
Safeguarding is everyone's
responsibility. If you are worried
about a child it is important that you
report your concerns - no action is
not an option.
● If you are worried about a child
then you need to report your
concerns to the CWO
● If the issue is one of poor practice
they will either:
-deal with the matter themselves or
-seek advice from the CFA Welfare
Officer
● If the concern is more serious -
possible child abuse - they will,
where possible, contact the CFA
Welfare Officer first, then
immediately contact the Police or
Children's Services
● If the child needs immediate
medical treatment take them to a
hospital or call an ambulance and
tell them this is a child protection
concern. Let your CFA Welfare
Officer know what action you have
taken
● If at any time you are not able to
contact your CWO or the matter is
The FA Charter Standard
Club Programme
Safeguarding Children Policy
and Procedures Template
serious then you can either:
- contact your CFA Welfare Officer
directly or
- call The FA/NSPCC 24-hour
Helpline for advice on 0808 800
5000 or
- contact the Police or Children's
Services.
NB - The FA's Safeguarding Children
Policy and Procedures is available via
www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe. Click on
the 'downloads' under Policy and
Procedures, it outlines in detail what to
do if you are concerned about the
welfare of a child and includes flow
diagrams to describe this process. This
is also covered within the Safeguarding
Children workshop, where participants
are given the opportunity to discuss
how this feels and how best they can
prepare themselves to deal with such a
situation.
10.Further advice on Safeguarding
Children matters can be obtained
from:
● www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe
● County Football Association's
Welfare Officer
- telephone no:
- email: CountyWO@
● The FA Safeguarding Children
enquiry line 0845 210 8080
● Emailing - Footballsafe@TheFA.com