Safeguarding

All museums should have the following in place:

  1. Safeguarding policies and procedures that recognise safeguarding children is a key priority for your organisation.
  2. A commitment by senior management to safeguarding children.
  3. A clear line of accountability for safeguarding children.
  4. Safe recruitment and human resources procedures that take account of safeguarding, including arrangements for making appropriate checks on staff and volunteers.
  5. Procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against staff.
  6. Safeguarding training and awareness-raising in place to enable all staff to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This should include induction and refresher training.
  7. Arrangements in place to ensure museums, libraries and archives work effectively with other organisations to safeguard children.
  8. A culture of listening to, and engaging in dialogue with, children.
  9. Appropriate whistle-blowing procedures.

It is important that you develop policies and procedures that are specific to your site and your circumstances.

It is vital that all museums have a Child Protection Policy which all staff and volunteers understand and adhere to. Although Child Protection is everyone’s responsibility there should be a manager for whom this is a responsibility and a named individual who takes overall responsibility for child protection within your museum.

Such a policy:

  • covers the ethical / moral welfare of young people
  • covers the legal aspects which can be challenging due to constant changes at national and Local Authority levels.

Downloads:

  • Renaissance South East’s information sheet on safeguarding. (PDF, 82 Kb)

Websites:

  • The NSPCC  give advice on writing a Safeguarding policies.
  • National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) have a website called Safe Network to help organisations who work with children.
  • See the Disclosure and Barring Service for the latest news on Safeguarding.
  • Hampshire County Council provide advice about Using images of people: photographs, videos and webcams. Please note that this guidance was written specifically for Hampshire County Council staff and is Hampshire’s interpretation of the Data Protection Act. The guidance may not necessarily be appropriate for others to follow. Check what guidance your Local Authority provides.