Clwyd Special Riding Centre
Child, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Protection Policy
(Registered Charity Number 512582)

The aim of the Trust is to provide disabled people with the opportunity to ride, and/or carriage-drive or equestrian vault to benefit their health and well-being.

The Centre provides people of all ages with special needs the opportunities to join in social activities, competitions or to take a holiday – which combine to bring a new dimension to necessarily restricted lives, encourage independence, and do much to improve a wide range of medical conditions.

The Trust is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults. Whether involved in riding, carriage driving or vaulting, all children, young people and vulnerable adults have a right to be safe and protected from harm.

There has been an increasing awareness over the last few years that some individuals who want to harm and abuse children and vulnerable adults will use charitable activities such as Riding for the Disabled as a vehicle to gain access to young and vulnerable people.

Child Protection underpins the following principles:

1. A duty of care to safeguard all the children from harm. All children have a right to protection, and the needs of disabled children and others who may be particularly vulnerable must be taken into account. (The Children Act 1989 defines a child/young person as under 18.)
2. All organisations, which provide for children, should be able to demonstrate the existence, implementation and effectiveness of child protection policies.

Any interested party may obtain a copy of this policy from the office on payment of a reasonable administration charge.

The Centre recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people, including vulnerable adults, by protecting them from physical, sexual and emotional harm, and from neglect and bullying.

The Centre is committed to meeting this obligation by affording the highest level of care for children, young people and vulnerable adults, through its child protection procedures.

This policy and its procedures applies to anyone within the Centre whether those Persons be in a paid or voluntary capacity, or as part of a competing team or volunteer/supporting group. This also includes Trustees, members of the committee/board and designated medical and veterinary staff.

The Centre will consider whether anyone who has a criminal conviction or caution for offences related to the abuse of children, young people or vulnerable adults should be excluded from working with children, young people or vulnerable adults or have access to children, young people or vulnerable adults while at events. This exclusion of such individuals is a position reinforced by UK Legislation and Guidance.

The Centre has responsibility to ensure that its activities are free from abuse and to ensure that it has put into place adequate measures to report proper concerns to the appropriate statutory body.

This Policy sets the following objectives:
1. To ensure that all those who participate in any way whatsoever are aware of the Child/Young People and Vulnerable Adults protection procedures set out in this policy.
2. To ensure that the Centre Child Protection Officer independently seeks appropriate training and guidance on child protection and fully understands the child protection policy and procedures.
3. That all Trustees of the Centre are conversant with the child protection procedures and ensure these are implemented.
4. That the Trust appoints a designated person who will be the Centre Child Protection Officer. The Centre’s Child Protection Officer will be responsible for the decision to make a referral to the required statutory body.
5. That all new volunteers complete an application form which ensures that the Centre Child Protection Policy has been read by the new volunteer.
6. That all paid staff, trustees, physiotherapists, volunteers and support groups of the Centre are aware of their duty to report any incident of alleged child abuse. This may relate directly to an incident at a Centre event or it may relate to an alleged incident which has occurred outside of the venues used by the Centre.

Adherence to good riding instruction practises, aligned with open communication with parents and children, should ensure that a safe and enjoyable environment is established and sustained. The duty of care commences from the point of receipt of the child/young person or vulnerable adult to the point of return to the parent/guardian/carer and the duty of care is non transferable.

• Always be publicly open when working with children/young persons and vulnerable adults to avoid situations where a trainer, committee/board member/trustee, physiotherapist, helper or volunteer and an individual child or vulnerable adult cannot be observed.
• Care should be taken at all times when working with and particularly when manually handling children/young persons and vulnerable adults.
• Care should be taken when aiding and assisting a disabled person from a wheelchair onto and off a horse and pony.
• Care should be taken when providing manual support such as when helping a rider to mount and dismount the horse or pony.
• Care should be taken when providing manual support to stabilise the rider whilst on the horse, whether the horse is standing or moving.
• Care should be taken when manually supporting or aiding a child/young person or vulnerable adult whilst they are vaulting.
• Care should be taken by an able bodied rider where the disabled rider requires an able bodied back-rider to provide manual support.
• Where possible parents/carers should be responsible for children whilst using the toilet.
• Treat all disabled riders equally with respect and dignity.
• Always place the safety and welfare of the riders as the highest priority.
• Behave in an exemplary manner and be a role model for excellent behaviour.
• Motivate the disabled riders through positive and constructive feedback.
• Create a safe and enjoyable situation.
• Obtain written consent from parents when young children are required to be transported by instructors, committee/board members, trustees, helpers or volunteers.
• Maintain a written report of any incident or injury together with any subsequent treatment and immediately complete an accident report form.

• Spending excessive amounts of time alone with children and/or vulnerable adults away from others.
• Taking children and/or vulnerable adults to your home where they will be alone with you.

The above should be avoided except in emergencies. If cases arise where these situations are unavoidable they should occur with the full knowledge and consent of someone in charge in the organisation and/or the child’s parents, e.g. a child/young person or vulnerable adult sustains an injury and needs to go to hospital, or a parent/carer fails to arrive to pick up a child/young person or vulnerable adult at the end of a lesson.

You should never:

• engage in rough, physical or sexually provocative games;
• share a room with a child/young person or vulnerable adult;
• allow or engage in any form of inappropriate touching;
• make sexually suggestive remarks to a child/young person or vulnerable adult – even in fun;
• allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged;
• allow allegations made by a child/young person to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon;
• do things of a personal nature for a child/young person or vulnerable adult if they can do it for themselves, unless you have been requested to do so by the parents (do so with the utmost discretion);
• never depart from the premises until you have supervised the safe dispersal of the children/young persons and vulnerable adults;
• abuse your privileged position of power or trust with children or adults;
• cause a participant to lose self esteem by embarrassing, humiliating or undermining the individual;
• have favourites.

If any of the following incidents should occur, you should report them immediately to another colleague and make a written note of the event, signed and dated. Parents and/or carers should also be informed of the incident:

It is impossible to establish guidelines for every situation which may become evident in the Centre; common sense should be used at all times.

The Centre Child Protection Officer is happy to discuss any queries regarding referrals, training matters or issues of concern.

21 November 2007.         Review: November 2008.