Safeguarding policy

for children and young people, adults at risk, staff, and volunteers

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE

Dream Lab Foundation (“DLF”, “the charity” or “we”) is an international charity registered in England. We run a number of services involving children, young people, and adults, including educational and wellbeing programmes, mentoring, support, and research activities.

This policy is a statement of our commitment to ensure that those benefiting from, working with, or coming into contact with, the charity, are not harmed in any way through contact with it. This includes all those who benefit from our work and activities, our staff, volunteers (including trustees), and partners, and especially children, young people and adults at risk. All staff and volunteers are responsible for working in line with this policy, the safeguarding laws stated in the Appendix and any other applicable in-country laws. This policy statement applies to work that the charity does in the UK and overseas.

This policy should be read alongside our other organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents. These documents are reviewed regularly and are either published on our website or available on request.

2. DEFINITIONS

“Abuse” means the physical, verbal, sexual, psychological or emotional mistreatment of another person. It may include single or repeated acts; be an act of neglect or an omission to act to prevent harm; be intentional or unintentional (and can result from lack of knowledge); be exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to health, development or dignity.

“Adult” means anyone aged 18 years or over and may include particularly vulnerable groups.

“Adults at risk” or “vulnerable adult” means anyone aged 18 years or over who:

  • has needs for care and support, and

  • is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect, and

  • as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of, abuse or neglect.

“Child” means anyone under the age of 18 years, regardless of which country they live in.

“Exploitation” means abuse of power or trust to use a person for the benefit of another.

“NGO” means non-governmental organisation.

“Overseas” means any country or jurisdiction aside from DLF’s location of principal office, which is England.

“Partner” or “partner organisation” means an individual or organisation that works with DLF in the delivery of DLF’s objectives.

“Safeguarding” means the range of measures in place and steps taken to protect those benefiting from, working with, or coming into contact with, the charity from harm and abuse of any kind. This includes protecting all beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, and any other people who come into contact with the charity, but especially children, young people and adults at risk.

Safeguarding children and young people means to:

  • protect them from abuse and maltreatment,

  • prevent harm to their health or development,

  • ensure they grow up with the provision of safe and effective care, and

  • take action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Safeguarding adults at risk means to:

  • protect their right to live in safety and free from abuse and neglect.

“Staff” means any and all paid employees of DLF.

“Trustee” means any person on the board of trustees of DLF.

“Volunteer” means any person who donates time and/or services to DLF.

“Young person” means anyone up to the age of 25 years.

 

3. OUR SAFEGUARDING COMMITMENT

We believe that:

  • We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all individuals to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

  • No one should experience abuse of any kind.

  • All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, or belief have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse.

We recognise that:

  • Extra care needs to be taken when working with children, young people or adults at risk. Some individuals are additionally vulnerable because of their socio-economic circumstances, their physical or mental ill-health, the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.

  • We have a duty not only to protect our beneficiaries from abuse, but also to protect staff and volunteers from situations that may lead to allegations of abuse.

We commit to:

  • Prioritising safeguarding and people protection over all other interests.

  • Protecting the dignity and safety of the people our work serves, respecting their voice, agency and choices, while upholding the universal right to be protected from harm.

We will seek to keep beneficiaries, staff and volunteers safe by:

  • Promoting a safe environment and culture that recognises that the welfare of people is paramount, including taking a zero tolerance approach to abuse and exploitation.

  • Taking a holistic approach to safeguarding, which means promoting wellbeing in addition to preventing harm and abuse.

  • Proactively identifying and managing risks.

  • Recruiting and selecting staff, volunteers and partners safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made to ensure their suitability to act in their roles.

  • Improving safeguarding capabilities by building the awareness and skills of our staff and volunteers through training, supervision and support.

  • Adopting and establishing good practices through our policies, procedures and codes of conduct, including those named in Section 1.

  • Providing a safe physical environment by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance.

  • Making sure that individuals know where to go for help and how to report concerns.

  • Promoting an open and trusted culture where those affected feel comfortable coming forward and raising concerns or complaints, confident that they will be heard and that their concerns will be handled sensitively, confidentially and appropriately.

  • Aiming to develop the ability of children, young people and adults at risk to communicate themselves by building their self-esteem, confidence, sense of self-efficacy and agency.

  • Responding quickly to every concern and complaint raised, ensuring any further harm or damage is stopped or minimised.

  • Carrying out appropriate investigations (internally or externally) in a timely manner.

  • Ensuring adequate records are kept in a secure and responsible way, and in line with data protection legislation and guidance.

  • Holding to account those who have been involved in causing harm or pose a risk of harm through appropriate disciplinary processes and/or external reporting to relevant authorities where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Further details of what these commitments look like in practice can be found in the charity’s Safeguarding Handbook – Policy and Procedures.

4. RECRUITMENT, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION

Alongside references and/or interviews, all staff and volunteers working with children, young people or adults at risk are required to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (in the UK) or local-equivalent checks, as permitted by law. Overseas criminal records checks or ‘Certificates of Good Character’ may also be conducted/requested. Other staff and volunteers will undergo standard DBS checks as appropriate to their individual role. DBS or local-equivalent checks will be updated at least every three years.

All staff and volunteers will receive regular training on safeguarding and be supervised as appropriate to their individual role and contact with those at different risks of harm.

5. RESPONDING TO ALLEGATIONS AND INCIDENTS

We are committed to ensuring victims and survivors of safeguarding breaches are at the heart of our safeguarding response. If a concern, complaint, allegation or incident of harm or abuse is raised, we will:

  • Be quick to respond and carry out appropriate investigations (internal or external) in a timely manner, ensuring any further harm or damage is stopped or minimised.

  • Be open and transparent with the parties involved.

  • Prioritise the safety and dignity of the victims and survivors, and ensure that there are no repercussions to reporting.

  • Ensure adequate records are kept in a secure and responsible way, and in line with data protection legislation and guidance.

  • Be open and transparent in full with the relevant agencies and regulators.

  • Hold those who have been involved in causing harm or pose a risk of harm to account through appropriate disciplinary processes. Non-disclosure agreements are not permitted for the protection of those who have been found to engage in misconduct or be complicit in any way.

  • Be open and transparent and report in full with the relevant agencies and regulators.

  • Be open and transparent with donors and the public as appropriate.

  • Review what happened to understand how to stop it from happening again.

6. WORKING OVERSEAS

We are committed to respecting the local cultures, structures, and customs of the communities and countries we work in. We will also prioritise the running of locally-led programmes and building up of local capacities. We believe that working with staff and volunteers who understand the local culture and practices better will benefit the delivery of our purposes.

We recognise that overseas activities require extra attention due to risk from additional challenges, including:

  • different cultures, practices, legal or regulatory systems,

  • less stable environments (e.g. conflict zones),

  • working with more partners or partner organisations,

  • less on-the-ground oversight from the trustees or staff.

The same policy, procedures and practices that the charity employs in England are applied overseas, with additional actions to mitigate the above challenges, including:

  • Developing a good understanding of local culture and regulations.

  • Developing a good understanding of the environment and the associated risks.

  • Working with trusted long-term partners and carrying out appropriate due diligence on all partners, including ensuring that the partner has appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place.

  • Holding regular online/phone meetings with the local team and making regular in-person visits.

7. KEY CONTACTS

Any questions about Dream Lab Foundation’s safeguarding should be directed, in the first instance, to:

Lead safeguarding coordinator: Karen Pluess / karen@dreamlabfoundation.org

Deputy safeguarding coordinator: Michael Pluess / michael@dreamlabfoundation.org

Trustee safeguarding contact: Hannah Elwyn / hannah.c.elwyn@gmail.com

8. POLICY MONITORING AND REVIEW

This policy was reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees in June 2023.

A LAB FOR DREAMS