Child Protection

RYANI Child Protection Policy and Guidelines

RYANI have adopted the RYA Child Protection Policy

Following allegations of historical sexual abuse in football, the need to ensure that your club's safeguarding policies and procedures are as robust as possible is more important than ever. Now is an excellent time to review your club’s procedures in readiness for the 2019 season. Parents and children need to feel confident that clubs are safe places and that any concerns will be taken seriously and acted on appropriately.

The RYA strongly recommends that all clubs with members or participants aged under 18 adopt a safeguarding policy and some straightforward supporting procedures, and make all members aware of them. All RYA Recognised Training Centres offering training to under-18s are required to have a safeguarding policy and procedures in place. If the Training Centre is part of a Club, the policy should be adopted by the club as a whole.

The essential points to be covered are:

A child’s right to be safe and protected from harm
Contact details for your Welfare/Safeguarding Officer – they don’t need to be an expert, the RYA can provide access to training and support, but they do need to be someone children and parents will find approachable
Good practice guidelines for those volunteering or working with children
A Club Code of Conduct explaining the standards of behaviour expected of children, parents and other adults – this could be linked to the RYA Racing Charter and Racing Rule 69
Policies on matters such as access to showers and changing rooms, taking and publishing images of children, etc
Clear procedures to be followed if there are concerns about a child’s welfare.

The RYA publishes guidelines (above link) to help you draw up your policy and procedures. These can be found on the website: www.rya.org.uk/go/safeguarding The guidance is currently under annual review and an updated version will be published in early January. The RYA also acts as an ‘umbrella body’ registered with AccessNI to enable you to request criminal records checks for relevant staff/volunteers.

If you have any safeguarding concerns, please contact the RYA’s Safeguarding and Equality Manager, Jackie Reid, at safeguarding@rya.org.uk or on 023 8060 4104.

Resources/ Templates

Sample Attendance Register

safeguarding@rya.org.uk

Code of Conduct for Children and Young People

Useful Links

The Child Protection in Sport Unit

For further details on Child Protection, please contact the RYANI Child Protection Officer Paul Bunting dsco.ryani@gmail.com 028 9182 7154