BPT through direct services, volunteers and partners deliver a broad range of activities for children and young people, between 8 years and 17 years. In the course of our delivery we may come across concerns for either:
- An individual child
- A group of children or young people, often in the community, known as ‘contextual safeguarding’.
You might notice:
- A deterioration in physical care including clothing; injuries or bruises
- Regularity of attendance; changes in friendship groups on site; appearing to have a lot of money on them, or having expensive items, clothes, watch, shoes (which may indicate sexual criminal exploitation, county lines)
- Breakdown in family relationship, escalation of family disputes and indicators of domestic abuse
- Clothing that appears to be concealing injuries or sights of self-harm (e.g. long sleeves in hot weather)
- Behaviours that seem to be expressing unhappiness, distress and/or trauma
- Changes in personality e.g. increasingly withdrawn
- Young people who appear homeless and may have be thrown out of home
- A witnessed assault, or abusive act or series of acts, including between young people
- A direct disclosure by the child, parent and/or family member
- Unusual friendship groups and associations (e.g. young child with much older nonrelated teens)
- Adults or children who are hanging around on site and not accessing sessions or services.
- Adults who are not known to BPT making contact with children
- Children who spend an inordinate amount of time in the Changing Rooms.
- Children who persistently present themselves for first aid without obvious cause, potentially looking for opportunities to disclose harm.
- Children who form an attachment to or an over-reliance on a particular member of staff or a volunteer.
In these kind of situations, things appear to have reached a Child Protection level of concern. This procedure lays out the practical steps to be followed.