SSAFA Safeguarding

What do we mean by Safeguarding?
How do we help?
Useful resources

If you think a child or adult has been harmed or have concerns about their immediate welfare and or safety please telephone your local:

Police
Social Care - British Forces Social Work Service

Cyprus: 00357 2596 3609 (Office hours 7am to 3pm) OR 00357 9777 1252 (outside of office hours)

Brunei: 00673 833 0224 (duty mobile)

Overseas: 0044 (0) 808 168 3111

Introduction

SSAFA is dedicated to ensure that the principles and duties of safeguarding children, young people, and adults at risk are applied throughout the organisation. All employees and volunteers coming into contact with children and adults at risk have a responsibility to protect them and to provide a safe environment.

What do we mean by Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is about the measures we take to protect the health, well-being, and human rights of individuals, especially children, young people, and vulnerable adults. The aim is to prevent any abuse, harm, or neglect by providing high quality care.

Safeguarding includes delivering important public health messages like child accident prevention or the importance of looking after our mental health and wellbeing, ensuring that members of our community have access to the recommended vaccination programmes, that we offer help and support at the earliest opportunity when life gets complicated or challenging.

Child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults are also a part of the safeguarding agenda, so we work closely with other agencies if we think anyone is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. This includes harm that occurs inside, outside the home or online.

All SSAFA staff recognise that ‘safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility’.

How do we help?

📣 We make sure people within our community know how to access our services

ℹ️ By coordinating public health campaigns which are influenced by Public Health England priorities and local need

👨‍👩‍👦 We support families throughout their parenting journey

🤝 We offer ‘early help’ for low level, emerging problems or where a number of agencies are involved with a family if there are additional needs

🥺 If you have concerns about an adult or child, we can offer advice on what to do about it

👥 We work closely with other agencies, where appropriate, to support families, individuals and the community. As well as working with social care to provide high quality safeguarding training within Commands

🚸 Within SSAFA Community Health we have safeguarding professionals who have extra training and responsibilities to help keep our communities safe

🇬🇧 We follow both UK and local guidance which is easily accessible to all our staff

👨🏾‍👩🏾‍👧🏾‍👦🏾 We understand that effective safeguarding means understanding and being sensitive to factors including social circumstances and ethnicity, which can have an impact on children and families’ lives

❗ If you are worried about a child or an adult, that you think might be at risk, it’s important that you trust your judgement and act on your concerns.

🗣 Talk to someone you trust e.g. any member of the SSAFA Community Health Team, a member of staff at the medical centre, a teacher, a social worker or a police officer and ask for help to report your concerns.

Training and Supervision

✅ All staff within SSAFA Community Health are required to undertake regular safeguarding training/updates as directed by UK professional and organisational requirements

✅ SSAFA healthcare professionals are required to take regular safeguarding supervision, from appropriately trained staff, to help to ensure that safeguarding issues are recognised at the earliest opportunity so that help and support can be offered to any member of our community.