Guidance for Officials

Procedures

Please remember it is not your responsibility to decide whether a child is being abused, but the club is asking you to act on your concerns. It is your responsibility to ensure the concerns raised are passed on appropriately.

Sevenoaks Swimming Club has a club welfare officer. He/she will have the knowledge of ASA policy and procedure to advise anyone with a child welfare concern. They should always be involved in any concern raised within the club unless they are in some way implicated in the concern.

As a member, official or parent involved in an ASA affiliated club you should follow the guidelines as outlined below:

If the child or young person is in immediate danger or has been physically injured, ensure they are safe and contact the police or social services.
If the child is not in immediate danger but you have concerns,

either:
discuss the concerns with your club welfare officer or a club official who will advise you on the correct procedure for referring your concern appropriately.
or:
ring the Swimline number 0800 100 4001 displayed on your notice board. The club welfare officer will be able to inform you on how to refer your concerns to gain appropriate advice and action

Make a note of what you’ve seen or heard but don’t delay passing on the information. As soon as possible complete the ASA referral form.

NB You or the club welfare officer/official should, in every case send a completed referral form to the ASA Legal Department to advise them of your concern and to whom you have reported it.

Address the letter to:
ASA Legal Affairs Department
Pavillion 3, Sportpark
3 Oakwood Drive,Loughborough LE11 3QF

PLEASE REMEMBER: it’s not your responsibility to decide whether a child is being abused but we are asking you to act on your concerns.

When a concern is referred to the ASA and further action is required you will receive a copy of the ASA protocol document. This outlines what possible actions will be taken and what further contact will be made with the referrer

Poor Practice

Reporting procedures regarding:

Complaints about poor practice;
Poor practice which raise suspicions about abuse;
Allegations/concerns about child abuse within the sport’s organisation.

Issues of Poor Practice should be reported to the ASA Judicial Administrator. If a formal complaint is made the Judicial Laws and Rules are followed and the Judicial Administrator deals directly with the parties concerned
The two departments, the ICPO and the legal department on the one hand and the office of the judicial administrator one the other, are separate and apart. However the complaint will always be referred from one to the other as appropriate
The Judicial Administrator may appoint an “ASA Friend” to assist both parties throughout the process
If the complaint has elements which may relate to child welfare concerns the Judicial Administrator will refer the matter to the ICPO for consideration
All issues of concern regarding child welfare and child abuse will be considered by the ICPO and discussed with the Head of Legal Affairs before a decision on where the concern should be dealt with
If the decision is made that a complaint does not involve CP issues, the complaint is referred back to the judicial process.

Guidance

Action to take if a child tells you that he or she is being abused:

Stay calm
Don’t promise to keep it to yourself
Listen to what the child says and, please, take it seriously
Only ask questions if you need to identify what the child is telling you - don’t ask the child about explicit details
Make a detailed note of what the child is telling you but, as advised in the previous section, please don’t delay passing on the information

PDF of this policy

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