Child Protection Policy

SETU Arena Child Protection policy

SETU Arena is committed to best practice in relation to a Code of Ethics and Good Practice for Children’s Sport as outlined by The Irish Sports Council.

SETU Arenas policies are aligned with Sport Ireland Children’s First and TULSA Children’s First.

ALL Cameras are strictly forbidden in the building unless prior consent is given for usage. SETU Arena forbids any and all photography / imaging equipment in areas of child activity in the interest of Child Safety and member comfort.

Child abuse can be categorised into four different types: neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. A child may be subjected to one or more forms of abuse at any given time. Abuse and neglect can occur within the family, in the community or in an institutional setting. 

The important factor in deciding whether the behaviour is abuse or neglect is the impact of that behaviour on the child rather than the intention of the parent/carer. 

Neglect

Child neglect is the most frequently reported category of abuse, both in Ireland and internationally

The following are features of child neglect:

• Children being left alone without adequate care and supervision
• Malnourishment, lacking food, unsuitable food or erratic feeding
• Non-organic failure to thrive, i.e. a child not gaining weight due not only to malnutrition but also emotional deprivation
• Failure to provide adequate care for the child’s medical and developmental needs, including intellectual stimulation
• Inadequate living conditions – unhygienic conditions, environmental issues, including lack of adequate heating and furniture
• Lack of adequate clothing
• Inattention to basic hygiene
• Lack of protection and exposure to danger, including moral danger, or lack of supervision appropriate to the child’s age
• Persistent failure to attend school
• Abandonment or desertion

Emotional abuse

Emotional abuse is the systematic emotional or psychological ill-treatment of a child as part of the overall relationship between a caregiver and a child.

Emotional abuse may be seen in some of the following ways:

• Lack of comfort and love.
• Lack of attachment.
• Lack of proper stimulation (e.g. fun and play)
• Lack of continuity of care (e.g. frequent moves, particularly unplanned)
• Continuous lack of praise and encouragement.
• Persistent criticism, sarcasm, hostility or blaming of the child.
• Bullying
• Conditional parenting in which care or affection of a child depends on his or her behaviours or actions.
• Extreme overprotectiveness.
• Inappropriate non-physical punishment (e.g. locking child in bedroom)
• Ongoing family conflicts and family violence.
• Seriously inappropriate expectations of a child relative to his/her age and stage of development.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is when someone deliberately hurts a child physically or puts them at risk of being physically hurt. 

Physical abuse can include the following:

• Physical punishment
• Beating, slapping, hitting or kicking
• Pushing, shaking or throwing
• Pinching, biting, choking or hair-pulling
• Use of excessive force in handling
• Deliberate poisoning
• Suffocation
• Fabricated/induced illness
• Female genital mutilation

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse occurs when a child is used by another person for his or her gratification or arousal, or for that of others.

Examples of child sexual abuse include the following:

• Any sexual act intentionally performed in the presence of a child
• An invitation to sexual touching or intentional touching or molesting of a child’s body whether by a person or object for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification
• Masturbation in the presence of a child or the involvement of a child in an act of masturbation
• Sexual intercourse with a child, whether oral, vaginal or anal
• Sexual exploitation of a child, which includes:
• Inviting, inducing or coercing a child to engage in prostitution or the production of child pornography [for example, exhibition, modelling or posing for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification or sexual act, including its recording (on film, videotape or other media) or the manipulation, for those purposes, of an image by computer or other means]
• Inviting, coercing or inducing a child to participate in, or to observe, any sexual, indecent or obscene act
• Showing sexually explicit material to children, which is often a feature of the ‘grooming’ process by perpetrators of abuse
• Exposing a child to inappropriate or abusive material through information and communication technology
• Consensual sexual activity involving an adult and an underage person

It is important that our code of behaviour reflects the child centred ethos of SETU Arena:

1. Listening to children/and young people
2. Valuing and respecting children as individuals
3. Involving older children in decision making, as appropriate
4. Encouraging and praising children
5. Keeping children and young people safe

It is also important for the protection of all concerned that instructors, teachers, children and young people have guidelines on what is expected and what is not accepted, with respect to their behaviour.

Guidelines for Instructors and Teachers include the following:

1. Teachers and Instructors should not spend time alone with children away from others.
2. Meetings with individual children or young people should take place as openly as possible and be witnessed.
3. If privacy is needed, the door should be left open and other Teachers and Instructors informed of the meeting.
4. Teachers and Instructors are advised not to make unnecessary physical contact with children and young people.
5. In all cases, physical contact should only take place with the consent of the child or young person, and they should understand that it is a physical game.
6. It is not good practice to take children alone in a car on journeys, however short.   Where this is unavoidable, it should be with the full knowledge and consent of the parents and SETU Arena Management.
7. Teachers and Instructors should not meet with children outside organised activities unless it is with the knowledge and consent of their parents.

Teachers and Instructors should never:

1. Engage in sexually provocative or rough physical games, including horse-play – apart from structured sports activities.
2. Allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged.
3. Make sexually suggestive comments about, or to, a child, even in fun.
4. Let allegations a child makes go without being addressed and recorded.
5. Do things of a personal nature for children that they can do themselves.

SETU Arena strives to make the facility a safe environment for children through rules, practises, training and policies.

Signed: __________________________.

Arena Manager