Category Archives: Guidance & safeguarding

Safeguarding children

Office for Safeguarding Children

The Office of Safeguarding Children has been established by the National Spiritual Assembly to ensure that those who work with children in the context of Baha’i children’s classes, junior youth groups, residential schools, national conferences and conventions, and elsewhere are subject to the latest legal requirements and the children in their care are afforded the safeguards that are their legal and moral right.

Contact details

Paula Withers
Coordinator
Office for Safeguarding Children
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the UK
27 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PD

Tel: 020-7584 2566
Email: osc@bahai.org.uk or paula.withers@bahai.org.uk

Documents relating to safeguarding children

Some of the following guidance materials can be downloaded here (click on the links); all the materials are available on request from the Office for Safeguarding Children. Please email the Office for Safeguarding Children specifying which document(s) you require.

• Keeping Children Safe – a helpful guide in a question and answer format addressing common questions that arise in relation to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) requirements
• Policy for Safeguarding Children – this policy should be studied and applied by those responsible for young people at all Bahá’í events, residential or otherwise
• A General Guide to the Safeguarding of Children – includes the core points from all the supplementary documents listed below and explains why it is imperative to implement the safeguarding measures faithfully
• Child Safeguarding FAQs – essential supplement for all those responsible for organising events
• Responding to allegations of abuse – what to do if someone comes to you making allegations of abuse either from his or her own experience or indirectly about someone else
• Definitions & Signs of Abuse – what to look for that would alert you to the possibility of abuse
• What happens when you tell the local authority? – guidance about when is the right time to involve tell the authorities and descriptions of what then happens
• List of Document Checkers for Applicants – Available on request from the Office for Safeguarding Children. You will need to take your DBS Application Form to one of the National Assembly’s authorised document checkers on the list
• Disclosure and Barring Service application process & subscribing to the online Update Service guidance – applying for a DBS check
• Guidance for 16-17 year-olds applying a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced with Barred Lists check in England and Wales
• DBS Standard/Enhanced DBS checks Privacy Policy declaration form for applicants
  • Before completing a DBS application form, please download this DBS privacy policy declaration form and click on the blue GOV.UK link to read the above policy.  Please print the form and sign and date it to show that you have understood how the DBS will process your personal data and the options available to you for submitting a DBS application.  Please take the signed declaration form to the document checker checking your Identity documents and application form and they will explain the rest of the process. 

• Policy on the Secure Storage, Handling, Use, Retention and Disposal of DBS Certificate and Certificate Information – please download when applying for a DBS check
• Policy on the Recruitment of Individuals Who Have a Criminal Record – please download when applying for a DBS check

• List of Document Checkers for Checkers – Available on request from the Office for Safeguarding Children
• Residential Guidance – crucial guidance for those who are responsible for organising residential events
• Imagery, the Internet & Mobile Phones – basic advice to safeguard young people in their use of the internet and mobile phones along with proper processes for obtaining consent for the use of images of children
• Day Care Guidance – guidelines about safety, adult-child ratios and other factors relevant to complying with the due process when running events in the day that involve young people
• Managing Offenders – managing those convicted or suspected of offences against children. Available on request from the Office for Safeguarding Children
• Responding to Bullying & Self-Harm Concerns – helpful contacts and information for event organisers and Independent Persons
• Guidance for Prospective Independent Persons – Bahá’í Residential Schools Guidance for the two designated Independent Persons (one each gender and DBS checked)responsible for Child Protection issues and to whom children or concerned adults may go with issues of any kind relating to those under the age of 18
• Guidance Notes for Local Spiritual Assemblies on Safeguarding Children – covers certain procedures from the National Spiritual Assembly’s Safeguarding Children policy on Safeguarding and Child Protection
• Guidance for Participating in Online Spaces with Children, Junior Youth and Youth under 18 years of age

Applying for membership of statutory and voluntary bodies

• Submitting copies of National Assembly’s safeguarding policy to statutory and voluntary bodies (9 November 2011, updated August 2017)

Communities applying to become members of a statutory or voluntary body (for example the Children & Families Voluntary Sector Forum) may be asked to submit a copy of the National Spiritual Assembly’s policy concerning the safeguarding of children. The Office for Safeguarding Children is happy for communities to comply with such a request. The National Spiritual Assembly Office for Safeguarding Children policy can be obtained by contacting osc@bahai.org.uk or nsa@bahai.org.uk. The Policy can also be downloaded by clicking the links above.