Press Release

Response to civitas report: protecting the child is paramount

Tuesday, July 15 2008

Schools and organisations working with young people have a statutory duty to safeguard children and to promote their welfare says the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation in response to the Civitas report "Licensed to Hug" in which Professor Frank Furedi of Kent University suggests that child protection measures may be "poisoning" the relationship between adults and children.

Such measures were introduced for good reason following tragedies such as the Victoria Climbie case and the Soham murders.  Both highlighted the lack of priority given to safeguarding children and the absence of an effective system for identifying adults who may pose a threat to children and young people.

Mentoring and befriending programmes in schools and community organisations in which adult volunteers spend time with a young person to help them with personal issues must have a foolproof child protection system built into them.

Today all volunteers wishing to work with children must undergo Criminal Records Bureau checks and, where volunteers are in regular contact with children in a school environment, those checks need to be of an enhanced nature.
  
In responding to Baroness Julia Neuberger’s report from the Commission on the Future of Volunteering, Peter Collins, MBF Chief Executive said, "The requirement for the thorough screening of volunteers is paramount and the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation’s Approved Provider Standard – the nationally recognised benchmark for safe and best practice -  requires that enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks and disclosures should be backed up with other screening processes including a structured interview or assessment process."

Education and community mentoring/befriending projects depend substantially on the excellent contribution made by adult volunteers many of whom are encouraged by their employers to make time to help young people in the local community.

Geoff Allen (28), a lawyer with Eversheds, is a reading mentor at an inner-city school in Salford. He says, "CRB checks are a necessary part of society where child protection issues are high priority.  I do not find them intrusive.  There are far worse intrusions in life.

"A lot of it is commonsense.  You have to adhere to the rules and stick to them. I have only ever been treated with courtesy and respect by teachers, pupils and parents and I know the work that I do in helping children to read is very much appreciated."

Geoff Capper (64) is one of 130 volunteer mentors with Bolton Lads and Girls Club, Greater Manchester, a GoldStar project. He says, " “Throughout my time I have never once had my motives for being a mentor questioned by anyone, in particular the parents of the young people themselves, who in my experience have nothing but gratitude for the investment of my time and effort."

The experience of Stuart Fisk, "I was treated like a paedophile" (BBC News 27th June) highlights the need for those who engage volunteer adults to thoroughly brief volunteers on the ground rules, including child protection and supervision arrangements that need to be in place in the interests of both child and volunteer.