Child safeguarding

Sweet Adelines International does not have an official policy but firmly believes that the welfare of a child/young person is paramount. It is, therefore, important to implement safeguards and practices that would ensure their safety from all types of harm and abuse. Some of these good practices are:

• Adopt a child protection policy for your chapter
• Get written parental consent for child/young participants
• Get parents or guardians to complete a needs form that lists information of the child’s disabilities, allergies, blood type and other pertinent information including contact details of parents and general practitioner (GP)
• Get parent or guardians to sign a photo release form, especially when you’re taking photos and video recordings of your event or rehearsal
• Have an accident reporting procedure for your event or regular rehearsals
• Ensure someone with first aid training or certification is present
• During your event or rehearsal, make sure that the child/young participant knows who or where to go to in case of an emergency
• A person that has undergone the relevant criminal checks – Disclosure & Barring Service (formerly known as CRB checks) for England and Wales, Basic Disclosure for Scotland – must be present during the event or regular rehearsals

Check out Safe Network and the YWIH guidance documents from the Sweet Adelines International Document Center (you will need to be logged in as member) for some sample policy documents.

Safe Network also provides a free (registration required) online self-assessment tool for organisations for safeguarding children and young people should you require further information. Note that these apply to UK-based organisations only.

Last updated: 16 Oct 2021