Voluntary, Community & Faith Sector

Voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS) organisations make a huge contribution to supporting and improving the lives of children and young people in Sandwell and have a crucial role to play in safeguarding those children or adults who may be at risk. You have safeguarding duties to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect. The Charity Commission’s guidance sets out what your responsibilities are

Working Together to Safeguard Children is the statutory guidance for that needs to be followed by all professionals and volunteers working with children and young people

Its key message is that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. It is statutory i.e. legally binding. There is an important section for charities, voluntary organisations and Faith Based Organisations which states that every setting (no matter what size) needs to: comply with Charity Commission guidance, have safeguarding policies in place, ensure all practitioners (paid and volunteers) know their responsibilities, how to respond to concerns and how to report to police / Children’s Social Care if necessary

As Sandwell Children’s Safeguarding Partnership, we want to support VCFS organisations to fulfil their safeguarding duties and to improve practice in the local area. You will have access to a variety of tools and resources on this page which will help you to fulfil this.

All VCFS organisations in Sandwell can access the SCSP training offer free of charge. We aim to continue improving the resources we share with the sector including through this website.

We have a VCFS Safeguarding Network with representatives from local organisations including DORCAS, Sandwell Parents of Disabled Children, Brushstrokes, Ambitious Lives, Smethwick CAN, West Bromwich Albion Football Club and Foundation, IDEAL for ALL, Friar Park Millennium Centre, SADWICA and many more. This is a monthly meeting for the VCFS to have the opportunity to network, have talks on safeguarding matters which will support you to strengthen your knowledge and practice when supporting children and young people

If you require any further information or you wish to join our Sandwell Safeguarding Network,  please get in touch with us at SCSP_Business@sandwell.gov.uk

We’d love to hear from you.