Safeguarding

At the heart of our work is the conviction that every child has the right to a caring, safe, supportive and safe family-like environment in which to thrive.

At SOS Children’s Villages UK, we consider safeguarding to be a cross-cutting theme that is embedded in all aspects of our work. We are deeply committed to effective safeguarding and uphold the principle that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

To ensure this, SOS Children’s Villages UK is dedicated to making our safeguarding approach clear, practical, and universally understood.

Our approach to safeguarding

At SOS Children’s Villages UK, our risk-based approach to safeguarding is a lens that guides the actions we take to prevent and minimise the risk of abuse, harm and exploitation.

We recognise our duty of care not only to respond to safeguarding concerns but also to proactively identify, mitigate, and prevent risks wherever possible. With our focus on supporting some of the world’s most vulnerable children, SOS Children’s Villages UK strives to create a culture in which those with whom we work and those on whose behalf we work, can be confident of a safe environment.

Within the suite of our safeguarding policies, procedures, strategy and training, lies the heart of our vision, mission and values.

Safer recruitment

SOS Children’s Villages UK ensures all personnel undergo thorough vetting before appointment, including DBS checks and professional references, to prevent unsuitable individuals from working with children and vulnerable adults.

This has been further strengthened by our membership to the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, which seeks to improve accountability and prevent repeat offenders being rehired.

Induction and training

All staff, trustees and associates during their induction, must read and demonstrate their commitment to our safeguarding policies and procedures in writing.

Annual bespoke safeguarding training is completed by all staff, trustees and associates, ensuring that all people are adequately informed about their responsibilities.

Capacity-building is integral to our approach.

Values-based

Within the suite of our safeguarding actions, policies, procedures and training, lies the heart of our vision, mission and values. We remain steadfast in our commitment to embody:

Courage to take action
Commitment to keeping our word
Trust to display trust and foster it in our relationships
Accountability to hold ourselves and our partners accountable

Prevention

Our focus on prevention of all forms of abuse, exploitation and harassment is maintained through:

Risk management

Clear policies and procedures that align with national and international safeguarding standards.

Defined behavioural expectations for all staff, volunteers, and trustees to uphold professional integrity and accountability

Reporting

For safeguarding to be effective, everyone has to play their part. This applies to our UK-based staff and our global implementing partners.

We use a variety of clear and effective reporting channels to ensure accessibility. This increases the likelihood for reports to be made safely and handled in a competent, sensitive and survivor-centred way.

Any concerns of abuse must be reported following outlined procedures, with serious allegations escalated to the Charity Commission.

Response

We take swift and considered actions informed by our policies if there are breaches of our safeguarding (and related) policies and expectations.

We ensure that the response and handling of actual and suspected reports are handled in a confidential, timely and survivor-centred way.

Report a concern

Report a concern using our online reporting channel.

Click the button below or scan the QR code to make your report.

Our safeguarding governance

Our Safeguarding Team at SOS Children’s Villages UK consists of:

Safeguarding Trustee Lead who ensures safeguarding oversight from a board level. They act as the whistleblowing contact for SOS Children’s Villages UK.
Safeguarding committee who ensure comprehensive oversight. It contains the Safeguarding Trustee/Chair of the Safeguarding Committee and two Trustee/Safeguarding Committee Members.
Safeguarding team, which consists of the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) (operational lead) and the Designated Safeguarding Officers (DSO).
The National Incident Management Team (NIMT) who convene should an incident arise that warrants the involvement of a multi-disciplinary approach. The NIMT consists of the CEO, DSL, DSO, Director of Finance and IT, and the Media and PR Manager.

Our engagement

As part of SOS Children’s Villages UK’s commitment to effective safeguarding, learning and continual growth, we have been involved in key conversations, conferences and movements.

These platforms have enabled us to learn and advocate for the children and you people, who we exist to protect and help to thrive.

If you, like us, have a passion to protect the world’s most vulnerable, we would love to connect with you.

Safeguarding in practice

We are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for every child in our care. Explore our related articles to learn more about how we implement our safeguarding policies and protect children.