PART 2: RESPONDING TO CHILD/VULNERABLE ADULT SAFEGUARDING ALLEGATIONS AND SUSPICIONS
Chapter V: Roles and Responsibilities
Art. 22 Appointment of Safeguarding Officer and Committee for Protection of Children/vulnerable adults The board of AAVE Group appoints a Safeguarding officer and a committee to work in collaboration the Safeguarding Officer.
Art. 23 The Role of AAVE`s Safeguarding Officer
It is the role of the Safeguarding Officer to be informed of all child/vulnerable adult safeguarding concerns within the AAVE group. This role includes the following responsibilities:
a) To ensure that basic training in the safeguarding of children, adolescents and vulnerable adults is provided to the Staff and Volunteers at the AAVE Group.
b) To provide information and advice on the safeguarding of children, adolescents and vulnerable adults.
c) To ensure that the Safeguarding policy procedures are followed.
d) To receive information about a concern or allegation or suspicion of abuse of a child or vulnerable adult and to act or respond immediately.
e) To ensure that the procedure for the management of suspicions, concerns and allegations is followed and a referral made to the statutory authority (Appendix 01).
f) To create a safeguarding case file that includes a log of actions as indicated in the recording form for every referral. [Entries should be made as soon as possible and before the end of the day when a referral is made. Ensure time, date and signature are recorded].
g) To collect all written records in relation to a case and place them in the Safeguarding case file.
h) To explain the procedure for addressing concerns/allegations to the person who has the concern.
i) To contact the emergency or appropriate services where a child/vulnerable adult appears to be at immediate and serious risk of harm.
j) To make enquiries to identify the present and previous appointments of the employee/volunteer (known here as the respondent) to establish if there are any previous concerns about his/her practice or any current grounds for concern about his/her practice.
k) To alert an adviser/support person to be on standby for the respondent without identifying the respondent.
l) To conduct an initial interview with the respondent as soon as possible unless the relevant statutory service has requested that such an interview be deferred. The purpose of the interview is to inform the respondent of the allegation and the process being followed. The respondent needs to be given enough detail about the allegation and the person raising it to be able to offer a response. A written record of the interview must be prepared, agreed with the respondent, signed by him/her and dated.
m) The respondent shall be given information about his/her right to seek legal advice and about the child/vulnerable adult safeguarding process.
n) The respondent should be informed that he/she is not obliged in law to respond or to furnish evidence but that any statement provided will be taken into account in the investigation.
o) The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer must keep written records of the outcome of the consultation with any of the above services.
p) The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer must maintain a dialogue with those carrying out the investigation from the Statutory Authorities and record details of any contacts made in a case file.
q) The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer must follow the advice given by the statutory authorities where the protection concern has been referred to them. The Statutory Authorities must be allowed to make their enquiries unimpaired.
r) The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer must not visit the family or contact members without prior discussion with the investigators from the Statutory Authorities.
s) The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer must ask for an update from the statutory authority about the outcome of their investigation.
Art. 24 The board of AAVE Group appoints its social worker, Ms Maria Suely de Sousa Marinho as its Safeguarding Officer. information: Maria Suely: (62) 99663-8725, suely@grupoaave.
Art. 25 The AAVE Group Safeguarding Officer shall not
a) take on the role of support person to the person raising a concern/making an allegation or disclosure
b) take on the role of adviser to the respondent.
Art. 26 Mr Acrisio Siva Gonçalves as president of the AAVE group is legally responsible for the organization Contact information: Acrisio Silva Gonçalves, acrisio@grupoaave.org
Art. 27 The Role of the AAVE Group Committee
The role of this committee is supportive, developmental and unrelated to the management of individual cases of suspected or alleged abuse.
The committee has responsibility for the following:
a) Ensuring that training is provided in AAVE.
b) Ensuring the safe recruitment of staff and volunteers.
c) Ensuring the monitoring of a safe environment for children/vulnerable adults.
Art. 28 The members of the Safeguarding committee are: the safeguarding officer, the president and the coordinator of the AAVE group.
