Bullying and Safeguarding

If you have an immediate safeguarding concern please go to the safeguarding procedure. It will give you instructions for what to do in all safeguarding issues, you will find it under “Safeguarding” please follow this for any disclosures or bullying, cyber bullying and grooming concerns. It you want to know more about bullying and cyber bulling and our ethos regarding bullying within the home please read below:   

All children and young people have a right to feel confident that the Home is a safe and healthy environment.

All children, young people and staff should remain safe from bullying behaviour and have the opportunity to thrive and prosper, emotionally and socially within and outside the Home.

Within the Home a culture of respect and dignity is agreed and promoted amongst the staff, children, and any visitors into the Home and a set of shared standards of what behaviour and language is acceptable across the Home will be advocated.

Staff and children will receive guidance and training that encourages an understanding and appreciation of what bullying is and how it impacts on self and others.

All young people entering the home will be risk assessed which will embrace a number of areas, and will include any evidence of previous bullying, and/or the young persons assessed risk of being targeted both physically, verbally, and/or online. Any special risk avoidance measures will be recorded in individual placement plans. A Key Worker will be assigned to each new child or young person, with specific responsibilities to monitor any actual/potential bullying issues. These will be reviewed regularly.

In order to maintain an effective strategy for dealing with bullying, traditional ideas about bullying should be challenged by everyone working in the Home, e.g. by emphasising:

• It’s NOT only a bit of harmless fun;
• It’s NOT part of growing up;
• Children do NOT have to put up with it;
• Adults getting involved will NOT make it worse.

Bullying is behaviour or actions of a person, group of people or a whole organisation designed to cause distress or to hurt a person or group of people.

'Child on child abuse' refers to harm caused by one child to another (which may be a single event or a range of ill treatment). This can be within children's relationships (both intimate and non-intimate), friendships, and wider peer associations.

Bullying can be;

• Emotional – being unfriendly, excluding an individual from activities/games and social acceptance of the peer group, tormenting (e.g. hiding possessions, threatening gestures), setting unattainable targets, reducing someone’s effectiveness by withholding information, ostracism, not giving credit where it is due, belittling someone’s opinion, imposing unfair sanctions;
• Physical – pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence;
• Racist – racial taunts, graffiti, gestures;
• Sexual – unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments and harassment;
• Homophobic – or remarks about gender identity - because of, or focusing on the issue of sexuality;
• Verbal – name – calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, humiliating someone in front of others, including teasing and taunting, persistent negative comments and criticism, offensive or abusive personal remarks’ making false allegations;
• Cyberbullying – e.g. using mobile phones, social networking sites or email to intimidate or bully others;
• Technology – misuse of camera and video facilities for example - Upskirting- taking a picture under a person's clothing without them knowing, with the intention of viewing their genitals or buttocks to obtain sexual gratification, or cause the victim humiliation, distress or alarm; is a specific example of abusive behaviour which has been linked to online bullying and grooming. Upskirting is a criminal offence.

Other types of bullying/harassment and intimidating behaviour that people can be subject to can be on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, nationality and skin colour, but can also encompass sexual orientation, disability, age, AIDS/HIV status or physical characteristics and of course that the child is known to be in care. There is no one checklist as harassment is often specific to the person, relating to his or her feelings of respect and dignity and may cover anything which "hurts or makes anyone feel bad". It is a question of whether they feel intimidated, or actions of others disrupt harmonious living. It is essential to remember that it is not the intention of the perpetrator that is key in deciding whether harassment has occurred, but whether the behaviour is unacceptable by normal standards and is disadvantageous. It is also important to distinguish harassment from sexual relationships freely entered into and acceptable to those involved.

An Ofsted thematic review (Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges (Ofsted) recognised a wide variety of behaviours that children and young people told (them) happened online including:

• Receiving unsolicited explicit photographs or videos, for example pictures of genitals;
• Sending, or being pressured to send, nude and semi-nude photographs or videos ('nudes');
• Being sent or shown solicited or unsolicited online explicit material, such as pornographic videos.

Sexting is a term which many young people do not recognise or use, therefore it is important that when discussing the risks of this type of behaviour with children and young people the behaviour is accurately explained.

Sexting (some children and young people consider this to mean ‘writing and sharing explicit messages with people they know’ rather than sharing youth-produced sexual images) or sharing nudes and semi-nudes are terms used when a person under the age of 18 shares sexual, naked or semi-naked images or videos of themselves or others or sends sexually explicit messages.

• Staff will invoke the Regional ACPC child protection policy and procedures as per chapter 5 (Anti-Bullying Policy for Children's Homes) when required
• The Key Worker and/or the person with responsibly for the bully and the victim will ensure follow up work is completed and review the management plan as and when required in consultation with the Social Worker.
• Staff will assess progress regularly.

All staff working with the young people will be trained to recognise, prevent and address different types of bullying behaviour.

Cyber bullying can be defined as an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or an individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself. Cyberbullying can take many forms, usually:

• Text or voice message bullying;
•  Picture/ Video Clip bullying (via mobile phone cameras); • Phone call bullying (via mobile phones);
• Email bullying;
• Chat-room bullying;
• Bullying through instant messaging;
• Bullying via websites.

All young people will be supported in any instance of bullying whether they are the victims or the perpetrators. Staff will recognise that often the perpetrators are acting out from previous experience of abuse, exposure to violence or their own trauma pain and need understanding and support to work through this. 

Follow up is important, and the young person/s will be invited to discuss the situation at 1, 2 and 3 month intervals following the resolution of the matter. This discussion will focus on any items of concern which remain outstanding, or have been caused by the investigation and outcomes, together with discussion about the need for continued support and the restoration of self-esteem and confidence.

Staff will have training to recognise and deal with different types of abusive behaviour.

The home will monitor cases of bullying and will implement effective counter-measures (e.g. increased supervision) in situations, in places, or at times when bullying is known or suspected to take place.

The home will, as part of its regular routine, include bullying, harassment, cyber bullying and grooming issues as a standing topic on the agenda for all regular home meetings, and seek opinions on the matter in confidential surveys. The home’s primary weapon against cyber bullying and internet grooming is education and the topic will be discussed at child meetings at regular intervals so that children and young persons in the home understand what the subject is about, that grooming doesn’t only happen to girls, what the "grooming process" is, and that children of any age can be targets.

Requests to meet new "online friends", in person, and alone, will be the subject of a careful risk assessment and will generally have to be refused unless adequate controls and safeguards are introduced. Children should be told NEVER to meet a new online friend alone, and away from the home without discussing it with staff first.

Parental control software will be installed on all electronic devices used by young people within the home. Young people should be informed about this and should be told that it is installed to protect them and not to pry.

• Place the computer in a group recreation room or somewhere visible (not in the child’s bedroom). But remember that children in your care may have other means of accessing the internet and communicating with potential predators. So pay attention to other computer and internet-enabled mobile devices;
• Most social networking sites require that users be age 13 and over. Make sure children follow these age restrictions;
• Limit and monitor the amount of time the children in your care spend on the internet, and at what times of day. Too much time online, especially at night, may be a sign of a problem;
• Make sure children understand and follow these rules of thumb for chat rooms:
  • Young children should not be allowed to use chat rooms at all;
  • Older children should be directed to monitored chat rooms;
  • Get to know the chat rooms your children do visit and with whom they talk;
  • Check to see the kind of conversations that take place. Chat rooms featuring subjects that attract children and teenagers, such as music, sports, or fashion, are prime targets of child sexual predators, who often disguise themselves as peers.
• Instruct children to never leave the chat room's public area and engage in a one-on-one chat in a private area. These areas are unmonitored.

Tell your children to never respond to instant messaging or e-mails from strangers. If children use computers in places outside your supervision, such as a public library, school, or a friends' home, find out what computer safeguards are used. 

As Cyberbullying can be extremely stressful and humiliating, victims will often be very reluctant to say that it is happening, for various reasons, including the possibility that matters may, as a result of getting things out into the open, actually get worse.

Staff should always be vigilant, and may see signs that a child is being bullied such as he/ she:

• Unexpectedly stops using the computer;
• Appears nervous or jumpy when an IM (Instant Message), text message or email
  appears;
• Appears uneasy, unusually quiet or withdrawn. Is unwilling to go outside, or to school, for example;
• Appears to be angry, frustrated or upset after using the computer, a tablet or a mobile phone for example;
• Avoids discussions about what they are doing on the computer.

If a staff member sees signs such as these, talk to the child, or report it to a key worker or the Manager of the home.

He / She

• Quickly switches screens or closes programs when you walk by;
• Uses the computer at all hours of the night;
• Gets unusually upset if he/she cannot use the computer;
• Laughs excessively while using the computer;
• Avoids discussions about what they are doing on the computer;
• Uses multiple online accounts or using an account that is not their own.

Advice for the victim

• Talk to someone you trust about it, like a friend, a teacher or an older relative;
• Keep and save any bullying emails, text messages or images you receive;
• Make a note of the time and date that messages or images were sent, along with any details you have about the sender;
• Try changing your online user ID or nickname;
• Change your mobile phone number and only give it out to close friends;
• Mobile phone companies and internet service providers can trace bullies, so don’t be afraid of reporting it to them;
• Block instant messages from certain people or use mail filters to block emails from
  specific email addresses;
• Don't reply to bullying or threatening text messages or emails – this could make matters worse and lets those carrying out the bullying know that they've found a 'live' phone number or email address; 

Always be alert to the possibility that one or more of the children in your care are being bullied, or, quite possibly, are bullies themselves. It is reported that 1 in 5 schoolchildren have, at some time, been the victim of online and mobile abuse.

Be supportive. If you sense something is wrong, then talk to the young person to find out what the real problem is.

All of the most important ISP’s, social network sites, mobile phone companies etc. have facilities for dealing with cyberbullying, including dedicated websites. The manager or Responsible Individual will talk to them about the problem, listen to their advice and gain their support.

What it is
Essentially, internet grooming is:

the process by which a person befriends a child to gain his or her trust and to create a situation whereby the child will allow the perpetrator to have sexual contact with him or her and will not tell anyone about it.

Such activity is criminal, and an offence under s.15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

A new report by the cyberspace research unit at the University of Central Lancashire has set out the "grooming process" used by pedophiles to befriend children over the internet with the intention of abusing them, as follows:

Friendship

Flattering a child into talking in a private chatroom where they will be isolated. The child will often be asked for a non-sexual picture of themselves.

Forming a relationship

Asking the child what problems they have to create the illusion of being their best friend.

Risk assessment

Asking the child about the location of their computer and who else has access to it in order to assess the risk of being detected.

Exclusivity

Building up a sense of mutual love and trust with the child, suggesting that they can discuss "anything".

Sex talk

Engaging the child in explicit conversations and requesting sexually explicit pictures from them. At this stage the paedophile will usually try to arrange a meeting with the child.

This is a difficult question and often impossible to answer. Sadly, most cases of “grooming” come to light after the abuse has taken place, something which brings sharply into focus the need for education of children in what could happen and how to avoid the dangers.

It is reported that predators use the following tactics, when communicating with young children:

Click here to view our Code of Conduct.

See also: Advice for Parents and Carers on Cyberbullying (Department for Education, 2015).

Specialist Organisations:

• The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA): Founded in 2002 by NSPCC and National Children's Bureau, the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) brings together over 100 organisations into one network to develop and share good practice across the whole range of bullying issues;
• Kidscape: Charity established to prevent bullying and promote child protection providing advice for young people, professionals and parents about different types of bullying and how to tackle it. They also offer specialist training and support for school staff, and assertiveness training for young people;
• The BIG Award: The Bullying Intervention Group (BIG) offer a national scheme and award for schools to tackle bullying effectively.

Cyberbullying:

• ChildNet International: Specialist resources for young people to raise awareness of online safety and how to protect themselves;
• Think U Know: Resources provided by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) for children and young people, parents, carers and teachers;
• Advice on Child Internet Safety: The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has produced universal guidelines for providers on keeping children safe online.

LGBT:

• Schools Out: Offers practical advice, resources (including lesson plans) and training to schools on LGBT equality in education;
• Stonewall: An LGB equality organisation with considerable expertise in LGB bullying in schools, a dedicated youth site, resources for schools, and specialist training for teachers.

SEND:

• Mencap: Represents people with learning disabilities, with specific advice and information for people who work with children and young people;
• Changing Faces: Provide online resources and training to schools on bullying because of physical difference;
• Cyberbullying and Children and Young People with SEN and Disabilities: Advice provided by the Anti-Bullying Alliance on developing effective anti-bullying practice.

Racism:

• Show Racism the Red Card: Provide resources and workshops for schools to educate young people, often using the high profile of football, about racism;
• Kick it Out: Uses the appeal of football to educate young people about racism and provide education packs for schools;
• Anne Frank Trust: Runs a schools project to teach young people about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, the consequences of unchecked prejudice and discrimination, and cultural diversity.