Little League Football Officers' Manual

7B VETTING AND CHILD PROTECTION

Refer to

All Leagues must comply with the Little League Football Child Protection Policy, which includes checking the background and suitability of all volunteers.

• Little League Football regards the welfare of each child to be paramount.

• All children have the right to protection from any type of abuse.

• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.

• All volunteers in Little League Football have a responsibility to report concerns to the appropriate officer.

A copy of the Little League Football Child Protection leaflet is available on request. Further supplies are available from the NEC - see Appendix C.

Under the Protection of Children Act 1999 and the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, there is a legal requirement on Little League Football that volunteers must obtain an Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

This can be done through the National Executive Committee of Little League Football, and no charge is made for this service.

Leagues must appoint one or more senior Committee members to be the 'Responsible Person' whose job is to contact each volunteer, provide a leaflet (specimen available on request), explain the procedure and arrange for a CRB Disclosure Application form to be completed and then submitted. The procedure is detailed in a red booklet entitled "Criminal Record Checks on Volunteers" that has been issued by the NEC to each League.

The checks are required on volunteers who are regularly caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children. It is up to Leagues to decide whether some volunteers - e.g. café servers fall into this definition. Referees should have been checked by their Referees Societies in addition to a check by the League, as the disclosures are not transferable where children are concerned.

It is a known fact that many people have criminal records, but few will be of concern to Little League Football. Under the system run by the NEC, no details whatsoever of such records will be passed to local Leagues. The NEC will use the information supplied by the CRB to decide whether or not the volunteer is suitable (or in rare cases, that the person is suitable for the position applied for, but must apply again if a change of duties is being considered). Only the decision will be notified to the League, no other details will be released.

There are very strict rules on confidentiality.