7.7 Responding to concerns

Described image
Show description|Hide description

Five labels each with a different phrase and an associated icon. The labels are “PLAN”, “BE CONSISTENT”, “CENTRALISE”, “SEEK EXPERT INPUT”, and “SHARE INFORMATION”. The icons include an ice-skating boot, tennis ball, hurdle, and rugby ball.

Reporting systems are only one part of the process. Competition organisers also need a system to respond effectively to safeguarding concerns.

This can be one of the most challenging parts of competition safeguarding – you may have a report concerning a victim from one country, an alleged abuser from a second country, all taking place in a third country. Or you may be made aware of an athlete experiencing abuse back in their home country, not directly connected to the event.

You need to do the work ahead of time to make sure cases don’t get passed from team to team, and that there is a clear system for dealing with concerns.

Activity: The five basic principles for responding to concerns during a competition

The headings for the five basic principles – Plan, Be consistent, Centralise, Seek expert input and Share information appropriately – are shown in the left-hand column below. For each heading, choose the correct explanation in the right-hand column. Use the arrow keys to scroll though the possible explanations and then click on Submit to see if you are correct or not.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.
Show description|Hide description

These are the five basic principles for responding to concerns. Plan. Be consistent. Centralise. Seek expert input. Share information appropriately. Match these basic principles to the following explanations. Require all safeguarding reports to be shared with the Competition Safeguarding Manager – this supports consistency and helps maintain an overview of any issues at the competition. This reduces the chances of actions being missed, duplicated, or confused between stakeholders. If resources allow, have a team of Safeguarding Officers reporting into the Competition Safeguarding Manager. Communicate clear and consistent messages about safeguarding – and make sure all reports are treated the same – in line with an agreed process. The Competition Safeguarding Manager should share information with other organisations only as appropriate. One of their roles is to ensure that for cases involving someone who doesn’t work directly for the competition (for example, an outside caterer), the employing organisation is provided with sufficient, relevant information. Prior to the competition, the Competition Safeguarding Manager should engage with local organisations to assess local resources, and research how to refer serious concerns to local organisations if needed. Clear victim-centric processes must be developed in collaboration with local experts and other relevant teams, like communications, security, team services, or legal. The Competition Safeguarding Manager should determine the initial response to concerns, in collaboration with a case management team of experts. This team should be in place prior to the competition starting. The correct matches are as follows. Plan matches with. Prior to the competition, the Competition Safeguarding Manager should engage with local organisations to assess local resources, and research how to refer serious concerns to local organisations if needed. Clear victim-centric processes must be developed in collaboration with local experts and other relevant teams, like communications, security, team services, or legal. Be consistent matches with. Communicate clear and consistent messages about safeguarding – and make sure all reports are treated the same – in line with an agreed process. Centralise matches with. Require all safeguarding reports to be shared with the Competition Safeguarding Manager – this supports consistency and helps maintain an overview of any issues at the competition. This reduces the chances of actions being missed, duplicated, or confused between stakeholders. If resources allow, have a team of Safeguarding Officers reporting into the Competition Safeguarding Manager. Seek expert input matches with. The Competition Safeguarding Manager should determine the initial response to concerns, in collaboration with a case management team of experts. This team should be in place prior to the competition starting. Share information appropriately matches with. The Competition Safeguarding Manager should share information with other organisations only as appropriate. One of their roles is to ensure that for cases involving someone who doesn’t work directly for the competition (for example, an outside caterer), the employing organisation is provided with sufficient, relevant information.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Comment

Once concerns have been received and considered, there are several possible responses, depending on the seriousness of the concern.

Finally, we consider some tips about this topic.

Responding to concerns at competitions – three tips:

  1. The initial response should be about providing the potential victim(s) with the care and support they need. An initial assessment must be made of the seriousness of the concern reported. You might need someone neutral, not connected to the case, to act as an interpreter (including a sign-language interpreter for people who are hearing impaired). You may also need to contact the consular office of the person’s country of origin.
  2. In collaboration with other relevant teams, a decision must be made about whether an alleged perpetrator should be immediately removed from the competition or if other measures could reduce the risk, for example, restricting accreditation.
  3. Other responses will depend, for example, on whether the victim is a child or adult, a local citizen or an international visitor. With less serious issues, the initial decision may be for the matter to be passed back to the relevant stakeholder organisation (the visiting team, service provider, etc.) to take forward.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to set all your systems up well in advance so that everyone knows what to do once the competition is underway.

7.6 How safeguarding concerns can be reported

7.8 Summary of Session 7