I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1 — Purpose and principle
This policy governs how the association protects children and vulnerable adults in everything it does: at events, in work with beneficiaries, in communication and publishing, and in the work of chapters.
The welfare of the child comes before the programme, the photograph, the result, the sponsor and the schedule. In doubt, the decision is made in the child's favour, even if that means stopping an activity or taking an uncomfortable decision.
Article 2 — Definitions
A child is any person under 18 years of age.
A vulnerable adult is an adult who, because of disability, illness, age or life circumstances, is unable to protect themselves from neglect, exploitation or abuse, including beneficiaries of the association's funds who are in that position.
Abuse covers physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect, exploitation, peer violence and online abuse.
A covered person is any person listed in Article 3.
A safeguarding lead is the national child safeguarding lead or the event child safeguarding lead (Part III).
Article 3 — Who is bound
The policy binds: the founders, members of the bodies, the Executive Director, employees, chapter officers and members, volunteers, photographers and camera operators, external contractors, and partners (clubs, schools, suppliers) for the part in which they take part in the association's activity. A partner with its own child safeguarding policy applies the stricter of the two rules.
Accepting a function, task or engagement means accepting this policy. Covered persons with child-facing tasks sign the declaration under Article 9.
II. CODE OF CONDUCT
Article 4 — Always
A covered person:
- treats every child with respect, regardless of sex, origin, language, religion, disability or family circumstances;
- works with children only in the presence of at least one other adult, in view of others;
- talks with a child in the open, in view of others;
- when a child asks for help (toilet, changing, injury), calls the parent or guardian, and until then two adults remain present;
- listens to the child and takes seriously what the child says;
- at an event wears the association's visible identification so that children and parents recognise them;
- reports every concern, every incident and every breach of this policy, including their own.
Article 5 — Never
A covered person never:
- stays alone with a child out of sight of others, whether in a room, in a vehicle or on the water;
- transports a child in their own vehicle, except in an emergency with the parent's consent and another adult present;
- arranges contact with a child outside the association's activity or communicates with a child by private messages, calls or on social networks; communication with a child goes through the parent or a group message that includes the parent;
- touches a child except when necessary for safety or first aid, and then with an explanation to the child and in the presence of others;
- uses inappropriate language, teases, humiliates, threatens or punishes;
- photographs or films a child with a private device; photographs are taken only under Article 15;
- gives a child gifts, money or privileges outside the programme;
- consumes alcohol or other substances while on a task that involves children;
- lets children do tasks meant for adults (handling money, work on the water, carrying loads, night work).
Article 6 — Peer abuse and inclusion
Covered persons prevent and stop teasing, exclusion and violence among children and inform the event safeguarding lead. The programme is adapted so that a child with a disability or developmental difficulties can take part, with the parent agreeing on the support needed.
III. ROLES
Article 7 — National child safeguarding lead
The Board appoints a national child safeguarding lead, preferably with experience of working with children (education, social work, health, sport). The national lead: leads the application of this policy; approves the event safeguarding leads; gives consent to events with children and on the water (Chapter Rules, Article 11); runs training; receives reports and decides together with the Executive Director on notifying the competent authorities; keeps the register of reports; submits an annual report to the Board and proposes changes.
The national lead may not be the Executive Director. Their name and contact details are published on the association's website.
Article 8 — Event child safeguarding lead
For every event the event manager appoints an event child safeguarding lead, approved by the national lead. The event lead: checks that all volunteers with child-facing tasks have been briefed; runs the lost-child and collection procedures; receives reports at the event and acts under Part VII; is visibly identified and reachable for the whole event; is named on the event page.
The event safeguarding lead may not at the same time be the event manager, a race official or the photographer.
IV. RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Article 9 — Child-facing tasks
Tasks that involve working with children (the children's race, childminding, entertainment, handing out costumes to children, safeguarding lead) are assigned only to persons who: are adults; have been briefed under Article 10; have signed a declaration that they accept this policy and that no proceedings for a criminal offence against children, sexual freedom or domestic violence have been or are being conducted against them; and, for permanent roles (the national lead, event safeguarding leads, employees in regular contact with children), have provided a criminal record certificate not older than six months, [[PLACEHOLDER: confirm the legal basis and scope, Part IX]].
A person who does not meet the conditions may volunteer on tasks without contact with children.
Article 10 — Briefing and training
Before every event, every volunteer receives a briefing of at least 15 minutes: the code of conduct in Part II, who the safeguarding lead is, how a concern is reported, the lost-child procedure, the photography rules. A record of the briefing (name, date, who gave it) is entered in the volunteer register.
Safeguarding leads and chapter officers receive at least [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] hours' training on appointment and a refresher once a year. The national lead keeps the training records.
V. EVENTS
Article 11 — Planning
The risk assessment for every event contains a separate section on children: the expected number of children, age categories, the adult-to-child ratio for children's activities (at least [[PLACEHOLDER: ratio, e.g. 1 : 8]] for children up to 8 years and 1 : 12 for older children), the meeting point for lost children, the collection arrangements, first aid, sanitary facilities and specific risks (water, traffic, cold, crowds).
An event with children is approved only with the consent of the national lead (Chapter Rules, Article 11).
Article 12 — Registration, age and parental consent
A child is registered for an event exclusively through a parent or guardian, who accepts the Event Terms and the Participation Waiver and decides on consent to photography. The minimum age by activity and distance is set by the Event Terms.
The parent or guardian, or an adult designated by the parent in writing, is present at the event for a child under [[PLACEHOLDER: age, e.g. 12]] years of age. For older children the parent leaves a telephone number on which they can be reached during the event.
A child under [[PLACEHOLDER: age]] years of age is handed over at the end of the activity only to the parent or to the person the parent named at registration; the safeguarding lead checks identity if they do not know the person.
Article 13 — Lost child and emergencies
When a child is lost: the covered person who learns of it informs the safeguarding lead; the safeguarding lead organises a search by zones, informs the parent and, if the child is not found within 15 minutes or water is involved, the police; a found child stays with two adults at the meeting point until the parent arrives. A child found by the team does not leave the meeting point with anyone other than the parent or the person under Article 12.
If a child is injured, first aid is given by the event medical team; the parent is called at once; two adults stay with the child.
Article 14 — Children on the water and at the children's race
Children's activities on the water are held only with qualified lifeguards in the numbers set by the national safety lead, in a marked shallow zone, with a parent present for every child under [[PLACEHOLDER: age]] years of age and with the number of children in the water limited to the lifeguards' capacity.
The children's race has a course or time slot separate from the adults' race, marshals at every turn, a start and finish in a fenced zone to which parents have access, and handover of children under Article 12.
VI. PHOTOGRAPHS, DATA AND COMMUNICATION
Article 15 — Photography and publishing
Only persons authorised by the association, identified and briefed on this policy, photograph and film, using devices or accounts the association controls. A notice displayed at the event informs that photographs are being taken.
A photograph or recording in which a child is identifiable is published only with the parent's consent given at registration or separately, which is recorded with the photograph in the association's gallery. Without consent the child is not published or is made unidentifiable. The child's name, school, address or any other detail by which the child could be located is not published with the photograph. Children are photographed clothed and in activity; they are not photographed in changing rooms, while changing or in distress.
The parent may withdraw consent at any time; the photograph is removed within three working days, without questions. Sponsors and the media receive only photographs for which consent exists, with onward transfer prohibited.
Article 16 — Children's data
Data on children (name, age, parent's contact details, health notes, consents) is collected only through the association's platform, to the extent needed for safe participation, and is available only to the event manager, the safeguarding lead and the medical team. Lists for the day of the event are printed to the smallest extent necessary and destroyed within seven days. Data is kept for [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] months after the event, except consents to photography, which are kept while the photograph is published.
Article 17 — Communication with children
The association communicates with children through their parents. Group messages for children's activities include the parents. The association's social network accounts send no private messages to children and follow no children's accounts. A child who contacts the association with a concern receives a reply from a safeguarding lead, with the parent informed unless that would endanger the child.
VII. RECOGNISING AND REPORTING
Article 18 — Signs and concern
Anything that worries a covered person is a reason for concern: unexplained injuries, fear of a particular adult, a change in behaviour, neglect, what a child says, an adult's behaviour towards a child that breaches Part II, or a breach of this policy by anyone. The covered person does not have to be certain; concern is enough.
Article 19 — When a child discloses
A covered person to whom a child discloses something: listens calmly and does not interrupt; does not promise secrecy; asks no leading questions and does not investigate; tells the child that they did right to speak and that they will inform a person who can help; writes down as soon as possible and as exactly as possible what the child said, in the child's words, with the date and time; informs the safeguarding lead at once. They do not confront the person concerned and do not discuss the case with others.
Article 20 — Reporting
A concern is reported at once: at an event, to the event safeguarding lead; outside an event, to the national lead; if the concern relates to the national lead, to the President of the Board. If a child is in immediate danger, 112 or the police is called first, then the association. [[PLACEHOLDER: confirm the numbers of the police, the ambulance service and the Tivat Centre for Social Work and enter them here and in the Chapter in a Box]]
Within 24 hours the report is entered on the form from the Chapter in a Box: who is reporting, when and where it happened, who is involved, what was seen or said, what was done immediately. A report may be anonymous. Parents, children, participants and the public report through the contacts published on the website.
No one suffers consequences for a report made in good faith, even when it proves unfounded. Obstructing or discouraging a report is a serious breach of this policy.
Article 21 — Acting on a report
The safeguarding lead who receives a report immediately: ensures that the child is safe and in the presence of a trusted person; removes the person concerned from all contact with children until the matter is clarified, regardless of their function; informs the parent, unless the parent is the person concerned or informing them would endanger the child; informs the national lead and the Executive Director.
Within 24 hours the national lead and the Executive Director decide on notifying the competent centre for social work or the police. A suspected criminal offence is reported to the competent authorities without delay; the association conducts no criminal investigation of its own and takes no statements from the child beyond what the child has said. A suspected breach of this policy that is not a criminal offence is clarified internally within 15 days.
During the proceedings the person concerned temporarily loses all tasks that involve children. The outcome of the proceedings and the measures under Article 23 are entered in the register.
Article 22 — Confidentiality and records
Reports and everything learned in connection with them are confidential. The identity of the reporter is not disclosed to the person the report concerns. Data is shared only with those who need to know in order to protect the child and with the competent authorities.
The national lead keeps the register of reports separately from the association's other records, with restricted access (the national lead, the Executive Director, the President of the Board). The register is kept for [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] years, or, where the competent authorities have been notified, for as long as their proceedings last and [[PLACEHOLDER: number]] years after that.
VIII. MEASURES, BENEFICIARIES AND CHAPTERS
Article 23 — Measures
A breach of this policy entails, in proportion to its seriousness: a warning and retraining; permanent removal of tasks that involve children; the end of the volunteer engagement; dismissal from a function under the Statute; termination of employment under the contract and the law; termination of membership (Statute, Article 37); ending the cooperation with a partner. A person finally convicted of an offence against children may never hold any task in the association.
Article 24 — Child beneficiaries
Where a beneficiary of funds is a child or a vulnerable adult: the application is submitted by a parent, guardian or institution; the visit to the beneficiary (Grant Criteria, section 9) is made by two people, in the presence of the parent or guardian; funds are paid to the supplier or the parent, never to the child; only what section 12 of the Criteria allows is published about the beneficiary; the story or photograph of a child beneficiary is published only with the separate consent of both parents or the guardian and only if it cannot harm the child, as the national lead decides.
Article 25 — Chapters and partners
The chapter lead is responsible for the application of this policy in the chapter. A chapter holds no activity with children without an event safeguarding lead approved by the national lead. A contract or arrangement with a club, school or supplier taking part in an activity with children contains the obligation to comply with this policy and the association's right to remove any person who breaches it.
IX. FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 26 — Publication and review
A summary of the policy is published on the association's website and may not promise less than this policy. The policy is reviewed after every major event, after every case under Part VII and at least once a year. The national lead submits an annual report to the Board: the number of events with children, the number of volunteers briefed, the number of reports and their outcomes without personal data, and lessons learned.
The policy enters into force on the day of its adoption by the Board. Until the Board is elected, its powers under this policy are exercised by the Assembly.