Purpose and commitment

I am committed to the safety and wellbeing of every child and adult at risk who comes into contact with my work. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, and it is not suspended by artistic ambition, institutional reputation, funding pressure or awkwardness. Where safeguarding and any other consideration conflict, safeguarding comes first.

This policy sets out how I work safely as a self-employed practitioner, how I recognise and respond to concerns, and what I expect of the organisations I work with. It is written to be proportionate to a freelance practice: I am one person, usually working inside someone else's building, under someone else's safeguarding arrangements. This policy describes the standards I bring, not a claim to run safeguarding systems of my own.

Scope

This policy applies to all my professional activity — workshops, talks, participatory and engagement projects, exhibitions and events, research conversations, online sessions and consultancy — wherever a child or adult at risk may be present, including as an audience member, participant, collaborator, artist or family member.

Where I am engaged by a host organisation, that organisation’s safeguarding policy takes precedence and I work within it. I will not begin delivery until I know who their Designated Safeguarding Lead is and how to contact them. Where I work in employed or trustee roles at other organisations, their policies govern that work.

Definitions

A child is anyone under the age of 18, regardless of whether they consider themselves a child, are living independently, or are in employment.

An adult at risk is any person aged 18 or over who has needs for care and support, is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect, and as a result of those needs is unable to protect themselves against it. This is the definition in the Care Act 2014. Risk is situational, not an identity: disabled adults, older adults and adults with mental health needs are not automatically at risk, and adults not in those groups may be. I do not assume, and I do not label people.

Abuse and neglect include physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse; domestic abuse and coercive control; financial or material abuse; discriminatory abuse, including racist and disablist abuse; organisational abuse; modern slavery and exploitation; self-neglect; and online abuse.

Legal and policy framework

This policy has regard to the Children Act 1989 and 2004, the Care Act 2014, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023), the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, the Equality Act 2010 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

Safer working practice

These are the working rules I hold myself to.

I work in sight of others. I avoid being alone with a child or adult at risk. Where one-to-one contact is genuinely necessary — a support conversation, an access requirement, an interview — it takes place in a room with visibility, with another adult aware of where I am and for how long, and I record it afterwards.

I do not offer private contact. No personal phone numbers, no direct messaging with under-18s, no private social media contact, no personal email. Communication with children and young people goes through the host organisation, a parent or carer, or a monitored project account.

I do not transport participants in my own vehicle or arrange to meet them outside the project setting.

I maintain professional boundaries, including online. I do not accept friend or follow requests from participants who are children, and I keep my professional presence separate from my personal accounts.

I do not use physical contact beyond what is necessary, consensual and appropriate — and I do not provide personal or intimate care. That is the role of the person's own support worker, family member or the host organisation's trained staff.

I do not promise secrecy. If someone begins to tell me something, I say early and kindly that I may need to pass it on to keep them safe, and I explain who to.

I plan for access and safeguarding together. Access arrangements — interpreters, support workers, quiet spaces, breaks — are agreed in advance, and anyone providing support in a session is known to the host organisation and appropriately checked by them.

I do not work beyond my competence. I am an artist, curator and writer, not a therapist, social worker or support worker. Where a project touches on distressing material, I agree in advance with the host organisation who holds pastoral responsibility and what the route is if a participant becomes distressed.

Recognising and responding to concerns

A concern may arise because someone discloses something to me, because I observe signs that worry me, because a third party tells me, or because I witness the conduct of another adult.

If someone discloses to me, I will: listen without interrupting or pressing for detail; take what they say seriously and not express doubt or shock; avoid asking leading questions, and ask only what is needed to understand whether someone is at risk; tell them clearly that I cannot keep it secret and explain what I will do next; and record what was said, in their own words where possible, as soon as afterwards as I can, with the date, time, setting and anyone present, keeping fact separate from my own interpretation.

I will not investigate, interview, confront an alleged abuser, or attempt to resolve the situation myself. That is the responsibility of statutory services.

I will report to the host organisation’s Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day, and always within 24 hours. Where there is no host organisation, where the lead is unavailable, where the concern is about the lead or the organisation itself, or where I am not satisfied the concern has been acted on, I will report directly to the relevant statutory service.

If someone is in immediate danger, I call 999 first, and report afterwards.

Reporting routes

• Immediate risk or a crime in progress: 999.

• Non-emergency police: 101.

• Concerns about a child: the local authority children's services or Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for the area the child lives in.

• Concerns about an adult at risk: the local authority adult social care safeguarding team for the area the adult lives in.

• Concerns about an adult who works with children — including a colleague, artist, staff member or volunteer, and including myself if an allegation is made against me: the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for the area where the organisation is based, within one working day.

• If I am unsure whether to report: NSPCC Helpline, 0808 800 5000, for advice about children; the Ann Craft Trust for advice about adults at risk.

• For children and young people themselves: Childline, 0800 1111.

Before each project I confirm the specific local numbers for the relevant area and keep them with me during delivery. Uncertainty is not a reason to delay: if I am not sure, I seek advice, and seeking advice does not require the person's consent.

Allegations against me

If an allegation is made about my own conduct, I will not attempt to manage it myself, investigate it or approach the person who raised it. I will refer it immediately to the host organisation’s safeguarding lead and to the LADO where a child is involved, cooperate fully with any process, and step back from delivery while it is considered if asked to. I will notify my professional indemnity insurer as required, and I will seek my own advice and support.

Relationship to my Transformative Justice Policy

My Transformative Justice Policy commits me to responding to harm through repair, and to working out with the person harmed what should happen next. That framework does not apply to safeguarding concerns and never overrides this policy.

Where a concern involves a child or an adult at risk, it goes through the statutory routes set out above — immediately, without being routed through any community accountability process, without waiting for the person harmed to decide what they want, without my judgement about whether a report is proportionate, and without any promise of confidentiality I cannot keep. Community accountability is a framework for adults with the capacity to negotiate their own safety. It is not a substitute for statutory child protection or adult safeguarding, and I will not use it as one.

The two documents share a commitment: that the safety of people with least power comes before the comfort or reputation of institutions.

Records and confidentiality

Safeguarding records are made promptly, kept factual, stored securely and separately from project files, and shared only with those who need them — the safeguarding lead, statutory services, or the police. Information is shared on a need-to-know basis, but concern for confidentiality never outweighs the need to protect someone. Where a host organisation holds the record, theirs is the definitive one; I keep my own contemporaneous note until any process concludes. Records are held in line with my privacy notice, and for as long as the relevant organisation or statutory guidance requires.

Photography, filming and consent

Images and recordings are only made with informed, specific, written consent — from a parent or carer as well as the young person where a child is involved, and from the person themselves wherever they have capacity to give it. Consent covers what is being made, where it will appear and for how long, and it can be withdrawn. I do not use identifying details alongside images of children, I do not photograph anyone who has asked not to be, and I follow any host organisation's stricter rules. Images are stored securely and not kept beyond the agreed period. Personal devices are not used for project photography where the host organisation provides an alternative.

Online and remote delivery

Online sessions with children take place through the host organisation’s platform and account, with another adult present, and are not recorded without explicit consent. I do not contact participants through personal accounts, and I apply the same reporting duties to concerns arising online, including disclosures made in chat functions or private messages.

DBS checks and training

I am self-employed, and self-employed people cannot apply for their own enhanced DBS check. Enhanced checks — including barred list checks — must be requested and countersigned by an organisation engaging a person for eligible regulated activity. My position is therefore:

• As a self-employed professional, I am fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all clients. To demonstrate my suitability and maintain transparency, I independently manage my criminal record vetting and am currently in the process of applying for a new Basic DBS check directly through the GOV.UK service. Evidence of my active application submission is readily available for inspection upon request by any client or commissioning organisation. Once the physical certificate is issued, it will be made available to view, and I maintain a strict duty of care to notify active clients immediately should any change occur to my criminal record status.

• Where a commission involves regulated activity with children or adults at risk, I ask the engaging organisation to arrange the appropriate Enhanced check before delivery begins, and I will not undertake regulated activity without one.

• I subscribe to the DBS Update Service for any current Enhanced certificate I hold, so that it can be checked online by subsequent clients rather than reapplied for.

• A DBS check is a baseline, not a safeguard in itself. It says nothing about conduct that has not been reported, which is why the working practices above matter more.

I undertake safeguarding awareness training covering both children and adults at risk, and refresh it at least every three years or as a host organisation requires. I keep a record of training and can evidence it on request.

Insurance

I hold public liability and professional indemnity insurance appropriate to participatory work, and can provide certificates on request.

What I ask of organisations that engage me

That I am given their safeguarding policy and the name and contact details of their Designated Safeguarding Lead before delivery begins; that they arrange any enhanced DBS check required for the work; that they confirm who holds pastoral responsibility during sessions; that ratios and supervision are adequate and that I am not left alone with participants; and that concerns I raise are acknowledged and acted on. Where an organisation cannot meet these, I will say so in writing and may decline the work.

Review

This policy is reviewed annually, and after any safeguarding incident, change in guidance, or significant change in the kind of work I do. Questions, challenges and suggestions about it are welcome at info@jade-foster.com.