I am happy to report that all Clubs with Youth Teams have appointed at least one named Club Welfare Officer who meets the FA CRB criteria. Some clubs have appointed more than one Club Welfare Officer and we currently have 170 Club Welfare Officers in place. Additionally we also have seven Youth League Welfare Officer in place.
Future Affiliations with Bedfordshire FA will require that all Youth League and Club Welfare Officers will need to complete The FA’s Safeguarding Children Workshop by the start of the 2009~2010 season.
Best practice suggests that it is in the interests of safeguarding children that all Youth League and Club Welfare Officers complete the training workshops as soon as possible. This will help to create a more positive environment in football. Feedback from the courses is positive and everyone seems to find them very useful.
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN WORKSHOPS
What are they?
These are three hour workshops which aim to encourage a safer environment for everyone, to raise awareness of everyone’s moral and legal responsibility to safeguard children, to ensure that people know how to report a concern about a child’s welfare, to support people in the handling of disclosure of poor practice or abuse from a child or young person, to disseminate information on best practice and to support Youth League and Club Welfare Officers in their roles. You will be encouraged to discuss some of the most important Child Protection issues in football. The aim is to explore what appropriate and inappropriate behaviour looks, sounds and feels like. Clear guidance is given on best practice in football and on what actions should be taken if there are worries about the welfare of a child or young person.
What are the benefits of attending a Safeguarding Children Workshop?
• Identify best practice in safeguarding children in football
• Recognise signs, indicators and forms of abuse
• Identify what behavior in football would cause concern
• Identify feelings in relation to abuse
• Identify action to take and who can help if you have concerns
AFFILIATIONS for 2010~2011 season.
By the start of the 2010-2011 season all Youth League and Club Welfare Officers will also need to complete and The FA’s Welfare Officer Workshop.
The next Safeguarding Children Workshops are on 7th December 2008 and 12th March 2009 and the next Welfare Officer Workshop is on 19th January 2009. Further workshop dates will be organised in due course to meet the increasing demands for places. To get on to one of the above course you need to contact Lesley Farrah (01582 567716) or Jackie Pettifer (01582 567720) at Bedfordshire County FA.
I plan to attend all of the Welfare Officer Workshops and hope to use this as an opportunity to meet as many of you as possible.
Janet Smith, County Welfare Officer
Tel: 01582 565111
E-mail: janet.smith@bedfordshirefa.com
6th November 2008