Sarah DaCosta is the County Welfare Officer for Bedfordshire FA. Sarah is keen to help clubs on all welfare issues and is happy to attend club and/or league meetings to ensure the safeguarding message gets across.

For any Child Protection matters, in the first instance please contact your Club Welfare Officer.

Should you need any further information or if you have any queries or concerns regarding safeguarding children you can contact Sarah by telephone on: 01582 567721 / 07960 500723 or by email on: sarah.dacosta@bedfordshirefa.com

 
Safeguarding Children – Making Football Safe

Safeguarding children is high on The FA's agenda and is a top priority for Bedfordshire FA.

As part of its National Game Strategy 2008-12 The FA is keen to eliminate abuse and poor practice. Safeguarding children is about doing things the right way. It's about allowing children and young people to enjoy the game without fear of abuse of any kind. That means bullying, physical, emotional or sexual abuse and neglect.

The FA believes that football can have a powerful and positive influence on children and young people. This means that everyone involved in football must take on the responsibility of looking after those children and young people who want to play the game.

In order to support these aims The FA has appointed County Welfare Officers throughout the country and has worked hard to develop a network of trained volunteers who are the Club Welfare Officers (CWO’s).

For affiliation with the FA, it is mandatory for all clubs with youth teams to have a named Club Welfare Officer who has

• An accepted FA Enhanced CRB check
• Completed the FA Safeguarding Children Workshop
• Attended the FA Welfare Officer Workshop

Clubs with youth teams will not be able to affiliate with Bedfordshire FA unless they meet these criteria.

Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)

CRB checks help to create a safer environment and identify those who may be a risk to children and vulnerable adults. They are a way of checking an individual's history to make sure they do not have any convictions that might mean they are not safe to work with children.

What you need to know about Criminal Records Bureau checks

The FA established CRB checks as a step towards safeguarding children in football.

This information will help both those applying for an FA Enhanced CRB check and those authorised to verify any application, before it is further processed.

All people who are working directly with children and young people in football need to have an FA Enhanced CRB check. This means that if you care for, train, supervise or have sole care of children and young people under the age of 18 in football, as part of your normal Club or County duties, you need to have an FA Enhanced CRB check.

Who should have a CRB check?

• Welfare Officers
• Coaches
• Managers
• First Aiders
• Referees
• Club Committee members
• Regular nominated drivers (Drivers acting on behalf of the club)

Workshops 

Football, like any activity with children and young people, can and does attract people who wish to abuse their power over children. Sometimes this is sexual and sometimes it is physical or emotional and may include bullying or racist abuse.

Some people will have been trained or brought up to think that shouting and even hitting children is acceptable. Beds FA offers  workshops available to all to confirm that bullying and abuse in any form is not acceptable and reiterates that we all have a legal and moral responsibility to be aware of and look out for the children and young people in our care.

Safeguarding Children Workshop

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
• Help recognise signs, indicators and forms of abuse
• Identify behaviour in football which might cause concern
• 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.

Welfare Officers Workshop

This workshop is only for those who have taken on the role of Welfare Officer for their club or league. Please note - you must have completed the Safeguarding Children Workshop before you can attend this workshop. It is important that you have an understanding of what safeguarding in football means before you attend the WOW.

The three-hour Welfare Officer Workshop covers the following:

• The role of the welfare officer and the safeguarding children network
• Resources and support available including the Online Safeguarding Children Service
• Key safeguarding legislation
• Statutory agencies and role of The FA
• Making referrals and dealing with poor practice
• Action planning and creating an aware club/league

For further information, contact Sarah DaCosta:
sarah.dacosta@bedfordshirefa.com
Tel: 01582 567721

To book onto a workshop online click here

Please see the related documents at the bottom of the page for detailed information on Safeguarding Children.

Staying Safe Online: Football and CEOP Join Forces

Football uses the internet to communicate to coaches, referees, medics, welfare officers, young leaders, players, parents/carers and fans.  This reliance on online communication is also central to children all over the UK, bringing about many benefits and opportunities.  However, this also opens up new risks and challenges.  That’s why The FA and Bedfordshire County Football Association have teamed up with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.  The CEOP Centre aims to educate children, young people, their parents, carers and fans to understand the risks they may face online and what they can do to empower themselves to stay safe.  Thinkuknow is an excellent education programme developed by the CEOP Centre, which delivers online safety messages to young people, their parents and the public.

We recommend that you take the time to visit the ‘Thinkuknow’ website by simply clicking on the ‘Thinkuknow’ logo to the right of the page.