Introduction

This document is the Online Child Protection Policy for Free Your Mind CIC which will be followed by all members of the organisation, volunteers and anyone working on behalf of Free Your Mind CIC and is to be followed and promoted by those in the position of leadership within the organisation.

The purpose of Free Your Mind CIC is to support individuals that suffer with mental illness due to the traumatic experience of childhood domestic violence.

Free Your Mind CIC undertakes activities with children in the absence of their parents/carers, and also has the opportunity to observe the young persons’/children’s welfare within their family setting. Parents/carers remain the primary responsible people for their children’s welfare throughout all the work undertaken by the organisation.

The Purpose of This Policy

Free Your Mind understands the importance of emerging technologies for children’s education and personal development and seeks to support children and young people in making use of these in our work. However, we also recognise that safeguards need to be in place to ensure children are kept safe at all times.

The purpose of this policy is:

  • to protect children and young people who receive Free Your Mind CIC’s services and who make use of information technology (such as mobile phones, games consoles and the Internet) as part of their involvement with us;
  • to provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to e-Safety;
  • to ensure that, as an organisation, we operate in line with our values and within the law in terms of how we use information technology.

Note to young people, parents and carers

This e-Safety policy fits with the expectations we have of our staff and volunteers in terms of their use of communications technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones and is part of our code of behaviour for young children. If you would like to know more about this, please speak to the group leader or to our e-Safety co-ordinator.

Young person’s code of conduct

  • I will be responsible for my behaviour when using the Internet. This includes resources I access and the language I use.
  • I will not deliberately browse, download or upload material that could be considered offensive or illegal.
  • If I accidentally come across any such material I will report it immediately to a member of staff.
  • I will not send or upload material that could be considered threatening, bullying, offensive or illegal.
  • I will not give out any personal information such as name, phone number or address.
  • I will not reveal my passwords to anyone.
  • I will not arrange to meet someone unless accompanied by a member of staff or a parent.

The name of our e-safety coordinator is (Natasha Benjamin)

She can be contacted on (Natasha@freeyourmindcic.com)

Our e-Safety Policy

We recognise that:

  • the welfare of the children/young people who come into contact with our services is paramount and should govern our approach to the use and management of electronic communications technologies;
  • all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse;
  • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare and in helping young people to be responsible in their approach to e-Safety;
  • the use of information technology is an essential part of all our lives; it is involved in how we as an organisation gather and store information, as well as how we communicate with each other. It is also an intrinsic part of the experience of our children and young people, and is greatly beneficial to all. However, it can present challenges in terms of how we use it responsibly and, if misused either by an adult or a young person, can be actually or potentially harmful to them.

We will seek to promote e-Safety by:

  • appointing an e-Safety co-ordinator;
  • developing a range of procedures that provide clear and specific directions to staff and volunteers on the appropriate use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT);
  • supporting and encouraging the young people using our service to use the opportunities offered by mobile phone technology and the internet in a way that keeps themselves safe and shows respect for others;
  • supporting and encouraging parents and carers to do what they can to keep their children safe online and when using their mobile phones and game consoles;
  • using our procedures to deal firmly, fairly and decisively with any examples of inappropriate ICT use, complaints or allegations, whether by an adult or a child/young person (these may include breaches of filtering, illegal use, cyberbullying, or use of ICT to groom a child or to perpetrate abuse);
  • informing parents and carers of incidents of concern as appropriate;
  • reviewing and updating the security of our information systems regularly;
  • providing adequate physical security for ICT equipment;
  • ensuring that user names, logins and passwords are used effectively;
  • using only official email accounts provided via the organisation, and monitoring these as necessary;
  • ensuring that the personal information of staff, volunteers and service users are not published on our website;
  • ensuring that images of children, young people and families are used only after their written permission has been obtained, and only for the purpose for which consent has been given;
  • providing effective management for staff and volunteers on ICT issues, through supervision, support and training;
  • examining and risk assessing any social media tools and emerging new technologies before they are used within the organisation including this blog platform.
  • We also reserve the right to use our discretion and delete or remove any, abusive, derogatory comments or posts and users who persist to break this and any of the above rules.

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

This policy was last reviewed on: 31/07/2023