AFA POLICIES

The purpose and scope of this policy statement

The Adoption and Fostering Alliance (AFA) Scotland provides services involving or directly relating to children and vulnerable adults. The services and activities include:

• Chairing or participating in adoption and fostering panels.
• Providing consultations on complex cases involving children and their families or carers.
• Chairing disruption meetings and case reviews.
• Providing a wide range of training and practice development opportunities for practitioners
  and carers who are working directly with children.
• Participating in family finding events such as Adoption Exchange Days and Adoption Activity Days, where children and prospective adoptive parents are present.
• Undertaking research that may directly involve vulnerable children and their families.

The purpose of this policy statement is:

• to protect children and young people who receive AFA Scotland ’s services. This includes the children of adults who use our services;
• to provide those that use our services, including staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy statement applies to anyone working on behalf of AFA Scotland including the Executive Director, the Board of Trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, associate staff and students.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in Scotland and with reference to the Scottish Government’s National Guidance for child protection in Scotland.

We believe that children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind

• we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keepthem safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that the welfare of the child is paramount

• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse
• some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues
• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by

•  valuing, listening to and respecting them
• identifying the Executive Director as the nominated child protection/safeguarding lead along with a nominated member of the board of trustees
• developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice (see AFA Scotland’s Child Protection Policy)
• using our child protection policy and procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
• sharing information about child protection and safeguarding best practice with children, their families, staff and volunteers as part of the training and other services delivered by the organisation
• recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures
• developing a staff handbook that incorporates information about conduct for staff and volunteers
• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
• ensuring that we have effective complaints procedures in place
• ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for any activities or events that we organise by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
• recording and storing information professionally and securely.

Related policies and procedures

This policy statement should be read alongside our other organisational policies and procedures, in particular the AFA Scotland’s Child Protection policy – which incorporates the procedures for responding to concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing.

Contact details

Nominated child protection lead: Robin Duncan: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 0131 322 8490

AFA Scotland is committed to providing a good quality service, and we welcome feedback on all aspects of our work from everyone who uses our services. 

We are always glad to hear from people who want to compliment a particular member of staff or provide us with positive feedback on our service delivery. If you send us a compliment we will ensure it is shared appropriately with staff.
 
We welcome specific comments on the service you have received, particularly any improvement ideas you may have.
 
If you have a complaint, we would encourage you to speak directly with the person with whom you have been dealing.  We hope that most problems can be sorted out at this stage.  If not, you should contact the Executive Director who will try to resolve the matter with you.
 
If the Executive Director is unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, or if the complaint is about the Executive Director, you will be asked to write to the Board of Trustees to make a formal complaint.
 
The Complaints Procedure

The Complaints Procedure is to help individuals and organisations to make suggestions and complaints where they feel that an informal complaint has not resolved the matter to their satisfaction.   
 
How to Make a Complaint 

You can make a complaint verbally to a staff member.   Your complaint will be put in writing with your agreement, or if you prefer, a representative or colleague may do this for you. The staff member, representative or colleague will then pass the complaint to the Executive Director of AFA Scotland. 
 
Or 
 
You can make a complaint in writing directly to the Executive Director who will:  • Let you know they have received it within 7 working days  • Send you a copy of AFA Scotland’s Complaints Procedure  • Look into your complaint 
 
You can involve a representative or colleague both in supporting you to make your complaint and in any meetings where the complaint is being looked into. 
 
The Executive Director will contact you within two working weeks to arrange a time to discuss your complaint either by phone or in person. Following the discussions, you will get a written reply to Your complaint within a further two working weeks. 
 
If you are not satisfied with the written reply, you can ask to meet with the member of staff concerned and the Executive Director to discuss the matter in detail and try to resolve it. 
 
We will write to you with the result of the complaints meeting, usually within two working weeks of the meeting. 

If you are not satisfied with the result of the complaint you may appeal to the Chairperson of AFA Scotland’s Board of Trustees, as long as you do this within 28 days of getting the written note of the result. The Chairperson will contact you to discuss your complaint and seek a resolution. You will get a written reply to your complaint to the Chairperson within two working weeks of the discussion.
 
If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees who will convene a small panel of people who have not been directly involved in the complaint to consider the issues raised. You will be entitled to submit further information for consideration by the panel. You will be told the outcome of the panel’s consideration as quickly as possible. The decision of the panel will be final. 
 
Contact details 

If you wish to share a compliment, make a suggestion or lodge a complaint please:
 
write to:  AFA Scotland    Foxglove Offices, 14 Links Place, Edinburgh EH6 7EZ     or Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
or phone: 0131 322 8490 

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