Susannah De Sanvil has taken over as regional safeguarding officer in the Autumn of 2023. Susannah is hoping to meet with clubs and their safeguarding leads soon.
Susannah will keep the region updated with any SIGBI developments around safeguarding and any events planned. Please contact Susannah with any questions you may have about safeguarding and she will do her best to assist you or signpost you in the right direction.
In 2020, Carol McKeough together with Jane Barnes (SI Medway and Maidstone), they were both part of a small SIGBI Working Party of Safeguarding Leads. This was led by Shirley Jones, former SIGBI Designated Safeguarding Officer to review, revise and develop the SIGBI Safeguarding documentation. This was to ensure the requirements of the Charities Commission are met.
The SIGBI Board finalised the following documents in January 2021:
- Safeguarding Policy
- Safeguarding Procedure
- Safeguarding Guidance
- Risk Assessment Tool
- Information on Patterns of Abuse and Indicators
- Safeguarding Reporting Form
The Risk Assessment Tool – is a new document and should be considered for all events/Programme Action such as working supporting children at school, working in care homes. It is quite straight forwards and provides examples in order to complete it.
Safeguarding Video
There is also a 3 minute video, which all club members are required to see, it explains what people should do if they see something, which is not quite right or makes them feel uncomfortable, with the message
‘If you see something, say something’. ‘Safeguarding Is Everyone’s Responsibility’.
The video and documents are located on the SIGBI Website in the Members Area.
The video is also available on You Tube https://youtu.be/OiXJVQSha9k.
Club Safeguarding Link/Leads
Across clubs within the Region we have a number of Soroptimist members who have volunteered to act as Safeguarding leads within their clubs. They are: –
- Bonnie Foster – SI Bromley
- Dawn Ryder – SI Canterbury
- Gisella Pereira – SI Croydon
- Lorraine Gillott – SI Eastbourne
- Susannah de Sanvil – SI Folkestone
- Pauline Payne – SI Sevenoaks
- Jacky Ramprall – SI Thanet
Although the Safeguarding Leads/Link posts in our clubs are not mandatory; the Safeguarding Working Party and Regional Safeguarding Officers considered this role should be seen as best practice, to emphasise the importance of Safeguarding and to embed the knowledge and understanding at club/member level.
Safeguarding articles in Regional Newsletter
There have been a number of articles on Safeguarding published in our Regional Newsletter, SEE News
Regional Safeguarding Officer – December 2019
Safeguarding and the Region – June 2020
Safeguarding is Everyone’s Responsibility – June 2021
Safeguarding Adults Week and Predatory Marriage – November 2021
New SIGBI Designated Safeguarding Officer Appointed
SIGBI have appointed a new Designated Safeguarding Officer, Annette Maudsley who has taken over from Shirley Jones. Annette is a member of SI Liverpool.
Some members may have come across Annette already as she facilitated the Modern Day Slavery workshop at the last Conference.
We met Annette at the Safeguarding Network Forum held via Zoom in November ahead of Safeguarding Adults Week.
A key message we were asked to heed by Chris Clark and Pat Kilbane (RSOs with SI Yorkshire) was: –