Safeguarding
Glowing Minds employs rigorous Safer Recruitment procedures to guarantee all staff are fully qualified, skilled, and experienced to provide exceptional, secure care.
Quality & Monitoring Activities
Glowing Minds conducts rigorous pre-employment checks in line with Ofsted regulations, including:
- Enhanced DBS checks for all staff directly involved in service delivery and barred list checks. Individuals with a history posing a risk to young people or vulnerable adults will not be employed.
- Verification of qualifications through original documentation.
- Thorough reference checks.
- Comprehensive employment history checks, including explanations for any gaps or previous roles with young people or vulnerable adults.
- Fitness for work assessments.
A DBS check schedule will be provided to the Council upon contract commencement and updated annually or as staff changes occur.
Training
All Glowing Minds staff undergo mandatory safeguarding training. Our direct care staff receive enhanced training covering child protection, adult at risk, risk assessment, escalation procedures, Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), vulnerabilities of disabled children and adults, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), county lines, and safeguarding against extremism and radicalization.
Policies
Glowing Minds adheres to rigorous safeguarding policies aligned with ‘Working Together 2018’ and local Safeguarding Children and Adults Board guidelines. Our Safeguarding and Quality Assurance teams collaborate with staff to ensure policies are regularly reviewed and updated. All staff receive comprehensive safeguarding training and are equipped to recognize and report concerns.
Glowing Minds works closely with referrers to gather essential information about young people’s backgrounds and risks through secure, GDPR-compliant channels. This helps us match young people with suitable living environments.
For each placement, we create a comprehensive risk assessment and management plan involving the young person, their social worker, and relevant partners. This outlines strategies to safeguard the young person, other residents, staff, and the community. Our approach includes:
- Safeguarding: Staff are trained to identify and respond to signs of exploitation, such as child sexual exploitation (CSE). We help young people understand risks and build resilience.
- Missing persons: We follow the Philomena Protocol and support young people and staff in preventing and responding to missing episodes.
- Safe environments: Locality risk assessments are conducted for all properties, considering factors like crime rates and exploitation risks.
- Healthy relationships: We help young people develop positive relationships and provide support if they feel unsafe.
- Online safety: Staff are trained to support young people in understanding and managing online risks.
Our keyworkers provide tailored support to help young people reduce risk-taking behaviors, stay safe online, and build healthy relationships.
