Find out how to let us know if you're concerned about another member's safety.
Are you concerned about another member?
Concerned about the safety or wellbeing of another member?
You can raise your concerns with us by flagging the post, or emailing the community inbox to let us know at [email protected]. We will receive these and escalate the concern according to our internal safeguarding processes.Flagging a post
- To flag a post, scroll down to the bottom of a comment.
- Select 'Flag', then select 'Report'.
- The system will create a preview of the comment you're reporting. Scroll down and there is a free text box to enter your reason for reporting the comment.
- It's useful if you're able to explain why you're concerned.
- When you're done, select 'Send Report'.
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What is a safeguarding concern?
We have prepared the attached resource that outlines criteria that could indicate a safeguarding concern.
Please note, this resource isn't exhaustive and only covers the main examples we might see on the community, and the content of the document may be unsettling for some to read.
Online Community CoordinatorConcerned about another member's safety or wellbeing? Flag your concerns with us.
Did you receive a helpful reply to your discussion? Fill out our feedback form and let us know about it. -
What is a safeguarding concern?
We have prepared the below resource that outlines criteria that could indicate a safeguarding concern.
Please note, this resource isn't exhaustive and only covers the main examples we might see on the community, and the content of the post may be unsettling for some to read.Keeping our members safe
On our online community, Scope prioritises keeping our members safe above everything else.
You may be wondering how safeguarding and the processes surrounding it relate to the online community. With that in mind, we’ve created this brief guide to help explain what we consider to be a potential safeguarding concern and what to do if you’re concerned about someone.
Risk threshold
Unlike in other settings, where you can perhaps rely on body language, demeanour, tone of voice, and broader knowledge of a person’s circumstances, the online community team must often determine risk through only a limited text sample. As a result, we will always play it safe and treat a concern as a safeguarding concern until we can reasonably guarantee a person’s wellbeing.
A safeguarding concern contains information that indicates a person is a victim of current or historic abuse, or is at risk of harm. The following are types of abuse and harm that can constitute a safeguarding concern, and the online community team will look for these in posts:
Physical
An individual is the victim of physical abuse, this could include things like:
· Punching, slapping or kicking
· Burning or scolding
· Being hit with objects
Domestic
Domestic violence or abuse can be characterised by any of the examples of abuse detailed in this document relating to:
- Psychological or emotional
- physical
- sexual
- financial
Sexual
Sexual abuse is sexual behaviour or a sexual act forced upon a person without their consent.
Types of sexual abuse could include:
· Rape, attempted rape or other forms of sexual assault
· Inappropriate touching
· Any sexual activity that a person lacks the capacity to consent to
· Sexual photography, forced pornography or witnessing of sexual acts
· Sexual harassment
Psychological or emotional
Verywellmind.com defines this as “a way to control another person by using emotions to criticize, embarrass, shame, blame, or otherwise manipulate another person. In general, a relationship is emotionally abusive when there is a consistent pattern of abusive words and bullying behaviours that wear down a person’s self-esteem and undermine their mental health.”
Psychological or emotional abuse can come in the form of:
- Enforced social isolation
- Preventing someone from meeting their religious and cultural needs
- Preventing the expression of choice and opinion
- Failure to respect privacy
- Preventing stimulation, meaningful occupation or activities
- Intimidation, harassment, coercion, use of threats, humiliation, bullying, other forms of verbal abuse
Financial
The Care Act 2014 defines this as a type of abuse which includes having money or other property stolen, being defrauded, being put under pressure in relation to money or other property and having money or other property misused.
Examples could include:
- Theft of money and / or other possessions
- Fraud, scamming
- Preventing somebody from accessing their own money
- Somebody in a position of authority or power misusing somebody else’s finances
Modern slavery
Modern slavery is defined as the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation. It is a crime under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and includes holding a person in a position of slavery, servitude forced or compulsory labour, or facilitating their travel with the intention of exploiting them soon after.
Types of modern slavery could include:
- Human trafficking
- Forced labour
- Domestic servitude
- Sexual exploitation, such as escort work, prostitution and pornography
Discriminatory
This is abuse whereby a person is mistreated for having a protected characteristic, such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
The mistreatment could come in the form of:
- Verbal abuse or derogatory remarks
- Physical abuse
- Denying access to communication aids that may help an individual, such as not allowing access to an interpreter, signer or lip-reader
- Harassment
- Denying access to basic rights such as healthcare, education or employment
Organisational or institutional
This is when an individual is the victim of cultural mistreatment by an organisation or institution, and could include:
- Authoritarian management or regime
- Abusive and disrespectful attitudes towards those accessing a service or interacting with the organisation or institution
- Lack of respect for dignity and privacy
- Not providing adequate care, including food and drink or medication, including misuse of medication
- Failure to respond to complaints, or situations and allegations abuse, appropriately
Self-neglect
This is when an individual refuses to, or has an inability to, care for their own basic needs, and can also include hording.
Examples of self-neglect could include:
· Not showering or taking care of personal hygiene
· Not eating or drinking
· Letting rubbish pile up, not cleaning or maintaining a home
· Not taking medication or other required steps to maintain health
· Refusing to attend basic appointments or access services to meet care needs
Neglect or acts of omission
Ignoring or failing to provide a person’s basic needs in life, or not providing access to appropriate services.
This could come in the form of:
· Preventing somebody from accessing medical needs
· Withholding basic necessities of life, such as food and drink or heating or
· Preventing somebody from accessing care and support
Mental health
A person is struggling to manage or cope with their mental health.
Factors that demonstrate this could be:
· Not receiving or being able to access support
· Being refused support or refusing to get support
· Being impacted by their mental health to an extent where they can’t or don’t carry out basic activities to care for their needs, such as cooking, taking care of personal hygiene, general cleaning or exercise.
· Being impacted by their mental health to an extent where they find it hard to care for a child or other vulnerable adult.
· Self-harming
Suicidal
There are indicators that a person may be feeling suicidal or contemplating suicide.
This could come in the form of:
· A person expressing suicidal thoughts
· A person expressing intentions of suicide, or disclosing details of a plan
· Disclosing a previous suicide attempt
Reporting concerns
If you spot something that concerns you, please flag and report a post directly through the online community. To flag and report a post, you must navigate to the bottom of a community post that you want to report, select Flag and then select Report.
This will open the Report Discussion window. Scroll down to the field labelled Reason, enter your reason for reporting the discussion, e.g. why you’re concerned, then select Send Report.
When this report is sent, a member of the community team will view the report and follow our internal safeguarding processes to ensure the person’s wellbeing.
Note: we will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of the concern, but we cannot guarantee updates on its progress or outcome.
Online Community CoordinatorConcerned about another member's safety or wellbeing? Flag your concerns with us.
Did you receive a helpful reply to your discussion? Fill out our feedback form and let us know about it.
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