Online Events for Children & Young People
This page explains how we keep children and young people safe during online events, and what parents and carers can do to help.
Organising the Event
All CLAPA staff and volunteers running online events for children and young people have completed child protection training and are trained in how to safeguard children and young people from harm.
To reduce online risks as much as possible, CLAPA staff leading an event will carry out a thorough risk assessment of each activity. In particular, we will think about how to cover ground rules with the group and make sure everyone understands appropriate behaviours and what to do if they are worried about something or someone. We will also think carefully about staff and volunteer supervision of online break out rooms.
Sign Up
It is important that we have parental or carer consent for young people under the age of 18 to take part in our events. This is why we ask particular questions in our signup form.
Recording the event – this is to keep all young people, staff and volunteers to safe. Keeping a record of the conversations taking place online allows us to refer back to this if there are any concerns during or after the event. Recordings will be stored securely for six months and deleted thereafter. The recording will not be used in any other way.
Under 18s: we need consent to take part from a parent/carer of all under 18s. For 13-18 year olds, a parent or carer does not need to be present during online events as long as we have prior, written consent.
Under 13s: as well as written consent to take part, we also need further confirmation that a parent/carer is aware that their under 13 is joining us for an online event. This is because under 13s cannot give their consent to take part in the eyes of the law, so we need to see a parent/carer on screen at the beginning of the event. A parent/carer must ‘drop the young person off’ on screen and then must stay within the home for the entire event.
Joining the Event
Under 13s: If a parent/carer is not able to ‘drop off’ their under 13-year-old. They unfortunately will not be able to take part. This is for legal reasons and is a safeguarding measure to keep under 13’s safe online.
During the Event
All CLAPA staff and volunteers are trained in CLAPA’s safeguarding processes and how to deal with a concern about a young person, which may occur during an online event.
Concerns would be passed to the event lead (a CLAPA staff member) and dealt with appropriately. Depending on the level of concern, this will either involve a private follow up conversation with the young person at the end of the event or, if the concern is immediate, a private conversation during the event in a different online room. Appropriate action would then be taken and concerns would be shared with CLAPA’s safeguarding team to decide on next steps.