Basketball England - The Home of Basketball in England

Updated: June 2024

Definitions of terms used in this document can be found HERE

Introduction

The purpose of this policy is to ensure all of the workforce, voluntary or paid and at all levels are aware of their responsibility to report ALL child-on-child abuse concerns to the Basketball England Safeguarding Team.

[email protected]

Report a Concern

This policy's aims are:

Provide clarity on what is meant by child-on-child abuse in all its forms
Understand the culture within our settings
Evidence how we can all support the young people within our settings
Give young people confidence that they will be supported and informed
Give parents/carers the assurance that the workforce know how to deal with this abuse
Evidence how the safeguarding team handle reports/concerns/disclosure
Inform of the post-incident management process/ongoing support/safety planning

Our workforce

ALL personnel involved with Basketball England should:

Recognise the increasing national concern regarding this issue
Be aware of the level and nature of risk that our young people are or may be exposed to
Understand the important role that they play in the culture of vigilance
Recognise child-on-child abuse of all types
Be confident and competent in responding promptly and appropriately with timely
Challenge of the attitudes and behaviours of child-on-child abuse (both inside and outside the sport of Basketball)
Listen to young people, capture their voice, and help to create a culture in which our children feel able to share their concerns openly, in a non-judgmental environment
Not downplay behaviours and dismiss them as ‘just banter’, ‘having a laugh’ or ‘part of growing up’
Understand that by dismissing unacceptable behaviours it can lead to an unsafe environment for young people and, in worst case scenarios, a culture that normalises abuse leading to young people accepting it as normal and not having the confidence to come forward, speak out and report what has happened to them report and record their concerns following the Basketball England safeguarding referral processes
Understand that even if there are no reports of this type of abuse that it ‘does happen here’
Recognise and understand that young people who harm others, may have additional or complex needs of their own, e.g. significant disruption in their own lives, exposure to domestic abuse, neglect, witnessing/ suffering abuse as well as educational under-achievement and possibly an involvement in criminal activity and therefore they too, will need support
Encourage parents to communicate with us so that we can work together to ensure and enable a prompt and appropriate response to any type of child-on-child abuse
Know that putting a stop to child-on-child abuse of any type and ensuring the safety of our young people is a priority in our settings
Regard this policy as a positive, proactive, and preventative measure

Our young people

ALL children are at risk of child-on-child abuse, but some groups are more vulnerable than others to abuse and include the following:

A child with additional needs and disabilities
A child living with domestic abuse
A child who is at risk of/suffering significant harm
child who is at risk of/or has been exploited or at risk of being exploited, criminally/sexually
A looked-after child
A child who goes missing
Children who identify as or are perceived as LGBTQI+
Children from ethnically diverse communities
Children from low socio-economic backgrounds

Research tells us that girls are more frequently identified as being abused by other children and more likely to experience unwanted sexual touching, sexual violence and/or sexual harassment. They can be exploited into gangs and are victims of sexual violence when in those gangs. However, we are aware that these are behaviours not just confined to girls.

Boys are less likely to report intimate relationship abuse and may display other behaviour such as anti-social/criminal behaviours. Boys are more likely to be exploited /entrapped into gangs and subject to violence because of gang culture.

At Basketball England we encourage our young people to talk to us and tell us when they are worried and what they are worried about, be it about themselves or another child. We are confident that our children know:

Who to speak to and/or where to go for support
That they will be listened to, taken seriously and not dismissed
That they will receive the right help at the right time
That they will receive ongoing support
That they will be supported to feel safe in the sport
That they will be supported to continue to access their sport

We also inform our children that there are other ways to report worries and concerns and/or abuse if they are worried about themselves or other children and for whatever reason don’t feel that they can speak to staff in Basketball England. For example:

NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or by emailing [email protected]. Get Support | Childline

At Basketball England we educate and empower our young people to be informed and understand that they have a voice and how to use it. Useful resources include the below video that can help both workforce and children understand what this can look and feel like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOwmLMnZwi4

Child on child abuse - what is it?

Child on child abuse is any form of physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse using coercion/power and/or control by an individual young person or group of young people and is exercised between young people and within their relationships (both intimate and nonintimate).

All personnel in our settings recognise that young people can abuse their peers and are aware of the different forms that these safeguarding issues take:

Bullying-emotional/physical so repeated behaviour which is intended to hurt someone either emotionally or physically (hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hairpulling, or otherwise causing physical harm)
Online/Cyber bullying
Prejudiced relating bullying
Sexual
Sexual Harassment
Sexually Harmful behaviour
Sexting sharing of nude or indecent (youth produced sexual imagery)
Abuse in intimate relationships, including teenage relationship abuse
Initiation/hazing type violence and rituals.
Hate crime
Child Criminal Exploitation
Gang association and serious violence - County Lines
Radicalisation
This abuse can be motivated by perceived differences. e.g. on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other differences and result in significant, long lasting, and traumatic isolation, intimidation, and/or violence to the victim.

All instances of child-on-child abuse should be recorded and parents/carers informed of such incidents.

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behaviour among young people that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behaviour is repeated or has the potential to be repeated over time. Young people who are bullied and/or who bully others may have serious and lasting problems.

To be considered bullying, the behaviour must be aggressive and include the following:

An imbalance of power such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity to control or harm others. These imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people
Repetition as these behaviours happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once
Actions such as making threats, spreading rumours, attacking someone physically or verbally or for a particular reason, e.g. size, hair colour, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender
Identity and excluding someone from a group on purpose
Online bullying is the use of technology (social networking, messaging, text messages, e-mail, chat rooms, etc.) to harass, threaten or intimidate someone for the same reasons as stated above.

It can take many forms and this list is not exhaustive:

Abusive or threatening texts, emails, or messages
Posting abusive comments on social media sites
Sharing humiliating videos or photos of someone else
Stealing someone’s online identity
Spreading rumours online
Trolling-sending menacing or upsetting messages through social networks, chat rooms or games
Developing hate sites about another person
Prank calls or messages
Group bullying or exclusion online
Anonymous messaging
Encouraging a young person to self-harm
Pressuring children to send sexual messages or engaging insexual conversations.

See link for further information - Help! I’ve been asked to send a nude! | Childline

See also the Basketball England Anti-Bullying Charter for further information.

Prejudiced-related bullying

This refers to a range of hurtful behaviour, physical or emotional or both, which causes someone to feel powerless, worthless, excluded or marginalised, and which is connected with prejudices around belonging, identity and equality in wider society, e.g. disabilities and special educational needs, ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, gender, home life (for example in relation to issues of care, parental occupation, poverty and social class) and sexual identity. All cases of prejudiced related bullying should be referred to the Basketball England Safeguarding Team.

Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment and Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB)

Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment and Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) can occur between two children of any age and sex or with groups of children by sexually assaulting or sexually harassing a single child or group of children.

We recognise that this behaviour can take place any setting where children are together and that the impact of this behaviour on children can be extremely distressing, impacting on their emotional health and wellbeing as well as affecting their achievements overall.

Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment must be referred immediately to the Safeguarding Team at Basketball England.

Sexual violence

For this policy we are referring to sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as described below:

Rape: A person (A) commits an offence of rape if: he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis, B does not consent to the penetration and A does not reasonably believe that B consents
Assault by Penetration: A person (A) commits an offence if: s/he intentionally penetrates the vagina or anus of another person (B) with a part of her/his body or anything else, the penetration is sexual, B does not consent to the penetration and A does not reasonably believe that B consents
Sexual Assault: A person (A) commits an offence of sexual assault if: s/he intentionally touches another person (B), the touching is sexual, B does not consent to the touching and A does not reasonably believe that B consents

Sexual harassment

For this policy we mean ‘unwanted conduct of a sexual nature’ that can occur online and offline.

We refer to this in the context of young person on young person sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is likely to violate a young person's dignity, and/or make them feel intimidated, degraded or humiliated and/or create a hostile, offensive or sexualised environment. Whilst not intended to be an exhaustive list, sexual harassment can include:

Sexual comments, such as: telling sexual stories, making lewd comments, making sexual remarks about clothes and appearance, and calling someone sexualised names
Sexual 'jokes' or taunting
Physical behaviour, such as deliberately brushing against someone, interfering with someone’s clothes and displaying pictures, photos, or drawings of a sexual nature; and
Online sexual harassment, which might include non-consensual sharing of sexual images and videos and sharing sexual images and videos (both often referred to as sexting);
Sexualised online bullying and inappropriate sexual comments on social media; exploitation; coercion and threats

Online sexual harassment may be standalone, or part of a wider pattern of sexual harassment and/or sexual violence.

Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB)

In this policy we recognise the importance of distinguishing between healthy, problematic, and sexually harmful behaviour. Sexually harmful behaviour from young people is not always contrived or with the intent to harm others. There may be many reasons why a young person engages in sexually harmful behaviour, and it may be just as distressing to the young person who instigates it as to the young person it is intended towards. It may include:

Inappropriate sexual language
Inappropriate role play
Sexual touching
Sexual assault/abuse
Harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) or peer-on-peer sexual abuse | NSPCC Learning

Consent

This is when someone agrees by choice and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice. It is important to note that:

A child under the age of 13 can never consent to any sexual activity
The age of consent is 16
Sexual intercourse without consent is rape

Sexting

The sharing of nude or indecent imagery (youth produced sexual imagery). The term ‘sexting’ relates to the sending of indecent images, videos and/or written messages with sexually explicit content; these are created and sent electronically. They are often ‘shared’ via social networking sites and instant messaging services. These images may have been because of up-skirting.

Particular attention should be given to ensuring that children are educated not to use devices in areas such as changing rooms.

Initiation/hazing

Hazing is a form of initiation ceremony which is used to induct newcomers into an organisation such as sports teams, etc. There are several different forms, from relatively mild rituals to severe and sometimes violent ceremonies. The ceremony welcomes newcomers by subjecting them to a series of trials which promote a bond between them. After the hazing is over, the newcomers also have something in common with older members of the organisation, because they all experienced it as part of a rite passage. Many rituals involve humiliation, embarrassment, abuse, and harassment.

Teenage relationship abuse

Teenage relationship abuse is a pattern of actual or threatened acts of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, perpetrated by an adolescent (between the ages of 13 and 18) against a current or former partner. Abuse may include insults, coercion, social sabotage, sexual harassment, threats and/or acts of physical or sexual abuse. The abusive teen uses this pattern of violent and coercive behaviour, in a heterosexual or same gender relationship, to gain power and maintain control over the partner. This abuse may be child sexual exploitation.

Hate crime

Hate crimes happen because of race, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, and disability.

They can happen anywhere, home, school and in the community and can be frightening for both victim and witnesses and is an offence. Hate crimes can include:

Physical attacks - physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, neighbour disputes and arson
Threat of attack - offensive letters or emails, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate you and unfounded, malicious complaints
Verbal abuse or insults - harassment over the phone, by text or face to face, abusive gestures,and remarks, bullying and threats

Indicators that a young person may be suffering from Child-on-Child Abuse

Indicators and signs that a young person may be suffering from child-on-child abuse can also overlap with those indicating other types of abuse and can include:

Failing to attend school, other activities such as clubs
Physical injuries
Experiencing difficulties with mental health and/or emotional wellbeing
Becoming withdrawn and/or shy; experiencing headaches, stomach aches, anxiety and/or panic attacks; suffering from nightmares or lack of sleep or sleeping too much
Broader changes in behaviour including alcohol or substance misuse
Changes in appearance and/or starting to act in a way that is not appropriate for the young person's age
Problematic or harmful behaviours that are not typical for that stage or age of development
Abuse affects our young people and their presenting behaviours in different ways and the list above is not exhaustive. Young people who present with one or more of these signs are not necessarily victims of abuse and their behaviour will depend on their individual circumstances.

ALL of the workforce should remain alert to behaviour that may cause concern and think about what the behaviour might signify. We actively encourage young people to share with us any underlying reasons for their behaviour, and, where appropriate, to engage with their parents/carers so that the cause(s) of their behaviour can be investigated and understood with the appropriate support in place.

Responding to a concern/incident/disclosure of Child-on-Child Abuse

Child on child abuse may occur in our sports settings, on the way to or from our settings or out in the community. Consideration will be given to many aspects of the abuse and here are a few examples:

Does it involve a single incident, or has it occurred over time?
Is the behaviour problematic and concerning?
Does it involve any overt elements of victimisation or discrimination, e.g. related to race, gender, sexual orientation, physical, emotional, or intellectual vulnerability?
Is there any element of coercion or pre-planning?
Does it involve a power imbalance between the young person/people allegedly responsible
for the behaviour and the young person/people allegedly the subject ofthat power?
Has there been a misuse of power?

It is also important that we:

Ascertain if there were there any witnesses to the abuse
Make notes and record ALL conversations securely with young people spoken to as well as parents/carers/other professionals, including any actions taken
Treat all young people involved as being at potential risk - while the young person allegedly responsible for the abuse may pose a significant risk of harm to other young people, s/he may also have considerable unmet needs and be at risk of harm themselves
Ensure that a safeguarding response is in place for both victim and alleged perpetrator. It is important that all understand that perpetrators also require help and support

Consideration should also be given to supporting young people who have witnessed child abuse of any kind. This is likely to be traumatic and support may be required. We will signpost to agencies and support services available where needed.

We will do all that we can to ensure both the victim and alleged perpetrator, and any witnesses, are not being bullied or harassed following this. Social media is likely to play a part in the fall out from any incident and friends from either side could well harass the victim or alleged perpetrator online as well as face to face.

Responding to all reports and concern of Sexual Violence and/or Sexual Harassment between young people

For the avoidance of doubt all concerns relating to child-on-child abuse must be referred to the Basketball England Safeguarding Team; however, we recognise complexity and challenges that we face following the report of this particular type of abuse.

The Basketball England Safeguarding Team will take the lead role when dealing with this type of abuse using their professional judgement and working together practices. Reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment are likely to be complex and require difficult professional decisions to be made, often quickly and under pressure and it is important to maintain a calm, considered and appropriate response to any reports.

We understand that it is not easy for children to tell us about this type of abuse and they may struggle to make a direct verbal report.

We understand the importance of our initial response to a report and how this can encourage or undermine the confidence of future victims of sexual violence and sexual harassment. The culture in our setting is key to this.

On occasions the victim may not wish for their identity to be known and there are no easy or definitive answers when this is requested. If the victim does not give consent to share information, we may still lawfully share it, if it can be justified to be in the public interest. For example, to protect children from harm and to promote the welfare of children.

The Safeguarding Team will consider the following:

The wishes of the victim in terms of how they want to proceed
The victim(s) should be given as much control as is reasonably possible over decisions regarding how any investigation will be progressed and any supportthat they will be offered
We will balance this aspect and the need to balance our duty and responsibility to protect other young people
The nature of the alleged incident(s) including might a crime have been committed and consideration of any display of harmful sexual behaviour
The ages of the young people involved
The developmental stages of the young people involved
Any power imbalance between the young people (e.g. Is the alleged perpetrator significantly older? Does the victim have a disability or learning difficulty?)
If the alleged incident is a one off or a sustained pattern of abuse (thesustained pattern of abuse may not just be of a sexual nature)
That sexual violence and sexual harassment can take place within intimate personal relationships between peers
Whether there are ongoing risks to the victim, other young people or other personnel/players
Other related issues and wider context, including links to any forms of child exploitation
When we talk about Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment between young people, we will refer to ‘victim’ and ‘alleged perpetrator’. This does not mean that we are taking sides nor making any judgement, but for the purpose of this policy we will refer to young people involved in this way.

Victim - When we speak to the ‘victim’ we will:

Listen and take any disclosure seriously
Never make them feel that they are creating a problem or be ashamed
Reassure them that they will be kept safe
Handle the situation with sensitivity
Use proper names for body parts but record exactly any language or vocabulary used by the young person
Ask open questions and not lead the victim
Ascertain where the abuse occurred as this may highlight ‘hot spots’ or vulnerable locations
In our setting or within the community which may need to be revisited by either ourselves or by alerting police/partners if it is in the community
Ascertain if other young people witnessed this abuse
Consider ongoing support within our setting
Consider any referrals for external support

Let children know you’re listening | NSPCC Learning

Parents or carers of the victim will be informed (unless this would put the victim at greater risk).

Rape, assault by penetration and sexual assaults are crimes and Safeguarding Team will have to balance the victim’s wishes against their duty to protect the victim and other young people within the setting. If we do decide to make a referral to children’s social care and/or a report to the police against the victim’s wishes, this will be handled extremely carefully, the reasons will in most cases be explained to the victim and appropriate specialist support offered. We will also consider the following:

The wishes of the victim in terms of how they want to proceed
That the victim(s) should be given as much control as is reasonably possible over decisions regarding how any investigation will be progressed and any support that they will be offered. (We will balance this aspect and the need to balance our duty and responsibility to protect other young people)
The nature of the alleged incident(s) including might a crime have been committed and consideration of any display of harmful sexual behaviour.
The ages of the young people involved
The developmental stages of the young people involved
Any power imbalance between the young people (e.g. is the alleged perpetrator significantly older? Does the victim have a disability or learning difficulty?)
If the alleged incident is a one off or a sustained pattern of abuse (the sustained pattern of abuse may not just be of a sexual nature)
That sexual violence and sexual harassment can take place within intimate personal relationships between peers
Are there ongoing risks to the victim, other young people or other personnel/players?
Other related issues and wider context, including links to any forms of child exploitation
We will give all the necessary support for the victim to remain in the sporting setting

Alleged perpetrator - When we speak to the ‘alleged perpetrator’ we will:

Listen to what they say and not dismiss their account
Handle the situation with sensitivity and a non-judgmental approach
Offer ongoing support
Record all conversations and all action taken
Consider any referrals for external support, e.g. Youth Offending Service

When to inform the alleged pe

Basketball England Child-on-Child Abuse Policy