Back in the February half term, two 13-year-olds were turned away from Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The reason given was that they might be “at risk”.
“We did receive a complaint from a parent who was unhappy that two 13-year-old children were unable to visit the museum alone,” said Stephen Hassall, the chief executive at Salford Community Leisure, which runs the museum on behalf of Salford City Council.
“Our current Child Protection Policy means we ask that children under 16 are accompanied by an adult for their own safety.”
He adds that this is not unusual, with similar policies operating across other venues in Greater Manchester.
Hassall says Salford, which has a long history of working with children, is now reviewing its policies.
“We welcome up to 100,000 visitors every year. We have been part of Greater Manchester’s Family Friendly Campaigns for more than a decade and endorse the Kids in Museums manifesto, which intends to ensure safe learning environments for children and their families.”
Museums and galleries are caught in a bind, wanting to welcome more diverse visitors, but needing to ensure they can protect them (and their own staff).
With the summer holidays looming, council cutbacks and changes in legislation, it’s important for museums and galleries to check their policies and procedures, and ensure that staff know what their obligations are.
“For cultural venues that are part of a local authority or larger organisation, safeguarding children may feel more straightforward because the policies and procedures should already in place,” says Simon Massey, the head of the Safe Network, a joint partnership between the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Children England and the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
The organisation provides safeguarding advice and support to the voluntary and community sector in England related to children’s activities.
It can be a complex subject. “There are a lot of grey areas, and this can make it more of a challenge, but it’s crucial not to avoid the issue,” says Massey.
Core areas that need to be covered, says Massey, include children’s safeguarding policy and procedures and an understanding of why these are needed, what to look out for and what to do if there is an issue or concern.
“This should extend to a safer recruitment and selection policy for paid staff and volunteers, and codes of behaviour and conduct for staff, volunteers and potentially for anyone else using the service,” Massey says.
“Depending on the size of your organisation, you may also want to have disciplinary/grievance policy and procedures; a whistle-blowing policy and a use of photography/imagery policy.”
Specialist training
A couple of museums have suffered extreme incidents: a man with mental health problems fell to his death from the fourth-floor terrace at New Art Gallery Walsall in 2005; and the following year, Liverpool’s World Museum was the site of a fatal stabbing followed by a suicide.
But most situations are more mundane, such as a harassed mother shouting at her children, suspected shoplifting, or people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“It’s about awareness of different behaviours and matching that with appropriate responses,” says Mary Kenny, the training and development manager at National Museums Liverpool (NML).
“With library closures, for example, we have found more vulnerable people coming into our spaces and we want to ensure our staff know how to approach people, and to treat them with dignity and respect.
“We want staff to understand that they are not expected to deal with difficult situations themselves, but to tell the appropriate person,” Kenny continues.
“Of course it’s the right thing to do, to hold the hand of a lost child in a public space, or to take a confused elderly man into the cafe while staff try to locate his carers. These are the worries and conversations we have, and it’s also about protecting our own staff, who may be young themselves, and making sure that nothing is misconstrued.”
NML offers training and has regular reviews of policies where issues that have cropped up are discussed. There are nominated safeguarding champions who can provide support and also link into the relevant authorities. Anyone appearing to be under 11 years would be welcomed, for example, but would trigger the “found child” or “truancy” procedures.
However, policy and practice don’t always gel, says Dea Birkett, the director of Kids in Museums, which is conducting a report into how accessible teenagers find cultural venues, and what policies they have.
“Some have excellent polices that are put into place,” she says. “Some have excellent policies that aren’t put into place. Some have rather rigid policies that we wouldn’t consider to work well, and some have no policies at all.”
This last category sees it as a legal or compliance issue, says Birkett. “But it’s not true that the law prevents teenagers coming into museums.
“It’s a lack of confidence rather than bad practice,” continues Birkett. “If the front-of-house staff are employed by a security agency, they see their prime role as protecting the building and objects. It’s about empowering staff with the confidence to see a hoodie and say, ‘Oh good’ rather than ‘Oh dear’.”
Striking a balance
Wolverhampton Art Gallery seems to have the balance right. Squishy sofas, coloured lighting and pop art entice teenagers, particularly on Saturday afternoons.
“For us, it’s more a case of unaccompanied adults being turned away,” says Jennifer Ridding, facilitator for the gallery’s youth programme.
“We are a local authority-run gallery in the city centre, and it was a deliberate strategy to encourage young people to come into the gallery independently,” explains Ridding.
“We set up an Art Forum for 14-25 year olds, and our pop art gallery was designed with their input and this now has a reputation for being their space.”
Younger children have the confidence to come into the gallery too, especially those who have been with a school party. “We bear our reputation in mind when recruiting staff. They need to be friendly but also firm,” says Janine Perry, a front-of-house officer.
The gallery is also part of a Wolver-hampton City Council scheme to protect vulnerable adults. “We have bright red and yellow signs saying we are a safe place, and we are known as a friendly space in the city centre,” adds Perry.
Most museums, however, bracket children, young people and the vulnerable and elderly together in their policies, which are often slanted towards the protection of children.
Matthew Larkinson, the creative gardening project officer at the Geffrye Museum, London, rewrote the museum’s policy when he started the Geffrye’s gardening project for vulnerable older people.
“There is no one piece of legislation that sets out the responsibilities about protecting vulnerable people outside the home and our existing policy did not cover tasks such as taking someone to the loo. Our project is aimed at older people with mid- to late-stage dementia and stroke survivors with limited speech and mobility.”
The Geffrye project is unusual in that it provides transport, picking people up from their homes and returning them afterwards. So everything from arranging assistance, because museum staff are not legally allowed to go into people’s homes, to training the artists and gardeners contracted for the project in moving and handling, right down to details such as providing raised planting tables for people in wheelchairs, had to be considered and written into the new policy.
“We’ve created a miniature social service in effect,” says Larkinson. “It was a massive task, but it’s been worth it. We have a 1:2 ratio of support staff to participants and success beyond what we’d hoped for.”
“Not rocket science”
Hospitality and sensitivity provide the key to formal and informal ways of protecting people in museum settings, whether children or the elderly.
“It’s not rocket science,” says Gillian Wolfe, the director of learning and public affairs at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, which runs Prescription for Art, a project where the museum has teamed up with local doctors’ surgeries to reach out to older people.
“We try to make the gallery like a private home, so we always greet older people at the door. For the taught sessions, we give refreshments, always including fresh fruit because we know a lot of older people skimp, and we have proper china teacups.
“Most museums give people stools to sit on, which aren’t suitable for older or disabled people,” Wolfe continues. “We spent 18 months searching for chairs that were comfortable to sit on for two hours. We allow people to drive right up to the back door and there are no steps.”
For younger visitors, the Kids in Museums report will present common-sense guidelines on how to address the issue of teenagers in museums. Birkett says: “Museums could be at the forefront of an alternative national conversation about teenagers. But they can’t do that if they are not letting them in.”
Deborah Mulhearn is a freelance journalist
Museums and galleries need to stay up-to-date with legislation and guidance and how they may affect them.
This year there is a new version of the Department for Education’s Working Together to Safeguard Children and the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act, which brings changes to recruitment processes, including a new Disclosure & Barring Service to replace the Independent Safeguarding Authority and Criminal Records Bureau.
More information on the Working Together document, the Protection of Freedoms Act and the Disclosure & Barring Service can be found at:
Department for Education
Home Office
Independent Safeguarding Authority
Criminal Records Bureau
Safe Network: provides up-to-date information, a toolkit to help groups write their own policies and a self-assessment Standards resource.
NSPCC: offers a wide range of information about child safeguarding legislation, research, policies, procedures and resources.
Arts Council England: worked with the NSPCC to produce its Keeping Arts Safe document.
Charity Commission: released its Strategy for Dealing with Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults in Charities in April.
Local Safeguarding Children Boards are a source of local support and advice.
“We did receive a complaint from a parent who was unhappy that two 13-year-old children were unable to visit the museum alone,” said Stephen Hassall, the chief executive at Salford Community Leisure, which runs the museum on behalf of Salford City Council.
“Our current Child Protection Policy means we ask that children under 16 are accompanied by an adult for their own safety.”
He adds that this is not unusual, with similar policies operating across other venues in Greater Manchester.
Hassall says Salford, which has a long history of working with children, is now reviewing its policies.
“We welcome up to 100,000 visitors every year. We have been part of Greater Manchester’s Family Friendly Campaigns for more than a decade and endorse the Kids in Museums manifesto, which intends to ensure safe learning environments for children and their families.”
Museums and galleries are caught in a bind, wanting to welcome more diverse visitors, but needing to ensure they can protect them (and their own staff).
With the summer holidays looming, council cutbacks and changes in legislation, it’s important for museums and galleries to check their policies and procedures, and ensure that staff know what their obligations are.
“For cultural venues that are part of a local authority or larger organisation, safeguarding children may feel more straightforward because the policies and procedures should already in place,” says Simon Massey, the head of the Safe Network, a joint partnership between the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Children England and the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
The organisation provides safeguarding advice and support to the voluntary and community sector in England related to children’s activities.
It can be a complex subject. “There are a lot of grey areas, and this can make it more of a challenge, but it’s crucial not to avoid the issue,” says Massey.
Core areas that need to be covered, says Massey, include children’s safeguarding policy and procedures and an understanding of why these are needed, what to look out for and what to do if there is an issue or concern.
“This should extend to a safer recruitment and selection policy for paid staff and volunteers, and codes of behaviour and conduct for staff, volunteers and potentially for anyone else using the service,” Massey says.
“Depending on the size of your organisation, you may also want to have disciplinary/grievance policy and procedures; a whistle-blowing policy and a use of photography/imagery policy.”
Specialist training
A couple of museums have suffered extreme incidents: a man with mental health problems fell to his death from the fourth-floor terrace at New Art Gallery Walsall in 2005; and the following year, Liverpool’s World Museum was the site of a fatal stabbing followed by a suicide.
But most situations are more mundane, such as a harassed mother shouting at her children, suspected shoplifting, or people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“It’s about awareness of different behaviours and matching that with appropriate responses,” says Mary Kenny, the training and development manager at National Museums Liverpool (NML).
“With library closures, for example, we have found more vulnerable people coming into our spaces and we want to ensure our staff know how to approach people, and to treat them with dignity and respect.
“We want staff to understand that they are not expected to deal with difficult situations themselves, but to tell the appropriate person,” Kenny continues.
“Of course it’s the right thing to do, to hold the hand of a lost child in a public space, or to take a confused elderly man into the cafe while staff try to locate his carers. These are the worries and conversations we have, and it’s also about protecting our own staff, who may be young themselves, and making sure that nothing is misconstrued.”
NML offers training and has regular reviews of policies where issues that have cropped up are discussed. There are nominated safeguarding champions who can provide support and also link into the relevant authorities. Anyone appearing to be under 11 years would be welcomed, for example, but would trigger the “found child” or “truancy” procedures.
However, policy and practice don’t always gel, says Dea Birkett, the director of Kids in Museums, which is conducting a report into how accessible teenagers find cultural venues, and what policies they have.
“Some have excellent polices that are put into place,” she says. “Some have excellent policies that aren’t put into place. Some have rather rigid policies that we wouldn’t consider to work well, and some have no policies at all.”
This last category sees it as a legal or compliance issue, says Birkett. “But it’s not true that the law prevents teenagers coming into museums.
“It’s a lack of confidence rather than bad practice,” continues Birkett. “If the front-of-house staff are employed by a security agency, they see their prime role as protecting the building and objects. It’s about empowering staff with the confidence to see a hoodie and say, ‘Oh good’ rather than ‘Oh dear’.”
Striking a balance
Wolverhampton Art Gallery seems to have the balance right. Squishy sofas, coloured lighting and pop art entice teenagers, particularly on Saturday afternoons.
“For us, it’s more a case of unaccompanied adults being turned away,” says Jennifer Ridding, facilitator for the gallery’s youth programme.
“We are a local authority-run gallery in the city centre, and it was a deliberate strategy to encourage young people to come into the gallery independently,” explains Ridding.
“We set up an Art Forum for 14-25 year olds, and our pop art gallery was designed with their input and this now has a reputation for being their space.”
Younger children have the confidence to come into the gallery too, especially those who have been with a school party. “We bear our reputation in mind when recruiting staff. They need to be friendly but also firm,” says Janine Perry, a front-of-house officer.
The gallery is also part of a Wolver-hampton City Council scheme to protect vulnerable adults. “We have bright red and yellow signs saying we are a safe place, and we are known as a friendly space in the city centre,” adds Perry.
Most museums, however, bracket children, young people and the vulnerable and elderly together in their policies, which are often slanted towards the protection of children.
Matthew Larkinson, the creative gardening project officer at the Geffrye Museum, London, rewrote the museum’s policy when he started the Geffrye’s gardening project for vulnerable older people.
“There is no one piece of legislation that sets out the responsibilities about protecting vulnerable people outside the home and our existing policy did not cover tasks such as taking someone to the loo. Our project is aimed at older people with mid- to late-stage dementia and stroke survivors with limited speech and mobility.”
The Geffrye project is unusual in that it provides transport, picking people up from their homes and returning them afterwards. So everything from arranging assistance, because museum staff are not legally allowed to go into people’s homes, to training the artists and gardeners contracted for the project in moving and handling, right down to details such as providing raised planting tables for people in wheelchairs, had to be considered and written into the new policy.
“We’ve created a miniature social service in effect,” says Larkinson. “It was a massive task, but it’s been worth it. We have a 1:2 ratio of support staff to participants and success beyond what we’d hoped for.”
“Not rocket science”
Hospitality and sensitivity provide the key to formal and informal ways of protecting people in museum settings, whether children or the elderly.
“It’s not rocket science,” says Gillian Wolfe, the director of learning and public affairs at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, which runs Prescription for Art, a project where the museum has teamed up with local doctors’ surgeries to reach out to older people.
“We try to make the gallery like a private home, so we always greet older people at the door. For the taught sessions, we give refreshments, always including fresh fruit because we know a lot of older people skimp, and we have proper china teacups.
“Most museums give people stools to sit on, which aren’t suitable for older or disabled people,” Wolfe continues. “We spent 18 months searching for chairs that were comfortable to sit on for two hours. We allow people to drive right up to the back door and there are no steps.”
For younger visitors, the Kids in Museums report will present common-sense guidelines on how to address the issue of teenagers in museums. Birkett says: “Museums could be at the forefront of an alternative national conversation about teenagers. But they can’t do that if they are not letting them in.”
Deborah Mulhearn is a freelance journalist
In loco parentis: childcare for museums and galleries
Museums and galleries need to stay up-to-date with legislation and guidance and how they may affect them.
This year there is a new version of the Department for Education’s Working Together to Safeguard Children and the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act, which brings changes to recruitment processes, including a new Disclosure & Barring Service to replace the Independent Safeguarding Authority and Criminal Records Bureau.
More information on the Working Together document, the Protection of Freedoms Act and the Disclosure & Barring Service can be found at:
Department for Education
Home Office
Independent Safeguarding Authority
Criminal Records Bureau
Sources of support
Safe Network: provides up-to-date information, a toolkit to help groups write their own policies and a self-assessment Standards resource.
NSPCC: offers a wide range of information about child safeguarding legislation, research, policies, procedures and resources.
Arts Council England: worked with the NSPCC to produce its Keeping Arts Safe document.
Charity Commission: released its Strategy for Dealing with Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults in Charities in April.
Local Safeguarding Children Boards are a source of local support and advice.
