No orthumbria a Mountaineering Club C Participation of Under-18’s U s in Club Activities A Thiss policy is based b on the e BMC guid delines date ed October 2006 2 which h notes that Chilld Protection is a rapidly changing g subject an nd that the in nformation given there ein mayy change. The T same caveat c appliies to this policy.
1. General G In ntroductio on It is welll understoo od that indivviduals involved in provviding sport and recreatiional activities for child dren have a duty of carre. This mea ans all reasona able steps should s be ta aken to min nimise risk of o harm or in njury. When considering c under-18s it is importa ant to make e clear preciisely who ha as the dutyy of care forr each child d and when that duty off care is han nded from one o person to another. A parent accompany a ing their child usually h has the duty y of care forr their own child. c Howe ever, a pare ent may, witth agreeme ent, pass tha at duty to another person, or ind deed to anotther body such as a clu ub. Once th his has bee en agreed and a the child d is handed d to, or left in the care o of, another person the duty of care also passes p to th hat person.
2. Loco Pare entis A paren nt may give consent to anyone the ey wish to ta ake their ch hild climbing g, hill walkking or mou untaineering g. This is an n arrangem ment betwee en the paren nt and the e person takking the chilld. The perrson taking the t child will be in loco o parentiss and this re equires them m to exercis se a duty off care that w would be provide ed by a reassonably prud dent parentt. When ta aking anoth her person’ss child climb bing, hill wa alking or mo ountaineerin ng it is wise to inform bo oth the pare ent and child about the e nature of tthe activities s to be unde ertaken and d any arrang gements so o they can decide d whetther they are e happy with w these or o decline th he offer if th hey are not.
3. NMC Polic cy Under-18s may join th he club and attend mee ets provided d (a) The ey are acco ompanied byy their parent who is a member off the club Or (b) The ey are acco ompanied byy an adult member m of the t club who is in loco parrentis for the e specific child In n case (b), the t parent of o the child should have a proper understand u ing of the activities to be a b undertakken. A decllaration to th hat effect siigned by bo oth the mem mber a the pare and ent should be b lodged with w the club b secretary before b the cchild attends a club meet. In the even nt that more e than one club c membe er is to act iin loco pare entis fo or the same e child, sepa arate forms should be submitted for f each me ember.
15th Augustt 2007
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