Bubble is a community built on trust. It’s a great place for sitters to find flexible and rewarding work, and it’s a great place for parents to find childcare. We are committed to supporting our users and are proud to say that Bubble has a positive impact on both sitters and parents.
That said, we recognise that from time to time there can be challenges. It’s extremely important to us that sitters know what to do in these situations.
Safeguarding
Every child has the right to protection and safety. No child should grow up at risk from harm, mistreatment or abuse, so it’s essential that sitters are able to identify and act on risks to children in their care. This is what’s known as safeguarding, or the steps taken to promote the welfare and protection of children. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, but it’s particularly important that sitters can recognise signs of potential danger.
The NSPCC defines safeguarding as:
protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
preventing harm to children’s health or development
Ensuring that children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care.
taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
If you are concerned about the welfare of a child, the appropriate response may involve contacting child protective or emergency services.
If you believe a child is in imminent danger of harm, we would advise contacting the emergency services. The police can investigate any possible criminal offenses. You can also contact the NSPCC on 08088005000.
Contacting Social Services
If you are concerned about the welfare of a child, you should contact the local authority “Children’s Services” or “Social Services” via MASH teams (multi-agency safeguarding hubs). Although our customer success team can support you in this process, it is important that you make the referral as it enables the provision of detailed information. This means that MASH can triage the referral and make a decision on how to respond to the safeguarding matter.
To find the relevant mash team, google search 'report a child safeguarding concern ......[insert name of London borough where the child resides]' or MASH for [name of London Borough]. This will then provide the relevant contact details.
Our customer success team can also support you or direct you to the right place.
For more information, we would recommend consulting the NSPCC website:
They also offer safeguarding courses. For more information, please click here.