The Additional Needs Alliance [ANA] is a movement, not an organisation.
It exists as a group only within the virtual confines of the Facebook group.
All of us who serve the ANA also work for other organisations where we have good and effective safeguarding policies in place.
We also have good accountability structures.
Where we work for another organisation as an invited speaker or team member, we work under the child protection policies of those organisations.
We all take safeguarding seriously and want to be accountable and open to all of those connected to the ANA Facebook group.
We also want to encourage members to be part of keeping the group a safe place and make contact with the admins if they see anything of concern from any other members in the group.
If anyone has concerns about the admins, or more specifically Kay or Mark, you can raise them with those listed as part of our accountability structures (Listed at the end of this statement).
Kay has joined Christian Safeguarding Services on behalf of the ANA, and as such we would also be happy for those with concerns to contact them, especially if they feel uncomfortable contacting our existing accountability teams.
Kay’s accountability structure can be found here: https://www.theponderingplatypus.com/safeguarding-statement
Mark’s accountability structure sits within Urban Saints and you can find who to contact here: https://www.urbansaints.org/area/safeguarding
If you are concerned about any of our other admins, you can contact Kay, initially via her contact page here: https://www.theponderingplatypus.com/contact.
Any feedback or allegations will be taken seriously, and if you feel they are not, you are more than welcome to contact Christian Safeguarding Services.
Kay Morgan-Gurr, Co-founder of the Additional Needs Alliance, on behalf of the core team and admins
Facebook Group Rules
We are now 11 years old and have grown hugely over that time.
High numbers combined with the vulnerability of some members of the group means we feel it is now time to have group rules in place.
This is so we can keep everyone safe within the group.
What we already have in place:
- The group is set to private.
- We insist on people answering questions to get into the group as our first step in safeguarding those within it. This has already worked to keep out those who may not be safe people in this environment.
- We do not allow anonymous posts so we can track all input into the group. However, we give the option to contact Mark or Kay to post on behalf of any member if they feel the need to remain anonymous to other group members.
- We have stated that we deliberately made this a closed group to protect people, but cannot guarantee that someone in such a large group won’t recognise who individuals are. Therefore, we advised care in what people post – especially if asking specific questions on care in their context. We suggested: “Keep things short and anonymous such as “A child/my child is struggling with …..what do others in the group do?”. We also advised to not give lists of symptoms.
The new rules will be:
- Respect privacy: What goes into the group, stays in the group. [If you spot anything shared that shouldn’t be – report to the admins so we can deal with it].
- Don’t message other members unless you ask permission publicly. No means no, not maybe. [We ask that members report those who break this rule].
- Do not block the Admins.
- Respect copyright: If you have gained permission to share something from the group, always attribute the contents correctly.
- If helpful links are shared in the group, they can be shared from the original website/link – but without the comments of the person sharing it into the group. If you share a link and have it publicly posted on your own social media, let people know where it is so they can share complete with your comments.
- Please don’t post merchandise for sale. Signposting to useful resources that may have a minimal cost is ok.
- Please don’t post fundraisers – even if well meaning. We have vulnerable people who could feel pressured into giving – even if that isn’t the intention.
- We are not here to diagnose* – signposting to help is preferred.
*Some of the members and admins have medical backgrounds, but we are not able to give a diagnosis. If you need help with this, please seek official help. Our members/admins may be able to advise on where to go for this, but we respectfully ask members not to give opinions on diagnoses.