Bullying

Everyone involved in looking after young people shares responsibility for countering bullying and for creating a culture which positively encourages acceptable behaviour and reduces or prevents the likelihood of bullying.

Remember bullying can have a detrimental effect on a young person's wellbeing and can lead to poor self-esteem, depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Supported lodgings hosts must take bullying seriously.

The Young Person's Guide will also contain information and advice on dealing with bullying.

As a supported lodgings host you should look out for signs of bullying and should take steps to prevent it.

Your Safer Caring Plan should address bullying and cover:

• Putting in place clear rules within the house that bullying is not acceptable and what actions will be taken if you suspect bullying or are told of bullying happening;
• Making it clear to young people what is acceptable behaviour;
• Providing opportunities for young people to think about the issue of bullying;
• Having discussions about bullying and why it matters;
• Being good role models.

Many looked after young people experience bullying in education, in the local area and sometimes from other young people in the placement.

Bullying can include:

• Emotional - being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (e.g. hiding possessions, threatening gestures);
• Physical - pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence;
• Racist - racial taunts, graffiti, gestures;
• Sexual - unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments and harassment;
• Homophobic or remarks about gender identity - because of, or focusing on the issue of sexuality;
• Verbal - name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing;
• Cyberbullying - e.g. using mobile phones or social networking sites to intimidate or bully others.

See also: Education and Training Procedure and Internet, Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure.

Some signs of bullying can be:

• Not wanting to go to school/college;
• Unexplained bruises;
• Torn clothing;
• Need for extra money;
• Continually losing belongings;
• Problems sleeping;
• Sudden loss of appetite;
• Problems at school/college/placement;
• Withdrawn behaviour or temper tantrums;
• Self-harming;
• Young person appears worried by messages on phone.

The bullying may be because:

• The young person feels and/or appears different;
• The young person may not be achieving as well as others;
• The young person may have had lots of moves of carer or school;
• The young person may not have a friendship group;
• The young person may not want others to know that they are looked after;
• The young person may feel isolated and think they have no-one to talk to;
• Difficult and distressing life experiences may have left the young person with poor self-esteem and a lack of coping mechanisms.

Bullying within the home environment

If you have any concerns that incidents of bullying have happened between young people within the placement or that a young person may be a victim of bullying or is being a bully, you must discuss this with your Supervising Worker who should advise you on what actions are necessary to reduce or prevent it. They will decide whether to inform the young person's social worker.

When bullying occurs within the placement it may be appropriate to call a meeting, preferably with the young person/people, to discuss ways to prevent or reduce the bullying.

The outcomes of the meeting may include the following:

• The bully (bullies) may be asked to apologise;
• In serious cases, some form of sanction/consequences will be considered;
• If possible, the young people should be encouraged to make friends;
• After the incident has been dealt with, you should monitor the situation to make sure that bullying does not happen again.

• Give time and space daily to the young person to check how things are going for them and encourage them to talk about their day, seeking to identify whether things are better, still persisting or worse for them;
• Continue to act on the advice from the young person's social worker and other professionals on ways to help build the young person's self-esteem;
• Help the young person think about what to say to help explain why they are living with supported lodgings hosts;
• Encourage friendships and invite friends home. There is strength in numbers. Bullies may target a young person who is alone;
• Build coping skills. Problem-solve difficult situations and practice what you might do;
• Do not reject a young person who is a bully; reject the behaviour. Explain how the behaviour makes other young people unhappy and help them develop other ways to feel better about themselves and to express how they feel;
• Give the young person praise each time they help you or are kind to someone;
• Work with the school or college to offer support;
• Make sure that you and the other people are good role models.

Young people can be reluctant to report bullying for fear of reprisal or because they think they will not be listened to. You must make a point of talking to young people about bullying in order to help them report it.

When a young person says they do not like something which another young person or adult is doing/saying to them, they must be listened to and taken seriously. Even if you do not view the action as serious, the young person may.

You must record all incidents of bullying in the daily records of the young person who is the alleged victim and the young person who is the alleged bully.

The young person's Placement Plan should then be reviewed by the workers around the young person with a view to incorporating strategies to reduce or prevent future incidents. Specialist support may be considered from outside of the placement to the young person to help them come to terms with what they have experienced and increase their self-esteem.

See also: Recording and Information Sharing Procedure.