All adults have the right to be safe and to live a life free from abuse. All persons are entitled to this right, regardless of their circumstances.“
Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse – National Policy and Procedures’ (2014) – HSE
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults is a topic that is particularly important for charities, community groups and other organisations who provide health, social and community services in Ireland. Due to the nature of their work, these organisations and community groups are closely involved with people from all walks of life and therefore likely to either engage directly with, provide services to or have close contact with people who are considered vulnerable adults.
WHAT IS A VULNERABLE PERSON?
There are a number of definitions available in Ireland.
Safeguarding Ireland defines a vulnerable person as someone who is living with
- Reduced decision-making capacity
- Age related frailty
- A serious or sudden illness
- A mental or physical disability
- High-risk of serious illness from COVID-19
- Under the control of another person.
The HSE, for the purposes of their national policy and procedures document “Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse” (2014), considers a Vulnerable Person as:
An adult who may be restricted in capacity to guard himself / herself against harm or exploitation or to report such harm or exploitation. Restriction of capacity may arise as a result of physical or intellectual impairment. Vulnerability to abuse is influenced by both context and individual circumstances.
And, the National Vetting Bureau defines a “vulnerable person” as a person, other than a child, who –
(a) is suffering from a disorder of the mind, whether as a result of mental illness or dementia,
(b) has an intellectual disability,
(c) is suffering from a physical impairment, whether as a result of injury, illness or age, or
(d) has a physical disability,
which is of such a nature or degree –
(i) as to restrict the capacity of the person to guard himself or herself against harm by another person, or
(ii) that results in the person requiring assistance with the activities of daily living including dressing, eating, walking, washing and bathing.
You can find out more about garda vetting in general, definitions and legal obligations in the Garda Vetting section on our website.guarding Ireland
WHAT TYPES OF ABUSE CAN HAPPEN?
There are a number of different types of abuse:
Physical Abuse includes slapping, hitting, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, restraint or inappropriate sanctions.
Sexual Abuse includes rape and sexual assault, or sexual acts to which the vulnerable person has not consented, or could not consent, or into which he or she was compelled to consent.
Psychological Abuse includes emotional abuse, threats of harm or abandonment, deprivation of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, isolation, or withdrawal from services or supportive networks.
Financial or Material Abuse includes theft, fraud, exploitation; pressure in connection with wills, property, inheritance or financial transactions; or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits.
Institutional Abuse may occur within residential care and/or acute settings including nursing homes, acute hospitals, and any other in-patient settings and may involve, for example, poor standards of care, rigid routines or inadequate responses to complex needs.
Neglect and Acts of Omission include ignoring medical or physical care needs, failure to provide access to appropriate health, social or educational services, the withholding of the necessities of life such as medication, adequate nutrition and/or heating.
Discriminatory Abuse includes ageism, racism, sexism, based on a person’s disability and other forms of harassment, slurs or similar treatment.
Institutional abuse may occur within residential care and acute settings including nursing homes, acute hospitals and any other inpatient settings, and may involve poor standards of care, rigid routines and inadequate responses to complex needs.
Abuse can occur at various levels from occasional and minor incidents to situations where abuse is inflicted on a person on a regular basis or at a severe level.
Sadly, examples of adult safeguarding issues occur in Ireland on a daily basis. Some are the subject of close media scrutiny, others occur in the privacy of a person’s own home or within one of Ireland’s health and social care services. Abuse against those who are vulnerable can be perpetrated by a range of people, from strangers to a family member.
WHAT DOES SAFEGUARDING MEAN?
All vulnerable people have a right to be protected against abuse and to have any concerns regarding abusive experiences addressed. They have a right to be treated with respect and to feel safe, regardless of the setting in which they live.
In practice, this means that you, as an organisation, no matter how small or big, whether you are volunteer led or have 100 paid staff, must do your upmost to ensure that any vulnerable person you directly work with or engage with on a formal or informal basis is protected from abuse and harm.
If you provide a service directly to vulnerable persons and your staff and volunteers are in direct contact with vulnerable people on a regular basis, you will need to ensure that you have the right policies, procedures, risk assessments, training and monitoring mechanisms in place to protect any vulnerable person from abuse. This practice will have the added benefit that your trained staff and volunteers have heightened awareness around abuse and might be able to recognise if the person they are volunteering/ working with has been exposed to abuse in other parts of their life (i.e. at home, in another service they are using etc.) For example, this would include running activities for people with an intellectual disability, providing a befriending service to older people or working with people with a serious illness.
The same also applies if you engage with vulnerable persons on a less regular or more informal basis, for example if you provide meals for people living in homelessness. Someone who is homeless would not automatically be classed as a vulnerable person, but they might experience other conditions that would. Your volunteers/ staff would be chatting to the person while giving them the food and might therefore be able to pick up on an abusive situation that the person is involved in.
WHAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE?
If you witness or suspect abuse of a vulnerable person, you must report this either directly to the appropriate agency or through the appropriate channels within your organisation.
Find out more about reporting abuse here.
Safeguarding Ireland has a wealth of information and resources available on their website.
Some useful resources provided by the HSE:
LEGAL OBLIGATIONS FOR CHARITIES
The Charities Regulator (CRA) has published this useful guide for Charities: Safeguarding Guidance for Charitable Organisations working with Vulnerable Persons (Adults) (pdf).
It states:
“While the Charities Regulator’s statutory remit does not extend to the safeguarding of vulnerable people, the issue of risk assessment procedures, safety checks and safeguarding nevertheless arises in the context of applications for registration in the Register of Charities and required standards of governance within registered charities.”
This means applicants for charity status must ensure that the specific risk assessment procedures, safety checks and safeguards meet the applicable legal requirements and standards for both the planned and actual activities undertaken and are independently verified.
The guide also outlines how the Charities Governance Code (LINK) is directly related to a Charity’s work with vulnerable persons. Principle 4 of the Charities Governance Code is especially relevant:
“All charities, no matter what their complexity, must abide by all legal and regulatory requirements that are relevant to the work they do. The charity trustees are responsible for making sure this happens.”
The appendix of this guide also contains an overview of relevant legislation for organisations working with vulnerable persons (adults).
Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons
All adults have the right to be safe and to live a life free from abuse. All persons are entitled to this right, regardless of
Child Protection
In Ireland the Child Care Act 1991 defines a child as any person under the age of 18 years, excluding a person who is or
Child Protection during COVID-19
Supporting the youth work sector with child protection considerations during Covid-19 and its related control measures. WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE DURING COVID-19 Youth work can