Trust is a fundamental factor in effective safeguarding. Having a close relationship with a trusted adult gives children the confidence to share any issues and concerns as well as a solid support mechanism to thrive and succeed.

Staff and volunteers at organisations in the Levelling the Playing Field network all have expertise in building trusted relationships with their beneficiaries. Many of them have the empathy which comes from having grown up in the same area and faced the same challenges as the young people they work with. Others are role models or mentors who young people look up to because of their achievement in sport or reputation in the community.

The avuncular and nurturing nature of these relationships gives children someone they can rely on, confide in and use as a platform to build confidence and realise their ambitions, whether in the sporting arena or elsewhere.

This is echoed by Kathryn Mudge, Development Manager (Communities) for Levelling the Playing Field’s strategic partners Yorkshire Sport Foundation. She has seen organisations on her patch – such as Reach Up Youth, Ellesmere Youth Project and Unity Gym in Sheffield and Rotherham United Community Sports Trust and Young Minds Together in Rotherham – use sport and physical activity as the ‘hook’ to forge trusting relationships that lead to all kinds of positive outcomes.

Kathryn says: "A lot of young people accessing this kind of provision don’t necessarily have the supportive parent or guardian at home. They may have chaotic home lives or face significant challenges at school or in their communities.

“That’s why building trust is so crucial in order to successfully engage each individual. A member of staff can become like an extension of their family. The trust between them means they will open up to a sports leader or youth worker about things they may not share with anyone else.

“The main thing these organisations must do is understand the young person first. Once each young person is through the door, the organisation can use their expertise to assess what their needs might be. It could be their mental health, being safe online, education around drugs and alcohol or how to manage their money. Then they build appropriate support to ensure they keep coming back and are happy and healthy. All of that, I would suggest, is good safeguarding.”

In using sport to engage children from ethnically diverse communities, Yorkshire Sport Foundation and the organisations it funds all contribute to achieving Levelling the Playing Field’s common goals:

• Increase the number of ethnically diverse children taking part in sport and physical activity
• Prevent and divert ethnically diverse children from becoming involved in the Criminal Justice System

When it comes to forming relationships with children, their trust may not be earned easily. Many children accessing services may have been let down by adults multiple times before. Being genuine, passionate and caring is essential. As Kathryn puts it, “you can only go at the speed of trust’.

She adds: “Children are astute; they can work you out pretty quickly. They can tell whether you’re bothered or just going through the motions.”

As the old adage goes: Young people have to know that you care before they care what you know.

Safiya Saeed, founder of LtPF specialist partners Reach Up Youth in the Sheffield suburb of Burngreave, has another way of putting it: ‘You have to help someone personally before you can help someone professionally.’

Building these relationships gives the adult deep knowledge of each young person’s habits and behaviours, so they can spot key changes easily. “If their behaviour feels a bit strange, then the staff member can start to unpick why that might be,” explains Kathryn. “It could be something really small, all the way through to something really serious that has happened at home or college. Hence the mantra of knowing them personally before helping them professionally.”

Yorkshire Sport Foundation has service level agreements with the projects they fund around robust safeguarding policies and regular staff training. However, when it comes to safeguarding it’s about much more than the right procedures and paperwork.

Kathryn concludes: “Safeguarding a young person – providing an outlet for them to move forward in life in whatever form that takes – will always be these organisations’ top priority.”