What we mean when we say safe.

Nobody works with young people here until their background check clears

Handled by staff today

A member of staff does this. It is a habit and a rule, not something software checks.

A background check is a condition of working with young people here, not a formality. It is checked before anyone has unsupervised contact, and it is re-run rather than treated as done once. Today the checking and the remembering are done by people. The system that will hold each check, its clearance date and its expiry date exists but is not yet in use, so the honest answer is that our screening is only as reliable as the person tracking it, and we are working on that.

Ask us who has been checked and when. Until the records are in the system, that answer comes from a person rather than a screen, and you are entitled to ask for it.

Only people you name may collect your child

Handled by staff today

A member of staff does this. It is a habit and a rule, not something software checks.

Pickup permission is explicit and per child. You tell us who may collect them. We will not release a child to anyone you have not named, and if you tell us about a court order restricting someone, we act on it. Today this is a written instruction on your child’s record that staff follow. It is not yet something the system enforces on its own.

Held as a written instruction at the point of collection. Per-child authorisation with start and end dates is being built into your account.

We ask before we photograph your child, and you can change your mind

Handled by staff today

A member of staff does this. It is a habit and a rule, not something software checks.

We ask before we use a photograph of your child, and a yes is never permanent. Tell any member of staff and we stop, from that moment, with no explanation needed. Storing consent as a record you can see and withdraw yourself is being built; until it exists, withdrawing is a conversation and we will honour it the same way.

Tell any staff member. No form, no waiting period.

How boys and girls are grouped

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

The shared parts of a programme, arrival, food, announcements, are mixed and supervised by named staff throughout. Where a programme splits into smaller groups it splits by age first. Prayer is separated. Beyond that the arrangement is set per programme, because what is right for eleven-year-olds on a Saturday is not what is right for a wellness class.

• Shared spaces are supervised by named staff, never left to run themselves.
• Prayer is separated.
• Wellness runs as genuinely separate sessions with same-gender coaching. That one is a hard rule.
• Ask us about your child’s specific programme before you commit, and we will answer plainly.

If you are late collecting your child

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

A member of staff stays with your young person until you arrive. There is no charge, and nobody is made to feel it. Traffic, work and a sibling’s bedtime are not misconduct. What we ask is that you call, because the thing that turns a late pickup into a bad evening is silence.

• Staff stay with them. A young person is never left waiting alone or outside.
• At about fifteen minutes we call you, then the people you named, in the order you gave us.
• If an hour passes with no contact from anyone on the record, we have to involve the authorities. That is a child-protection duty, not a threat, and it is why the number you give us has to be one you answer.
• Repeated late pickups get a conversation about a different arrangement, not a penalty.

Phones

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

Phones are allowed. Most young people here use them to tell a parent where they are, and taking them away would make that harder for no gain. They go down for two things: the mentor-led conversation, and prayer.

• Down for the circle and for prayer. Those are the only two.
• No photographing or filming another person without asking first. That applies to staff as much as to young people.
• Anything UMMA Center photographs for its own use is governed by the photo permission on your child’s record, which you can withdraw at any time.
• A phone used to exclude, record or humiliate somebody is a behaviour matter and is handled as one.

What is expected, and what happens when it goes wrong

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

The standard is simple: nobody here is made to feel small. Most things that go wrong are ordinary, a bad temper, a stupid joke, a fifteen-year-old testing where the line is, and they are dealt with by an adult in the room, in the moment, without a parent ever hearing about it. That is not us hiding things. It is us not turning adolescence into an incident report.

• Handled in the room first: a word, a reset, a different table.
• You get a call the same day if your child was hurt, hurt somebody, or was sent home.
• Sending a young person home is rare and is always followed by a conversation about coming back. It is a pause, not a verdict.
• Anything involving safety or targeted cruelty goes to the safeguarding lead immediately, and both families are contacted.
• No young person is excluded permanently without a conversation with the family first.

Screening: the same three checks New York requires of licensed child-care staff

Under review

We are checking this with people qualified to confirm it before we stand behind it.

Before anyone has unsupervised contact with a young person, we require the same three-part check New York asks of licensed child-care staff: the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, a fingerprint-based state and federal criminal history check, and the national sex-offender registry. Volunteers are screened on the same basis as paid staff. The difference between paid and unpaid matters to payroll. It does not matter to a child.

• No unsupervised contact with young people before clearance is complete.
• Volunteers are screened exactly as paid staff are.
• Anyone whose check returns a disqualifying result does not work with young people here.
• The re-check interval is not yet set. We are choosing it with advice rather than picking a number.

Supervision: we aim at New York’s school-age ratios

Under review

We are checking this with people qualified to confirm it before we stand behind it.

We staff programming to at least the ratios New York sets for registered school-age child care: one adult for every ten children under nine, and one adult for every fifteen aged ten and over. Where an activity carries more risk, such as a trip, a kitchen or a workshop with tools, we staff above the minimum rather than at it.

• Under 9: at least 1 adult per 10 children.
• Age 10 and over: at least 1 adult per 15.
• A ratio is a floor. Trips, water, kitchens and tools get more adults, never the minimum.
• Nothing counts these automatically yet. Ask the staff running your child’s session and they will tell you the numbers.

One-to-one time happens where another adult can see it

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

Mentor conversations and any other one-to-one time take place where another adult can see the room: an open area, or a room with an interior window and the door unlocked. A mentor is never alone with a young person behind a closed, solid door, never off-site alone with them, and never alone with them in a car.

• Visible to another adult at all times: glass, an open door, or a shared space.
• No private off-site meetings. No one-to-one car journeys.
• Messages between sessions go through UMMA Center channels with a parent included, not a mentor’s personal phone and not private DMs.

Someone trained in first aid on the floor

Under review

We are checking this with people qualified to confirm it before we stand behind it.

Our standard is that at least one member of staff holding current paediatric first aid and CPR certification is on site whenever programming runs. If someone is hurt, we write it down the same day and we call a parent or guardian the same day. Not at pickup, and not in a summary at the end of term.

• Anything beyond minor first aid: emergency services first, family called immediately after.
• Same-day written record, same-day call.
• Certificate tracking is not yet in place, so ask who is certified for your child’s session.

Medication and allergies are handled on paper, never from memory

Under review

We are checking this with people qualified to confirm it before we stand behind it.

We do not give a young person any medication, prescription or over the counter, without written permission from a parent or guardian. Tell us about allergies and medical needs when you enrol, and tell the staff running the session directly as well, because the record and the room are not yet joined up. Emergency medication such as an auto-injector or an inhaler stays with your child or somewhere staff can reach it instantly, never behind a lock.

• No medication given without written permission.
• Tell the session staff directly about an allergy. Do not rely on the form alone.
• Food activities are checked against allergies before they run.

Cameras, and the places they will never be

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

Cameras cover the entrance and the shared areas people pass through. There is no camera in a bathroom, a changing area, a prayer space, or any room used for a one-to-one conversation, and there never will be. Recordings are kept for about thirty days and then written over. Footage is a safeguarding record: it is looked at in response to a specific concern, not browsed, and it is not used to watch how staff are performing.

• Never in bathrooms, changing areas, prayer spaces, or one-to-one rooms.
• Looked at only when there is a specific concern.
• If you need footage kept, ask quickly. After about thirty days it is gone.
• A physical check that no camera points at a prohibited space is outstanding and is being done.

We report as though everyone here is a mandated reporter

Our written policy

We have written this down and hold ourselves to it. Nobody outside UMMA Center has audited it.

New York names particular professions as mandated reporters. Depending on how a given programme is registered, some of our people may fall inside that list and some may not. We do not run safeguarding on that distinction, because a child cannot tell the difference. Every member of staff and every volunteer is instructed to report a reasonable suspicion of abuse or maltreatment to the New York State Child Abuse Hotline, and to say that they have done so.

• NYS Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-342-3720. In an emergency, 911.
• Reporting is an individual duty. Nobody needs a manager’s permission first.
• Punishing anyone for raising a concern in good faith is itself a serious matter.
• Mandated-reporter training for every member of staff and volunteer is outstanding.