Safeguarding processes strengthened, stress Extern directors

Extern is a charity providing services for vulnerable children and young people in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Articles in The Impartial Reporter have highlighted issues surrounding sexual assault, drugs and knives and were linked to Roscor Youth Village located between Enniskillen and Belleek close to the shores of Lough Erne.

There was also the question of the former Extern Chief Executive leaving his post, but it was confirmed there was no connection between this and the incidents reported.

Leslie Ann Scott, Director of Services at Extern, and Brendan Johnston, Extern Northern Ireland Director, Extern Group Director and Chair of Extern’s Audit & Risk Committee, sat down to address the issues raised by such articles.

They said that the articles have affected morale and confidence and caused quite a bit of distress to a number of clients and people who are Exern service users as well as staff.

2019 sexual assault

Out of all the incidents, it was the 2019 incident of sexual assault which was felt most acutely by the organisation, and triggered a review around safeguarding.

“When that incident came to light it was really important from our perspective to say the young person was believed, and every possible support that we could give including contact with the PSNI and with the [Western] Trust.

“Everything that should have been done was done to safeguard that person,” explained Miss Scott.

“As a result of that incident, like any organisation, you would expect a period of time to review what happened, how did it happen, how could this individual [responsible for the assault] get into the organisation.

“Under the process of review, we looked at how do we strengthen and how do we improve our safeguarding processes.

“Part of that review included looking at our policies and procedures and looking at how they were being implemented, and what I can very honestly say was, yes, we found polices and procedures existed, but they weren’t necessarily being followed.

“They weren’t necessarily being implemented in the manner that they should have been.”

This review, Miss Scott said, led to audits being introduced, professional supervision provided to staff members, and ensuring the process in recruiting and selecting staff was looked at and that training was up to date so that staff have the safeguarding knowledge to provide safe services.

“We did find that there were concerns, but what I will say it was isolated to a particular area, and it wasn’t an organisational cultural issue – it was found to be very specific within a particular area.”

“However, we took the view that we had to ensure if it can happen once, it can happen twice.”

Miss Scott also added: “This was one individual who got into our organisation. [Sexual assault is] not a systemic issue, and we have taken every opportunity to put as many barriers in place to stop it potentially happening again.”

She continued: “The incident in 2019 affected every single member of staff in Extern who come to work every day to do the absolute best they can.

“We have taken the opportunity to learn, reflect and improve and strengthen to try our absolute best that no one ever gets in to do what that person did.

“They didn’t just damage that young person, they damaged us as an organisation, they damaged our staff’s trust in each other, and that is really hard to turn around.”

An independent review carried out also brought forward 18 recommendations for Extern, all of which the organisation accepted, including the appointment of a head of safeguarding.

Miss Scott also explained how service users around this period of time were contacted by the Western Trust and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency in Ireland, and did not find any issues of concerns with the young people who had gone through Roscor.

Drugs

Another article referred to safeguarding concerns around extremely vulnerable, high-risk young people during an incident in July, 2019, when there were concerns they were under the influence of drugs.

The whistleblower who came forward claimed that despite concerns being raised to the Programme Manager, a trip was still allowed to go ahead.

Extern admit that there was such a trip, but instead of going to an uninhabited island they were instead taken by boat to Castle Caldwell before leaving the next morning by bus.

“So there was a cohort of young people who were identified from a combination of the Western Trust and the Department of Justice, and Extern were asked to work with them,” explained Miss Scott.

“We were advised that these young people were involved in using drugs and anti-social behaviour, and they were very concerned about these young people’s safety.

“I have spoken to whatever staff were around at the time as I could to try and understand the context of everything that has been put in the paper.

“Their original plan was they would be taken to the island to do the rough camping. However, that changed when they got there, because the risk assessment was re-done and it was determined there were concerns, and instead of taking them to an island they would actually be taking them straight across the lough to Castle Caldwell.”

Miss Scott and Mr. Johnston stressed there were no drugs found during this incident.

Knives

A third article detailed how an Extern staff member had brought knives into Roscor.

“If you take the issues of the knives, for instance, we do not have a cache of knives on this site. We do not have knives being stored in bulk in Roscor.

“What we do have – and we did put that in our statement, and we are completely refuting any other suggestion we had any child at risk with knives on this site, because we didn’t – what we do have, we have a number of different staff who have personal and professional qualifications who are using [equipment] to assist our service users.

“Through a process of risk assessment they will bring equipment that belongs to them on to the site safely.”

The knives which were pictured included a machete, and it was admitted some of them had been brought on site.

Raise concerns

Miss Scott also spoke of how she has personally put a call out to staff to hear of any concerns; however, nothing was brought forward to her. But she would urge anybody, with past or present experience with Extern, that wants to raise any concerns to do so.

She insisted: “We do not accept poor practice. We expect and hold our staff to a high standard.

“And if anyone has any concerns, please, please bring them forward, and if they can’t bring them forward to us, bring them forward to an external body who can have them properly investigated.”