As part of the FA's commitment to safeguarding children across football in England, ensuring best practice and recognising poor practice - they offer a FREE online 'Safeguarding Awareness for Parents & Carers' course, designed to help you make an informed choice about the football setting you enrol your child in.

The course is open to anybody aged 16+ and should take no longer than 25-30 minutes to complete. Upon completion of the course, you’ll receive a safeguarding certificate that will appear on your FAN account. You can return to the course to refresh your knowledge at any time.

This course will help you to:

Know what safeguarding is and that you have a role to play as a parent or carer.
Understand that children's football should be centred around the needs and wellbeing of children.
Increase awareness of the different forms, signs and indicators of abuse, including ‘grooming’ as well as understanding what constitutes poor practice, and how this links to abuse.
Increase your confidence regarding what safeguards should be in place at a child's club or football setting, and how to check this.
Increase your awareness of reporting concerns through recognised channels.
Increase your awareness of the behaviours that are expected in children’s football environments.

As a club safeguarding is an issue that we take incredibly seriously, and whilst highlighting the importance of this we would urge all parents and carers to enrol on and complete the course, giving you the tools and information to recognise what should be in place to support your child to have a positive football experience in their club or football setting, as well as how to identify and report any concerns about poor practice or abuse.

For more information and to start the course, please visit thebootroom.thefa.com.