HMVCG Lost children and Vulnerable Adults (VA) Policy

All ticket holders/attendees will be advised to keep children or vulnerable adults (VA) with them at all times through the main event website and event information.

Lost Children and VAs should be reported to any event volunteers, clearly identified by high viz jackets. If lost children, parents separated from their children, VAs or significant others present to a member of the events team(volunteers) they should be directed or taken to an identified collection point. The agreed collection point will be the HMVCG information tent and this will be open from 10.45am-2.30pm.NB: the event closes at 2pm (Area 4)

Children or vulnerable adults found without their parents

  • A child or vulnerable adult appearing to be lost should be approached by event volunteers and asked if they know where their parents/ guardian are.
  • If a child or vulnerable adult still appears to be lost they should be led to the collection point, where they will be encouraged to remain until they have been re-united with a parent or guardian.
  • The child or vulnerable adult should gently be asked for as much information as possible, including, their name, who they are with, their parents/ guardians/ persona assistant/ brother etc names, where they last saw them and a description of them. If the child is brought over by another adult, as much information as possible should be gained from them.
  • The information will be given to volunteers discretely via a named steward (Jude), who will then organise a search. No physical descriptions will be made available to the public.
  • If the parent/ guardian /personal assistant’s name is known an announcement will be made via the loud hailer “This is a public announcement, could ….. (Name of person) please come to the HMVCG tent(collection point)located in Area 4.
  • If the name of the parent /guardian /personal assistant is not known the following announcement will be made via the loud hailer “This is a public announcement, please remember this is a busy event, if you have been separated from a family member, then please go to the collection point located in the HMVCG tent”.
  • Any announcement should not mention the fact there is a lost child or the name of the lost child or any description.
  • If a parent /carer /personal assistant is not located with 30 minutes, the designated steward will inform the police.

Parent/ Guardian /Personal Assistants reporting lost children

  • Reassure parent/ guardian/ personal assistant informing you of a lost child, that a search will be organised.
  • Encourage the parent to come to the collection point if not already there, so they can give details. Ask them for the following details of the child or vulnerable adult – name, age, sex, ethnic origin, hair colour, build, clothing, location last seen and who they were with.
  • Encourage the parent to regularly return to the collection point if they continue to search for the child, in case the child is found.
  • Using absolute discretion convey clear descriptions and information gathered to event stewards to support a search.
  • Stewards and designated volunteers will conduct an initial search of the area.
  • If the child or vulnerable person is not found the event team will organise a thorough sweep of the whole site.
  • When the child or vulnerable person is found, they will be led to the collection point to be re-united with their parent.
  • If a child or vulnerable person is not found within 30 minutes the steward for Area 4 will inform the police.

Re-uniting Parent /Personal Assistants with Children /Vulnerable Adults

  • If a child or vulnerable adult is reluctant to go with a collecting adult then the adult should be asked for proof of ID and their signature. If necessary the police may be advised on any problems.
  • Once a child or vulnerable adult has been re-united with their collecting adult all stewards, security, staff and police will be informed immediately.

Lost persons log

  • All lost persons / children’s incidents must be logged and filed at the HMVCG information point.

Updated for Apple Day 14 January on 07.01.18 JW