The National Federation of Women's Institutes
1: Admission of Girls to Membership
2: Working with Children & Vulnerable Adults
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1. Admission of Girls to Membership: The NFWI has taken legal advice on this topic with a view to issuing guidelines; the advice received is that, under the Constitution and Rules for WIs, membership is open to women, (i.e. by definition, females aged 18 and over) therefore persons under 18 may not be permitted to join. This ruling will be applied from January 2010. Younger guest/visitors may be permitted to attend meetings, events and activities, subject to the agreement of members and to their being accompanied by a responsible adult.
The NFWI Board will be consulting federations and WIs on the WI constitution next year, therefore the membership will be able to debate this issue.
| 2. Working with Children & Vulnerable Adults. Currently federations and WIs do not run their own activities with children or vulnerable adults, and contact arises only through partner organisations, who take the lead on safeguarding and compliance with regulations. Should a federation or a WI run its own activities involving children or vulnerable adults, the NFWI General Secretary should be contacted for advice. |
PLEASE NOTE:
Sections 1 & 2 above form
only a brief summary of the NFWI's letter on these topics and is given here in
order that members may be kept informed of the current situation.
Should you wish to have more detailed information on these topics, please
contact your WI secretary, who has been sent a full copy of the NFWI letter by
the LNFWI Federation Secretary.
The NFWI intends to make the information available on the Moodle and via NFWI News, but asks that federations cascade it through federation newsletters so that WIs are aware of the position as soon as possible and before membership renewal time.
Notice Issue from LNFWI: Nov 09