Your Organisation’s Contact with Children and How Well You Deal

with Child Protection Issues

Child-Safe Organisations (Date)(Place)

“I can tell you now, that many organisations – especially those that do not work directly with children – do not believe the [child protection]

standards are relevant to them because of many factors. I disagree, and believe that

every organisation (whether they work directly or indirectly with children, whether they are

funding or being funded) must take responsibility for child protection.”

- Setting the Standard

Revisit Module 1

• You can never tell where, when and how child abuse will happen

• Organisations have a responsibility to care for and to protect children

• Therefore, there is a need to create a child protection system – a ‘buffer’ to reduce the possibility of child abuse happening within an organisation or community

In Module 2, we will …

• Assess the nature of contacts between organisational staff and children

• Identify the risks of child abuse (or false allegations) happening within our own organisations

• Think about our responsibility to deal with risks, the child protection mechanisms we have in place and how we can improve them, and what we already do well – the first step in creating a child protection system

The Circle of Interactions

(6) Yui, Accountant

(5) Lynne,Programme

Manager

(4) Nok,Sponsor Relations

Officer

(3) Kree-ta,Water

Sanitation Coordinator

(2) Yot,Children’s

Camp Facilitator

(1) Chaiwat,Psychologist

Humanitarian workers interact with children in many different ways, all of

which have wide-ranging potential impacts on children

Different types of contact include:

One-on-one: Direct contact, most personal

A group of children: Direct

Work with community: Indirect, children as secondary beneficiaries

Occasionally visit project site and/or have access to children’s information:

Indirect, may expose children to vulnerabilities

Make decisions that affect children:

Indirect

Have function that does not affect children directly:

Indirect, may exploit position (abuse of power)

Risk Factors

Goal: For organisations to assess possible child protection risks in their practice

Activity: Taking care of a child or children in a children’s centre

Who (else is around?)

When? Where?

With two or more workers

Morning Workplace/office

With another worker Lunchtime Private space but other people can still see

With community members around

Afternoon Public places / planned

With volunteers or visitors around

Evening Public places / unplanned

Alone with a group of children

Late night / overnight

Your place or a child’s place

Alone with a child Not usual office hours / weekends

Private and secluded space

Risk Factors When determining potential harm, the

following factors should be taken into account:

• Who else is around? (supervision)• When? (time)• Where? (location)• How? (nature of contact)

Be open and communicate with other people about what you do. Always be conscious of your own actions, and avoid putting yourself in a situation that can be misunderstood or leave room for risks to occur.

Bottom Line! Open and Aware Culture

Risk means the potential for something to go wrong

A risk assessment is a means of identifying the potential for something to happen that will have an impact on

children, your staff, organisational objectives and reputation

Risk management means identifying the potential for an accident or incident to occur and taking steps to reduce the

possibility of it occurring

Weather Forecast

Child in a House

What are child protection risks within an organisation?

Staff with bad intentions can exploit or abuse children

Staff with good intentions may face false allegations

An organisation may face:

• Prosecution or lawsuit• False accusation• Media damage• Loss of respect from the public • Increasing scrutiny by donors and partners

Consequence

Nature of risks

Likelihood Severity

Triangle of

Consequences

Nature of risks = light shower in raining season

Likelihood = often Severity = mild

Consequence

= won’t kill you!

Consequence =

could be harmful so should be dealt with

Likelihood = quite often

Severity = severe

Nature of risks = snow storm in winter

In considering the consequences, it is important that you consider all the

factors that are in play. This also helps us to prioritise our interventions.

Child Protection Scenarios

• What are the child protection risks in this scenario? Why?

• How serious? Why?• How likely is it to happen (in your

organisation)? Why?• What should be done? Why?

Scenario: You listen to the weather forecast on the radiojust before you go out for an appointment

Risk: There could be heavy rain

How serious? And why? Serious(You could get really wet)

How likely is it to happen? And why?

Most likely Most times the weather forecast is accurate

What should be done? Take an umbrella and wear shoes for the rain

Scenario: The door is open while a baby is left unattended

Risk: The baby may crawl out of the house and get hurt

How serious? And why? Extremely serious (a baby cannot protect him or herself)

How likely is it to happen? And why?

Very likely (the baby does not know it is dangerous outside)

What should be done? Close the door and have an adult mind the child

6 Organisational Child Protection Areas

• Recruitment, employment and volunteers• Education and training• Professional code of conduct• Reporting mechanism (for concerns / cases) and

referral• Access by external visitors and communications• Policy and procedures

Whisper Down the Lane

“It is important to distinguish what is understood as general practice and what is

written down as guidelines, policies or procedures. Where procedures are not

written down there is a danger that practice will be inconsistent, non-transparent and

subject to misinterpretation. The organisation is also at risk of losing knowledge and

expertise when people leave the organisation.”

- Child Hope UK

The Grid of Good Practices

Professional Code of Conduct

(1)Do you have?

(2)In writing?

Appropriate adult supervision during children’s activities

√ x

The Grid of Good Practices(full version)

Recruitment / Employment / Volunteer(1) Do you

have?

(2) In

writing?

(3)Shared

with staff?

(4) Is it put

into practice

?

(5) How can

it be improved?

Reference check √ x √ Don’t

know

Include in HR

manual

It is essential that policy and procedures are:

• In writing (formalisation)• Shared with staff • Put into practice

Most importantly, please consider:

• The best interests of children• Policy as a harm-minimisation strategy• Responsibility (ownership)

The Office Plant

Host organisation

For more information on Child-Safe Organisations,

please contact: