Child Protection Webinar Slides

Child Protection: Starting from the Beginning Julia Kragulj Hope and Homes for Children Wednesday, March 13, 2019 Webinar Series:

Webinar outline What is child protection?

Why is it important?

What are we protecting children from?

Child Protection Policy as key Preventing abuse and harm Responding to child protection concerns

What is child protection?

Child safeguarding (or child protection) is the responsibility that organisations have to make sure their staff, operations, and programmes do no harm to children, that is they do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse, and that any concerns the organisation has about children’s safety within the communities in which they work, are reported to the appropriate authorities.

What are we protecting children from?

Physical abuse Sexual abuse and exploitation Emotional and psychological abuse Neglect Other forms of exploitation

Why is this important?

Child abuse, exploitation and neglect have serious and often long term effects.

Long term effects of child abuse, exploitation & neglect

Lack of trust and relationship difficulties

Core feelings of being “worthless” or “damaged”

Trouble regulating emotions

Physical effects

Psychological effects

Behavioural effects

Child Protection Policy as key Policy describes how organisation is committed to preventing, and responding appropriately to harm to, children.

Sets clear expectations and procedures.

Child protection policy content Statement of commitment Scope of policy Definitions of abuse and neglect

Child protection policy content Prevention: • Safe recruitment of staff • Staff training on child protection • Code of conduct • Identification and management of child protection risks • Working with partners • Communications guidelines

Child protection policy content Responding to child protection concerns: • Guidelines on what to do if there is an allegation or incident • Who children and others can contact if there is a concern • Complaints mechanisms and disciplinary procedures • Procedures for recording allegations and incidents

Child protection policy content Communicating the policy Monitoring policy implementation Regular review of the policy

Preventing abuse and harm Safe people: • Background checks • Named person for child protection • Induction • Ongoing training and refreshers

Preventing abuse and harm Code of conduct Risk identification and management Working with partners •

Due diligence

•

MoU

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Support and monitoring

Preventing abuse and harm Communications guidelines for images and case studies: • Informed voluntary consent • Safety • Privacy • Dignity • Storage

Responding to child protection concerns Everyone knows what to do Reporting form Response flowchart Immediate safety External reporting if needed

Responding to child protection concerns Raising concerns: • Children and others are able to raise their concerns with whoever they trust and feel comfortable with. • That person afterwards contacts named child protection person in the organisation and makes a report • If a child comes with a concern or a disclosure, we listen, take them seriously and tell them what will happen next

Responding to child protection concerns Complaints mechanisms • Variety of channels • Accessible • Safe • Feedback

Responding to child protection concerns Complaints against staff member: • Disciplinary procedures • Reporting: internal and external • Investigations • Safety • Confidentiality

Responding to child protection concerns Case management: • Recording • Updating • Case closure • Confidentiality

Organisational culture People (staff and beneficiaries) feel respected, safe and confident to talk openly about concerns.

Contact details: Julia Kragulj Safeguarding and Participation Lead Hope and Homes for Children julia.kragulj@hopeandhomes.org