Child Protection – Policy Framework Summary

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army International Headquarters Child Protection Confidential e-mail: IHQ-ChildProtection@salvationarmy.org

SUMMARY: INTERNATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION POLICY FRAMEWORK

BACKGROUND Aim of the Policy Framework Every Salvation Army territory, command and region is expected to implement a Child Protection Policy, with a process of reviewing this regularly. Some territories have developed and implemented their own child protection policies. This framework is designed to bring consistency to our practice globally, and will be used to measure current territorial policies against, ensuring that The Salvation Army works to the same standards in protecting children.

This International Child Protection Policy Framework aims to set out the expectations of what should be included in child protection policies for each territory/zone within The Salvation Army, and includes draft practice guidance available for implementation by territories, should that be required. The laws and government policies within each territory/country will vary, and this information can be added to the local policy. However, the approach of this International Policy Framework is to apply a high level of practice and behaviour with our children/young people, as the International Policy Framework will be higher, or as high, as the threshold of government policies and local laws.

Key definitions Child protection The actions that individuals and organisations, countries and communities take to protect children from acts of harm, maltreatment (abuse) and exploitation.

Child abuse The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child abuse and child maltreatment as ‘all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.’1 Children This is anyone under the age of 18, as defined by the United Nations 2, Article 1.

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‘Child abuse and neglect by parents and other caregivers’ (PDF).

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https://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Guiding_Principles.pdf

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It is acknowledged that in many countries there will be different legal ages in respect to defining a child, but this policy aims for the expectation that anyone under the age of 18 is offered the level of protection within this policy.

Legal framework United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 19 (1) 3: ‘States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent (s), legal guardian (s) or any other person who has the care of the child.’

Child protection policy A policy is a course or principle of action proposed by an organisation.4 A child protection policy is a statement that makes it clear to staff, officers, parents, carers, volunteers, children and young people what The Salvation Army will do to keep children/young people safe. A policy sets out what The Salvation Army wants to say about keeping children and young people safe and the reasons for saying this, how it is going to meet this responsibility, who the policy applies to, and how The Salvation Army will put this into action. This policy aims to ensure all staff, officers, carers and volunteers are aware of their responsibilities, and that therefore good practice will protect them also. This policy goes alongside other appropriate organisational policies of the territory where there may be a crossover, such as whistle-blowing policies, safe recruitment policies and Internet use.

A policy should not be a long document, but should include principles, processes and standards. The standards should be underpinned by practice guidance which is more detailed and offers a step by step approach to child protection issues. Practice guidance relating to specialist cultural and child protection issues such as child trafficking, sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation will be developed as additional guidance. The aim is for the policy and practice guidance to be written using phrases and words which everyone will understand, and this policy framework with the underlying practice guidance will be translated into the key languages used by The Salvation Army.

WHAT EACH POLICY ON CHILD PROTECTION SHOULD CONTAIN 1. Principles There are key principles which The Salvation Army believes in keeping children safe; • • •

The biblical basis in protecting children All children have equal rights to protection from harm All child abuse involves the abuse of children’s rights

https://downloads.unicef.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2010/05/UNCRC_PRESS200910web.pdf?_ga=2.206761043.1703070319.1507885767158391670.1507885767 4 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/policy 3

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• • •

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Everybody has a responsibility to support the protection of children, and the child protection policy will apply to all staff, officers, volunteers and anyone who comes into contact with The Salvation Army Organisations such as The Salvation Army have a duty of care to children whom they work with, are in contact with, or who are affected by their work and operations If The Salvation Army partners with other organisations, The Salvation Army has to ensure that the organisation’s child protection policy is at the same standard as its own, as far as is reasonably possible. The aim is that The Salvation Army policies are upheld.

All actions on child protection and in The Salvation Army’s children’s resources and activities are taken in the best interests of children.

2. Processes The Salvation Army will meet its commitment to protecting children from abuse through the following means; a. Awareness and training: We will ensure that all staff, officers, volunteers and others are aware of the issue of child abuse and the risks to children, and that people working with children are suitable for the role, and are well supported and managed. We will ensure that all of those working with children and young people know the child protection policy of that territory. b. Prevention: We will ensure, through awareness and good practice, that staff, officers, volunteers and others work to minimise the risks to children, and that physical and online environments are designed to minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur. c. Reporting: We will ensure that staff, officers, volunteers and others understand what steps to take where concerns arise regarding the safety of children. This will involve taking concerns seriously, acting appropriately and effectively in referring the information to the agencies in the countries responsible for investigating and taking action on child abuse. d. Responding: We will ensure that action is taken to support and protect children where concerns arise regarding possible abuse. We will support all children, staff, officers, victims, survivors and others affected by information about child abuse, when reports are made. e. Listening and involving: We will listen to children and young people and take seriously what they say and demonstrate to us. We will make sure that disabled children and those with additional needs are able to communicate with us, and that we create opportunities for children and adults from different cultures, languages, ethnic backgrounds, faiths, experiences of poverty and communities to report child protection concerns. We will ensure that there are processes for all children to participate in decisions affecting them. f.

Review, measurement and improvement: We will aim for clarity on how we measure our child protection practice, both within territories and in the global organisation. We will measure our impact of child protection process on how we operate, and continuously review, evaluate and improve our child protection practice. We will report regularly on what we still need to do to protect children from abuse. We will evidence our awareness of the child protection policy and ensure that the child protection policy is applied, and where there are issues establish a plan to improve and sustain our ability to protect children.

3. Application

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This policy applies to everyone who comes into contact with The Salvation Army and carries out an activity on its behalf. This policy applies to all officers of every rank, all staff, all volunteers, all interns, all people on placement, and should be used as a reference point for any partner agency The Salvation Army works with in delivering services.

STANDARDS These are the standards, which must be accompanied by the appropriate practice guidance that must be in every Child Protection Policy for every territory.

1. Creating and maintaining safe environments • Recruitment of safe staff – checks, references, qualities • Supporting and managing staff who work with children • Challenging staff and officers if they are not safe.

2. Training to keep our children safe • Training programme • Different levels of training for different roles • Reviewing training and specialist levels of training for specific areas – for example, sexual abuse, working with online abuse victims.

3. Responding to child protection concerns • Identifying child protection concerns, and ensuring we are aware of the different forms of child abuse and how they manifest themselves • Talking with people who disclose – these may be children or adults – ensuring that the person who first encounters the abuse has an awareness of how to respond appropriately • Recording the abuse and ensuring that there is a process for reporting the abuse to the appropriate person in The Salvation Army in the territory • Reporting the information to the authorities, including the police • Reviewing roles and responsibilities of people within The Salvation Army after information on child abuse has been identified and reported.

4. Care and support for victims • Recognising the courage of survivors • What we need to think about to support those involved • Our roles and responsibilities.

5. Care and support for others • Staff – training and emotional support • Potential perpetrators – how we work with them and their families as we have a duty of care to them.

6. Communicating The Salvation Army’s child protection message • How we let our communities know • How do children and young people know? Do we involve them in knowing about child protection?

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7. How we know we are protecting children: quality assurance and outcomes • What is our impact and how do we measure it?

• How do we involve children and young people in telling us their experiences of child protection processes in The Salvation Army?

• How can we improve our protection of children and demonstrate best practice?

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