Safeguarding belongs in hiring, room layout, toilet support, messages, photos, transport, and discipline. Commit to Kids provides child-serving organizations with abuse-prevention resources.1
Adopt clear house rules. Keep interactions visible and able to be interrupted. Avoid secret gifts, private social-media contact, closed-door meetings, or special access to one child. Plan personal-care support with privacy, dignity, and appropriate oversight.
Give children more than one person they can approach. Use words such as:
“You can tell us when something feels wrong. You will not be in trouble for asking for help.”
If a child describes harm, listen calmly. Do not promise secrecy. Do not conduct your own detailed investigation or ask leading questions. Record the child's words and the facts you observed. Protect them and follow the local reporting duty promptly. Reporting to your boss may not satisfy the law. Do not notify an alleged abuser or a potentially unsafe caregiver without appropriate direction.
Concerns about the owner need a reporting route that does not end with the owner. Put an outside contact or board route in the policy where appropriate.
Do not reward teams for “zero reports.” A safe reporting culture may reveal problems that were previously hidden.
Do this next: Put the reporting route in staff training and the family welcome information.
Sources for this page
- Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Commit to Kids. Abuse-prevention resources for organizations that serve children. Not a statement of every local reporting law. ↩