CHILD PROTECTION POLICY

Definition of terms:

For the purpose of this child protection policy, all references to: Child, children, young person, young people, adolescent are taken to refer to those under the age of 18 years in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child.

Workers, staff, volunteers are taken to refer to anyone interacting with the children on behalf of Smile Charity Uganda.

This child protection policy will help to create a safe and positive environment for children. Although no standards or process can offer complete protection for children, following these standards and implementing this policy will minimise the risk to children from abuse and exploitation.

The policy will help protect children. The child protection policy clarifies what SCU requires in relation to the protection of children. It sets out standards of behaviour for SCU staff and volunteers when they are around children and what to do if they notice or are told about inappropriate behaviour in others.

The policy will help protect workers. The policy is a statement of intent that demonstrates SCU’s commitment to safe guard children from harm. The policy will help move the project towards best practices in this area and deter those who would wish to abuse children.

The policy will protect the project. This is so because it sets out:

ü SCU’s principles for the protection of children. SCU believes that child protection is both an individual and a corporate responsibility.

ü SCU’s expectations in terms of behaviour and good practice for working with children and young people should be that everyone is well informed and aware of child protection issues.

ü SCU’s guidelines for responding appropriately if abuse of a child is alleged, disclosed, discovered or suspected.

ü SCU encourages openness about concerns relating to child protection matters because child abuse thrives on secrecy. The guidelines in this policy explain what should be done about those concerns.

This policy upholds the UN convection on the rights of the child. The Ugandan government is a signatory to the UN convection on the rights of the child (CRC) and has implemented this in Ugandan law through the Child Protection Act of 1997

As staff and volunteers of Smile Charity Uganda, we believe that:

• Child protection is both individual and a corporate responsibility.
• All children and young people have equal rights to protection from abuse and exploitation and inequalities should be challenged.
• All children and young people should be encouraged to fulfil their potential.
• The welfare of children and young people is paramount.
• Everyone should take precaution and responsibility to help create a safe environment for children and support their care and protection. This begins with everyone being well informed and aware of child protection issues.
• Openness must be encouraged about concerns relating to child protection matters because child abuse thrives on secrecy
• The members of SCU owe a duty of care to the children with whom they work with and responsibility to meet minimum standards of protection for the children in their care.

Therefore, the members of SCU agree on the following policy statement.

SCU is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people. It recognises its responsibility to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and to protect children from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Paid staff and volunteers will endeavour to work together to encourage the development of an ethos which embraces difference and diversity and respects the rights of children and young people.

SCU will:

Possible abusers:

Adults (both male and female) and other children may abuse children. Abusers usually know the child. (For example, parents, baby sitters, siblings, relatives, friends of the family). Sometimes they represent someone in authority such as teachers, young workers, children’s workers or church workers.

It’s crucial that Smile Charity Uganda team: staff members and volunteers recognise that:

• Abuse of children can and does happen and such abuse is normally instigated by people known to and trusted by the child.

A stranger will rarely abuse a child but sometimes paedophiles and others set out to join organisations to obtain access to children. People who want to harm children can access them through leisure, sport and voluntary work.

• Abuse can take place in the home, within a family, community, organisational, religious or institutional setting. Children are particularly at risk in residential homes and in families or where a family is under extreme stress.

Physical Abuse

Is the actual or likely injury to a child. It includes hitting, beating with a stick or other implement, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, or suffocating. This could result in bruises, burns, bite marks, cuts, head injury, whiplash, internal injuries and broken bones. It may also include the situation where a care giver deliberately causes ill health to a child they are looking after or feigns ill health. This may involve forcing a child to work in an unsafe way or environment or depriving the child of the necessities of food, water, sunlight or air.

Sexual Abuse

Is the actual or likely sexual exploitation of a child or adolescent? It involves encouraging, enticing or forcing a child to take part in or observe sexual activities that they may or may not truly comprehend. It includes any action with sexual intent towards children such as touching a child’s genitals, asking a child to touch the genitals of others, encouraging a child to watch or take part in pornography, or having sex with the child whether or not they appear to be consenting. It includes rape, incest and all forms of sexual activity involving children such as pornography and prostitution.

It is criminal behaviour to involve children in sexual behaviours for which they are not personally, socially and developmentally ready.

Neglect

Is the persistent or severe failure to meet a child’s basic, physical and psychological needs or failure to protect a child from danger. It is any action that deliberately neglects the rights to live, the right to learn, the right to participate and the right to speak. Neglect is likely to result into serious impairment to the child’s health and development. It may involve;

Ø A care giver failing to protect a child from exposure to cold or starvation or extreme failure to carry out important aspects of care.

Emotional Abuse

This is the actual or likely persistent or severe emotional ill treatment or rejection of a child, which is likely to have an adverse effect on the child’s emotional and behavioural development.

It includes any actions (gestures, word or behaviours) that deliberately cause children to feel afraid, anxious, in danger, corrupted, exploited, annoyed or discouraged.

It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless, unloved and inadequate.

It may involve neglecting to give enough love and attention, not making the child to feel secure and worthy or verbally assaulting the child by belittling, blaming, sarcasm and threats.

Organised Abuse.

This is sexual abuse where there is more than one abuser and the adults concerned appear to act together to abuse the child and /or where an adult uses an institutional frame work or position of authority to recruit children for sexual abuse.

Bullying

Bullying is increasingly recognised as harmful to children and adolescents. It could involve physical intimidation, verbal intimidation or emotional intimidation. It may include racist and sexist remarks or isolation. It always involves the less powerful person experiencing deliberate hostility.

SCU members must be alert to the possibilities of child abuse and are recommended to follow these pointers if they are uncertain.

Signs of Physical Abuse

Signs of Neglect.

Signs of Sexual Abuse.

Signs of Emotional Abuse

SCU recognises that children and young people who have a disability are often at the greatest risk of abuse, particularly sexual abuse.

It can be hard to know if a child with a disability has been abused because of communication problems. Children may have difficulty in understanding what is said to them or expressing themselves in ways that others understand. The person communicating with a child may not possess the appropriate (spoken and non-verbal) personal communication skills.

The definition of abuse is wider for children with disabilities. This is often because children with disabilities tend to require high levels of physical, personal, and ultimate care than those without disabilities.

The wider the definition can include:

v Force feeding

v Financial abuse

v Over medication

v Segregation.

SCU believes it is wrong to view a child as a sexual object and incapable of sexual abuse.

Any staff member working with a child or children with a disability must use appropriate non abusive language and actions to encourage them and increase their confidence and self-esteem.

ü We believe children should understand their rights to protection and we should listen to their opinions. Therefore, we commit to train children in an appropriate manner to recognise abusive behaviour, protect themselves and to forward concerns they have to responsible adults.

ü We purposefully ask children of the risks and fears they are experiencing and ask for their ideas of how they can be protected from them.

ü We will help children be aware of their rights not to be abused and how to defend themselves.

ü We will provide training to our staff, volunteers, leadership members, donors and those who interact with children about child protection.

ü We recognise that families have the responsibility for bringing up their children. Therefore, we commit to teaching parents and guardians to protect their children from abuse.

ü We are committed to discussing child abuse within the communities with which we walk in the knowledge that involving communities will make children safe.

ü We also believe governments have responsibilities to protect children. Therefore, we will raise our voices for and along with the children to call to account those in positions of power and authority who make and implement laws and policies to ensure those policies do not abuse, ignore or take advantage of children at risk.

SCU expects anyone interacting with the children on its behalf to abide by its behaviour and child discipline good practice guidelines when interacting with children.

These guidelines comply with the good practice guidelines and the UN convention on the rights of the child. The guidelines are listed below;

Our behaviour protocols cover all: staff, volunteers, board members, interns, consultants, visitors, donors, sponsors, parents and guests. All of whom are expected to treat children with respect and dignity.

The guidelines include regulations covering the types of discipline which can be used with those children. We use praise and reward for good behaviour as a method of discipline. Any physical punishments given and are done in accordance with regulations are recorded and should not fall within the definitions of abuse detailed in this policy.

Some adults seek to work with children in order to have opportunities to abuse children. Adults are always responsible for their behaviour and cannot blame the child even if the adult believes that the child is ‘provoking’ or ‘seductive’. Any individual knowing or suspecting that these protocols or their regulations are being broken and children are being abused are obliged to report that behaviour to the child protection officer (as long as he or she is not implicated in the abuse) of SCU.

If the protocols above and /or the regulations of SCU are broken, the person involved will be disciplined and may lose their job or their voluntary work. All applicants for employment and voluntary work will be made fully aware of these requirements before they accept any paid or voluntary position working with children.

Staff members will not be disciplined for reporting suspicious behaviour even if those suspicions are not found to be justified so long as those reports are truthful and the reporting is done in good faith. Staff bringing abusive behaviour to the notice of the relevant people will be regarded as acting in a responsible and positive way.

Each individual must sign a statement to say they have read this policy, will respect it and understand that action will be taken where its provisions are broken.

Any breach of the policy, procedures or behaviours and child discipline guidelines will result in disciplinary actions.

We are also aware of harmful information that can be received by children in correspondence and through the internet. Therefore, SCU is committed to screen any correspondence and internet conversations held with children in our care.

You should:

You should not:

You must never:

As far as possible avoid being alone with a child your activity cannot be seen. On organisation premises this may mean leaving doors open or two groups working in the same room. Where possible groups should have at least two leaders and in mixed sex groups preferably one of each sex.

In a counselling situation with a young person, where privacy and confidentiality are important, try to make sure that another adult knows the interview is taking place and with whom. If possible, another adult should be in the building and the young person should know where they are. It is not advisable to counsel on your own a child or young person of the opposite sex.

Ensure that access to the building is safe and well lit.

Be aware of health and safety issues:

Ø Is furniture and equipment you are using safe for children?

Ø Do you know where the first aid kit is?

Ø And who your first aider is?

Treat all children and young people with respect and dignity befitting their age: which language, tone of voice and where you put your body.

Do not engage in any of the following:

Ideally if the car is being used there should be another adult in the car as well as the driver. If this is not possible then the child should be sat in the back of the car and this should only be for a short journey. Where it is necessary to transport children and young people to activities, transport arrangements including the names of the drivers must be included on the parental consent form. Seat belts should be worn at all times and that each passenger is provided with a seat belt. Each driver is responsible for insurance of his or her vehicle and must agree for its use for a group activity.

If it is mini-bus to be used, it’s very important to fit in the seat belts. Please refrain from drinking alcohol if you are drinking while on SCU activities.

If you see another member of staff acting in ways that might be misconstrued, be prepared to speak to them or to your supervisor about your concerns. Leaders should encourage an atmosphere of mutual support and care which allows all workers to be comfortable enough to discuss in appropriate attitudes or behaviour.

Keeping parents informed. All group leaders are responsible for handling consent forms from parents/ care giver for their child to be attending the group linked to smile.

If any offsite activities are undertaken separate consent must be gained from the parent/care giver.

Visiting children at home- children’s workers and teachers will need to visit children and their families at home from time to time – so the following guidelines are recommended:

Children from the street – sometimes children playing outside or wandering the streets with no adult supervisor will join in SCU –organised activities. (e.g children’s club, Sunday schools) without the knowledge of their parents. It would be wise to do the following:

SCU young person’s peer group activities – all youth activities should be overseen by named adults who have been selected in accordance with the agreed recruitment procedures and should contribute to any planning and review of events. If there are children or young people aged under 16 at activity, workers should always be present or within earshot. No person under the age of 18 should be left on SCU premises alone. Young people who assist with caring for other children/young people should be subjected to the same recruitment process as adults.

Children with special needs- Avoid segregation of children with special needs from other children. They should be encouraged to participate fully in the programme offered by SCU. Their rights and protection are the same as for any other child.

Touch: Be careful in the way you touch a child as you might be unaware of their past experience. Always ask yourself the question ‘for whose benefit is this taking place?’ Avoid touching a child when there’s no other adult in the room. If you see another leader acting in an inappropriate way. Please speak to the responsible person.

Looking after children over nights or residential activities this is a complicated area. Please consult the guidelines in ‘safe to grow’ before proceeding with any such plans.

Abuse of Trust- Relationships between children or young people or vulnerable adults and their leaders take many different forms but all of them are described as relationships of trust. The leader is someone in whom the child or young person places a degree of trust and where the relationship is not one of equal partners.

There are boundaries in such relationships:

• It is always wrong for a leader to enter into a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 18 or a vulnerable adult.
• It is not acceptable for a leader to form a romantic relationship with someone under the age of 18 or a vulnerable adult with whom they have a relationship of trust.
• If the romantic relationship did occur the leader should cease both the relationship of trust or the romantic relationship.

All those in SCU have a duty to raise concerns about the behaviour by staff, supervisors, volunteers or other which may be harmful to those in their care, without prejudice to their own position.

SCU will inform its partner organisations of its child protection policy and procedures, outlining that these documents are confidential and not for public knowledge or to be passed on without protection policy and procedures.

SCU is committed to carefully screening any people who want to interact with the children in our responsibility before people are allowed to do so. People will only be recruited or allowed access to children after specific information has been gathered and judged upon. Screening includes every one –volunteers, leadership, members and organisation helpers. e.t.c.

On applying to work with children, all adults are made aware of child protection policy and asked to fill out the relevant declaration and clearance form. Failure to complete such forms will deem the applicant unsuitable to join the team.

When recruiting both paid and volunteer workers to child care positions, Smile will:

• Ask all applicants to complete an application form.
• Give all applicants a task /job description.
• Ask all applicants to complete a self-declaration form.
• Ask all applicants to give the names of two suitable referees using a character reference form which will be checked out by the supervisors. One will be from a Christian leader who has known the applicant for at least two years. The other will be from the applicant’s current employer/tutor or other responsible adults.
• Invite suitable applicants to discuss the position, all applicants will declare any history, criminal or civil of child abuse.
• If possible, police checks will be sought to conform this. Permission to interact with children is dependent upon judging these declarations. Any false declaration will be a disciplinary matter and may result in the person losing their position.
• During induction, new workers will be familiarised with the child protection policy and asked to sign in acceptance.

All forms will be kept by the child protection officer.

If found by SCU to be a risk to children or if that risk is confirmed from another source, the applicant needs to understand they will not be allowed to work with children again in the organisation or any allied project.

During their induction a new worker will be invited to raise any question or queries they have in relation to the SCU child protection policy and the staff member responsible for inductions will refer these questions to the child protection officer.

The SCU staff member responsible for induction will draw the new worker’s attention to the following aspects of child protection policy.

All SCU staff members and volunteers are required to complete ongoing child protection training and the child protection officer is responsible for helping arranging such trainings. This should take place at least once a year or two years. (Can be agreed upon).

It is the responsibility of the child protection officer to keep a confident log of all allegations and indications of child abuse using the standard SCU Child Abuse Reporting Form.

The abuse protection officer will report to the SCU Board of Directors at least twice a year on all child protection issues.

It is not the responsibility of SCU’s staff members to decide whether a child has been abused but it’s their responsibility to refer all concerns of potential child abuse to the child protection officer appointed for the organisation. If the child protection officer is implicated then the matter must be referred to the supervisor or the chairperson of the board.

Child Protection Officer is SCU’s delegated person who is responsible for dealing with allegations of child abuse.

Public Relations Officer is designated to deal with the media in the event of an allegation being made and reported.

• SCU is committed to being a place where people and children can forward genuine concerns or suspicions without fear of reprisal. Neither will people be offended if an allegation is made against them but will fully cooperate with investigations. SCU actively encourages our workers as a group and in one-to-one discussions to be open in discussing potential for abuse in our work.
• SCU is committed to treating the victim and the alleged perpetrator with dignity and respect while an investigation is taking place. However, it is recognised that adults generally have a lot more power than children and may threaten or frighten them to drop any allegations if they have unsupervised access to them following an allegation. All investigations will be confidential and information gathered will be on a ‘need to know basis.’ Children will be believed and protected from the alleged abuser until a full investigation has taken place.
• SCU ensures that all staff knows what to do if an allegation of child abuse is made be that within the project or within the child’s home or community.

The safety of the child is a paramount consideration at all times.

Workers are obliged to report in the following circumstances:

If abuse is disclosed or discovered:

If necessary:

What to do if a child talks about abuse:

What will happen next?

The process of professional involvement in cases of child abuse will usually follow this course:

• Discussion involving the LC1, probation officer, the police
• Child protection officer, other significant professionals and the person suspecting abuse or to who, the child has talked to.
• A decision will be taken as to whether an investigation is warranted; if so it will then be planned.

The investigation may include:

• An informal talk with the child.
• Medical examination
• Preliminary family assessment.
• If there is a sufficient concern, a child protection meeting must be held to decide the best course of action to protect the child and help the family. There may be criminal prosecution of the abuser.

An initial written record of all allegation and all the facts relating to it must be handwritten, signed and dated and must be kept as a confidential record. If a foreigner is involved the relevant Embassy should be informed. All disclosures and allegations are then to be recorded using the reporting Child Abuse Form.

People and children can report a suspicion or concern by doing the following:

Always applicable:

When the suspicion is about project staff or representative:

The child protection officer will collect and clarify the precise details of the allegation or suspicion and provide this information to the police.

When the suspicion is about child abuse in other organisations:

Contact the child protection officer of that organisation within 24 hours. Contact authorities concerned. The suspicion will not be discussed with other members of the network.

If any allegations or suspicion of child abuse relate to a worker of SCU then the Board will determine the appropriate course of action in terms of the feasibility of the worker continuing to work for SCU. The disciplinary measures can be implemented in line with the SCUs disciplinary procedures. Anyone found guilty of allegation can be dismissed from work.

In the situation of serious abuse or rape of the child, the following will happen to the child:

• The child must receive adequate medical and emotional care within 24 hrs of the incident.
• Suspicions of child abuse must be discussed with the doctor.
• The probation officer will agree on a plan to ensure the child’s safety and provide support.
• The police will be informed to undertake any criminal investigations or arrest.
• We will offer support and appropriate care to the victim.
  1. Advocacy and Net working

SCU is committed to working with other projects, community members, government and police to eradicate abuse to children.

We commit ourselves to learn with others and speak up for children to receive justice and protection in our community. We commit to making people aware of the risks and abuse experienced by children and what they can do to protect them.

SCU is committed to its workers as well as to the children. Therefore, only the child protection team will know information about any allegations and will continue to treat the accused with dignity throughout.

Any information about a child protection allegation or incident is only to be shared with the child protection officer. (probation officer, LC1 or the police) on a need-to-know basis.

• Names and identities-of the child or children, the informant(s) or any others allegedly or actually involved – are not to be disclosed outside the group designated as need to know unless cleared by the child protection officer.
• Fax of information about a child protection allegation or incident is prohibited unless time and person to receive it at such a time has been previously arranged or is absolutely necessary and with prior permission from the child protection officer. All faxes must be marked with private and confidential.
• E-mails must not be used regarding any allegations or incidents.
• No messages to people outside SCU such as to the police- should be given without guidance from the Child Protection officer.
• Failure to adhere to this will result in disciplinary action against the staff member.
  1. Storage of data, information and visual images at SCU:

Data and information

SCU seeks to uphold the principles of data protection. The principles set out in this section apply to all written material stored by SCU which include but not limited to names, addresses, contact details photographs, slides and videos.

No non staff member or organisation will be able to access the database, save in exceptional circumstances and in consultation with the child protection officer. In such circumstances the non-staff member or organisation must undertake a full induction to the SCU child protection policy and sign a contract confirming their agreement to adhere to it.

No staff member should leave database open and unattended to on any computer they are using. Neither should any printed information or information down loaded in soft copy from the database be left open or unattended.

No staff member is allowed to download or store data or information that could be constructed as abusive to a child or children either in its production or its content. This includes child pornography.

SCU staff members are obliged to report to child protection officer any concerns or suspicions they have about data, information or visual images being stored at SCU that is or could be construed to be abusive to children.

In making this requirement a part of this policy it is recognised that certain data and information about children at risks could be construed to be abusive if certain searches are made. If there is any doubt about the validity of a concern or suspicion the final decision will lie with the child protection officer and the Board members.

Upon receiving notification of a staff member’s concern or suspicion the child protection officer will:

Make a record of all details of the staff members concern or suspicion using as many sections of the standard SCU’s Child Abuse Reporting Form as possible.

Ask SCU’s member skilled in IT to carry out a search of the relevant computer(s) on which the data, information or visual images is allegedly stored.

No data, image or information is to be disseminated if it is either abusive or could be construed as abusive of a child or which could be used to abuse a child or children.

Common sense must prevail in the use of this good practice. Before disseminating any data, image or information, each worker must ask his or herself two questions:

a) Will this information lead people to specific details of a child such that personal access with that child is made easier? (name, location of a child)

b) Is this information restricted to people with special access to confidential or strategic processes aimed at protecting children? (strategic plan to eradicate sexual trafficking)

If the answer is “yes” the request will be denied and an explanation given to the inquirer.

If the answer is “may be” then please check with the child protection officer before responding.

If the SCU staff member handling any request for information, data or visual image has any reason to doubt the integrity of the third party / their request for resources such resources will not be released. A note must be made. directly or indirectly.