Child Safeguarding Training

CS Focal Persons and HR people

June 28-July 2, 2010

Addis Ababa
Aim of the training

To develop a common understanding and framework for the

implementation of the Safeguarding Children Policy and
Procedures within the Save the Children UK.
Objectives

The participant will have had an opportunity to:

• define child abuse and examine the influence of local

culture practices and traditions on the childhood period
• identify issues that stop children from being protected
• clarify the difference in response between abuse that
happens inside an organisation and that which is external
• identify the key next steps we need to take to safeguard
children
Expected Outcomes

By the end of the training we will have achieved:

• A common understanding of child abuse, child protection

and of Safeguarding Children - the child safeguarding
policy materials
• An agreement on the further development of a joint
implementation framework of the safeguarding policy
Keeping children safe
Standards for child protection
Overview of standards

Standard 1 A written policy on keeping children safe

Standard 2 Putting the policy into practice
Standard 3 Preventing harm to children
Standard 4 Written guidelines on behaviour towards children
Standard 5 Meeting the standards in different locations
Standard 6 Equal rights of all children to protection
Standard 7 Communicating the ‘keep children safe’ message
Standard 8 Education and training for keeping children safe
Standard 9 Access to advice and support
Standard 10 Implementation and monitoring of the standards
Standard 11 Working with partners to meet the standards
Purpose of standards

• To promote good practice, challenge practice that is abusive to

children and ensure everyone works together to create a safe
environment for children.

• To protect children from abuse and exploitation including abuse by

staff or other representatives.

• To provide support for agencies to aim at when assessing and

developing their organisations internal child protection measures.
Advantages of implementing child protection standards

Children are protected

No standards can offer complete protection for children, but following these
standards minimises the risk to children from abuse and exploitation.

Agency representatives are protected

By implementing these standards, all representatives will be clear about how they
are expected to behave with children and what to do if there are concerns about
the safety a child.

The organisation is protected

By implementing these standards, organisations make clear their commitment to
keeping children safe. The standards will help them to move towards best practice
in this area and deter potential abusers from joining the organisation.
General principles

• All children have equal rights to protection from abuse and

exploitation.
• All children should be encouraged to fulfil their potential and
inequalities should be challenged.
• Everybody has a responsibility to support the care and protection of
children.
• Agencies/NGOs have a duty of care to children with whom they and
their representatives work.
• If agencies work through partners they have a responsibility to meet
minimum standards of protection for the children in their partners
programmes.
 What is Child Protection?
Child protection is a term used to describe the actions that
individuals, organisations, countries and communities take to protect
children from acts of abuse and exploitation:

• domestic violence,
• child labour,
• commercial and sexual exploitation and abuse,
• HIV,
• physical violence…

It can also be used as a broad term to describe the work that

organizations and programmes undertake to protect children from the
risk of harm due to the situation in which they are living.
 Child Safeguarding
• Child Safeguarding is a term
adopted by Save the Children UK for
ensuring that the individual children
we work with are safe and that we
respond appropriately to individual
cases of abuse and exploitation
(either internal or external to Save the
Children) when they occur.
 Module One

Children and Childhood

Exercise on Childhood
 Key learning points
• Perceptions about children and childhood change from
generation to the next, but something remain the same.
• A community’s perception about children and childhood
is influenced by powerful groups and ideas at particular
times.
• We have different experience.
• Understanding children and childhood is crucial when
working with children
• Our own values, beliefs and attitude towards children will
influence our ability to act to protect children.
 Module Two

Understanding Child abuse

Objectives

• To define child abuse locally and internationally

• To awareness of local legislation for protecting
children
• To examine the influence of local cultural
practices and traditions on the welfare of
children
• To identify the ways organizations and
communities protect children
• To identify the things that put children at risk
 What is Child Abuse?

(Brain storming, card exercise)

DVD show
Defining abuse

Why child abuse is a complex subject?

 Because

• The vast cultural, religious, social/political,

legal and economic differences that
children experience
• What may seem to be abusive in one
country may be acceptable in another
Then

• It seems impossible to agree on one ,

universal definition.

• But in order that child protection approach

make sense it is crucial to reach a
common understanding by organizations.
 Child abuse

• Child abuse is a general term used to

describe where the child may experience
harm, usually as a result of failure on the
parent/carer or organization/community to
ensure a reasonable standard of care and
protection or by a deliberate harmful acts.
Cntd.

• 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.
WHO, 1999 and 2002
Why children need protection?

Because of their:

• physical status – smaller, less powerful, less strong, less resistant to

ill treatment and ill health
• societal status – unable to provide for most basic human
rights/needs eg, shelter, food, warmth
• developmental status – less understanding generally, undeveloped
conscience, undeveloped issues
• Principal assets of the country
 Legal Protections

International and Regional

• UNCRC
• ACRWC
• Guidelines/declarations
National Laws
• The Constitution
• Domestication of international standards
• Specific article
• The Revised Family law
• Penal Law
• Labor law
 The four core principles of CRC
• The Right to Life/Survival and Development
(Article 6)

• Best Interest of a child - primary consideration

(Article 3)

• Non-Discrimination (Article 2)

• Participation (Article 12)

 Barriers to change
• Harmful cultural practice are normalized
• Discrimination and prejudice
• Poverty
• No alternatives to custom/practice
• Ignorance
• Lack of information
• Poorly equipped health facilities and social services
• Lack of infrastructure/systems for child protection
• Lack of commitment to implement the law
• Lack of policies/procedures and systems to support child
protection legislation
• Lack of places for children’s voices to be heard
 The scale of the problems facing
children are huge
• Around 40 million children around the
world are abused each year

• Up to 15% of all children are thought to

have been sexually abused

• 57,000 children under 15 were murdered

in 2000
Source: World Health Organisation 2003
• In the UK:
• On average, every
ten days in England
and Wales one child
is killed at the hands
of their parent.
NSPCC 2008

World Health Organisation 2001, prevention of Child Abuse

and Neglect Making the links between rights and public health,
Geneva: World Health Organisation
 Country statistic

• In our country statistics (Addis Ababa city

government police commission data)
-Child sexual harassment and raped
cases
In 2005, 244 children
In 2006, 333 children
In 2007, 476 children
 Module Three

Recognizing and Responding to

Child Abuse Concerns
Objectives

• To identify the signs and indicators

children give us that someone is hurting or
abusing them
• To recognize the things that stop us
responding to those sign
• To recognize things that stop children
telling when they are being abused
 Recognize sign of abuse

When child abuse occurs often, and over

a long period of time, it can have a
lifelong impact– affecting a child’s
happiness, relationships and success.
Categories of abuse
• Physical abuse

• Sexual abuse

• Emotional abuse

• Neglect
• Physical – actual or potential physical harm
• Sexual – involvement of child in sexual activity
• Emotional – failure to provide supportive
environment and/or actions that harm
development
• Neglect - chronic inattention to needs
• Exploitation – is the abuse of a position of
vulnerability, differential power, or trust for
sexual purpose.
• Group exercise on abuse practices and
behavioral/emotional indicators on each
category (two groups)
 Behavioural/Emotional Indicators for
physical abuse
Fear of parents or carers being contacted
• Aggressive behaviour or severe temper outburst
• Running away from home
• Fear of going home
• Reluctance to get changed e.g. sports and games
• Arms and legs covered in hot weather
• Depression
• Withdrawal or watchful behaviour
• Refusal to discuss injuries
• Fear of medical help
• Admission of punishment which appears excessive
 Behavioural / Emotional Indicators for
sexual abuse
• Unexplained aggressive or withdrawn behaviour
• Fear of persons
• Running away from home
• Not being allowed to date or have friends
• Nightmares
• Sexual knowledge beyond age and
developmental level
• Sexual drawings or behaviour
• Eating disorder
Cntd

• Deterioration in education performance

• Unnecessary fear for being responsible
• Disrespect for oneself
• Isolation
• Loss of self confidence
• Self harm / suicide attempt
 Behavioural/Emotional Indicators for
emotional abuse

• Inappropriate emotional responses to

emotionally painful situations
• Being unable to play/socialize
• Fear of new situations
• Fear of making mistakes
• Self harm/mutilation
• Fear of contact with parents
• Extremes of passivity or aggression
• Chronic running away
 Behavioural/Emotional Indicators for
neglect
• Being tired most of the time
• School attendance problems
• Few friends
• Stating they are left alone unsupervised
• Destructive tendencies
• Low self esteem
• Compulsive stealing or scavenging
 Nature of risks for children

• External or outside the organisation –

children abused in their families and
communities.

• Internal or inside the organisation –

children abused or put at risk by trusted
adults (or other children) within the
organisation.
 Identifying Internal and External
Concerns
Objectives
• To help plan the best response when a
child protection concern is identified.
• To make a distinction between action that
requires an internal response from an
organization, from those requiring a
community response.
 Key learning points

• Children suffer many forms of abuse and it is

important to have written policy, procedures or
guidance to help staff/volunteers know how to
respond.
• Some child protection concerns needs to
managed internally by the organization, whilst
others need a broader community response.
• Everyone needs to seek help and advice from
an appropriate person to help decide on a plan
of action.
 Barriers to reporting for children
and adults

Objectives
• To identify things that stop both children
and adults from speaking about abuse.
• To acknowledge the fears and risks to
reporting.
Exercise

• Group 1: What stops children telling about

their abuse?

• Group 2: What stops adults reporting?

 Barriers to children telling

• Children often don’t tell because they:

• are scared(feared) because they have or family have

been threatened
• believe they will be taken away
• believe they are to blame
• have no alternative as are reliant on abuser for care or
food
• feel embarrassed and guilty
• don’t want the abuser to get into trouble
• have communication or learning difficulties
• may not have the vocabulary for what happened
• are afraid they won’t be believed
• have no one to turn to
• don’t recognise it as abuse.
Possible barriers to reporting for
adults
• Fear of losing job status source of income.
• Increased danger to self, victims and
witnesses.
• Fear of getting it wrong, lack of
confidence.
• Not knowing what procedures to follow.
• Bad experience when reporting another
concern.
• Don’t know who to speak to.
• Think someone else would have done
something if there was a problem.
• Assumption that it is a normal cultural
practice.
• Isolation, lack of management and support
• Lack of access to anyone with the power
or will to intervene
• Lack of awareness that it is wrong
• Denial by the abuser
 Module Four

Making your organization safe for

children
-Child protection policy and its
importance
 Keeping children safe self audit
tool
The self-audit tool is an ideal way to
measure how far (or near!) your
organisation is from meeting the standards
on making children safe, and where you
need to improve.
• The self-audit tool asks you to think about
six different areas of your organisation:
1.children and the organisation
2.policies and procedures
3.preventing harm to children
4.implementation and training
5.information and communication
6.monitoring and review.
 Using Checkpoints
• They can be used to help you draw up an action
plan and subsequently review progress.

• There are six statements/standards within each

area. Read each statement and decide whether
each statement is:
A: in place
B: partially done
C: not in place
Tick the A, B or C box as appropriate.
Example
Policies and procedures that help keep children safe
A B C
1. The agency has a written child protection
policy or has some clear arrangements to
make sure children are kept safe from harm
2. The policy or arrangements are approved and
endorsed by the relevant management body
(eg, senior management board, executive,
committee)
3. The policy or arrangements have to be
followed by everyone
4. There are clear child protection procedures in
place that provide step-by-step guidance on
what action to take if there are concerns about
a child’s safety or welfare
5. There is a named child protection person/s
with clearly defined role and responsibilities

6. The child protection procedures also take

account of local circumstances
 The self audit web
• Once the key criteria above have been read and ticked
as either: in place, partially done or not in place,
transfer the results to the web using the shading key
below. The web illustrates visually the stage reached by
the organisation in safeguarding children and highlights
where further action needs to be taken. Please note that
there is no intended hierarchical progression from 1 – 6,
the aim of this exercise is to reveal any gaps.

• Shading Key

• In place Partially done Not in place

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THANK YOU