Que Rico child protection policy (in full)
We have a duty of care to safeguard all children we work with and support.
All children have a right to protection, and the needs of disabled and disadvantaged children and others who may be particularly vulnerable must be addressed.
Que Rico is a Child Safe and Child Friendly organisation and as such we have adopted a Child Protection Policy (CPP) in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Definitions:
Throughout this document:
‘Child’ refers to any young person in the care, supervision or contact of an employee or volunteer of Que Rico! under the age of 18, as defined by the United Nations’ Convention of the Rights of the Child
Child Protection Policy:
Children around the world are at risk from exploitation, sexual, physical and emotional abuse, neglect and other forms of inappropriate interactions perpetrated by adults and older children. Children are especially at risk in global south as they adapt to rapid changes, movements of people, a lack of robustness in the legal process and booming inbound tourism industry.
Que Rico is committed to protecting children from any form of exploitation or abuse.
Article 19 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC):
1. 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.
2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programs to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.(http://www.unicef.org)
Setting the Standards, the United Kingdom’s guidelines on child protection for International Non Government Organizations’ (NGOs), Standard 1 states:
Any International NGO should have a child protection policy if its direct or indirect beneficiaries include individuals under the age of 18.
To conform to the UNCRC and the Setting the Standard guidelines, Que Rico has endorsed this Child Protection Policy.
Aims of the Child Protection Policy:
We are committed to the protection of all the children it works for. The welfare of the child is paramount. The major aims of the Que Rico Child Protection Policy are to convey that:
All children, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/or sexual identity, have the right to protection from abuse and exploitation.
We are committed to ensuring children are provided with a safe and protective environment at all Que Rico locations.
All staff and volunteers are equipped to make informed and confident responses to specific child protection issues.
All staff and volunteers working with Que Rico have a responsibility to uphold the Child Protection Policy and report any concerns to the Que Rico Onsite Coordinator or a Que Rico Director and ensure the concerns are reported to the appropriate authorities.
All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly, appropriately and formally recorded.
Introduction
Child exploitation and abuse, particularly sexual abuse, can arouse strong emotions in those facing such a situation. It is important to explore and understand these feelings and not allow them to interfere with your judgment about the appropriate action to take.
Abuse can occur within many situations including the home, at school and on the street. Those who exploit children include parents and other family members, community members, teachers, tourists and volunteers/staff with different support organisations.
Some individuals will actively seek employment or voluntary work with children in order to harm them. A volunteer, worker or teacher with Que Rico will have regular contact with children and is an important link in identifying cases where they need protection. All suspicious cases involving child protection issues, or of poor practice should be reported following the guidelines in this document.
Forms of child exploitation/abuse
Exploitation of children and young people can take place in many forms. These include:
• Sexual Abuse: Forcing or coercing a child into: any sexual act including physical contact of penetrative or non penetrative (such as oral sex) nature; partaking or watching of pornographic material/sexual acts; encouraging children to behave in a sexually inappropriate way.
• Physical Abuse: Includes any act that physically harms a child including hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning or suffocating.
• Emotional Abuse: Any negative emotional ill treatment of a child causing them to feel inadequate, unloved, unworthy, frightened or in danger. This can include verbal abuse, imposing developmentally inappropriate expectations on the child or restricting their participation in age appropriate activities/normal social interaction.
• Neglect: Is the persistent failure/denial to meet a child’s physical and psychological needs. This can take the form of failing to provide food and water, shelter, supervision and medical care and/or failing to protect a child from physical, sexual or emotional harm or danger. In the global south, poverty is persistent and all consuming, rendering many families unable to provide many of these necessities to their children. This inability is not deliberate and of course is different in nature to deliberate neglect. Then VPO, along with many NGOs are working towards improving the living standard for all the children we support. Staff and volunteers with VPO must ensure all their actions are directed towards this aim, and must ensure that they themselves do not perpetrate any neglectful acts while children are in their care. If a staff member or volunteer is particularly concerned for certain children they must speak with the VPO coordinator or director.
Remember: Abuse and exploitation of children can be perpetrated by many different people: Tourists and volunteers/staff of various organizations working with children; Parents and other Family Members; Community members, teachers etc.
If you would like further advice on some common signs and symptoms of child abuse and possible signs of concern regarding adult behavior, it can be found in the appendixes at the end of this document.
Recruitment of Que Rico staff and volunteers
Que Rico recognizes that anyone may have the potential to abuse children in some way and that all reasonable steps must be taken to ensure unsuitable people are prevented from working with children.
Pre-volunteering/employment checks will include the following:
All volunteers/staff must read and demonstrate that they understand and sign the Que Rico Child Protection Policy in front of the Que Rico official prior to commencing work.
All volunteers/staff must declare any past child protection breaches and any criminal record.
Appropriate references/referees must be given if/when requested by Que Rico.
All volunteers / staff must answer any appropriate questions asked by officials of Que Rico Information gathered will elicit information about an applicant's past and a self-disclosure about any criminal record.
The Evidence of identity (passport for international volunteers) must be shown to the nominated Que Rico official, who will take a photocopy/scan of the passport and your entry visa (for international volunteers) prior to commencing the volunteer or employee placement.
Interview and induction regarding child protection issues
All Que Rico employees and volunteers are required to undergo a brief meeting with the relevant Que Rico official prior to commencing work during which:
- The identity is confirmed (and copies of passport and entry visa will be made)
Child Protection Responsibility for Que Rico volunteers and staff. In addition to pre-volunteering/employment checks, volunteers and staff of Que Rico should:
Good practice guidelines for all staff and volunteers
All personnel of Que Rico should be encouraged to demonstrate exemplary behavior in order to protect themselves from false allegations. The following are common sense examples of how to create a positive culture and climate.
Good practice means:
Practices never sanctioned by Que Rico
The following are never sanctioned. Under no circumstances must you:
- Be alone with less than three children at any time
- Escort less than three children at a time in any vehicle (unless in an emergency situation).
Furthermore, Que Rico believes that all forms of paid for sexual activity, even amongst consenting adults perpetrates the problem of child exploitation and will not be tolerated.
Incidents that must be reported/recorded
If any of the following occur you should report this immediately to the appropriate Que Rico representative and record the incident. You should also ensure the parents of the child and principals of the schools are informed if appropriate:
Abuse and exploitation
There is evidence that some people may use opportunities where they are in close contact with children as an opportunity to take inappropriate photographs or film footage.
All staff and volunteers with Que Rico should seek prior permission from the relevant Que Rico representative or project partner if they intend to take photos/video at their project and the resulting images/video must be made available, on request, for review by the relevant representative.
Inappropriate activity
Sensitivity is encouraged with regard to taking individual or close up photos or video of any children, both with respect to the intrusiveness of the action and the duration.
Shorter duration volunteers especially should remember that while this may be a unique opportunity for them to record images it is unhelpful for the children to be photographed time and again on a regular basis.
Staff and volunteers should be vigilant while at any Que Rico or partner site and any concerns should to be reported to the relevant representative.
Responding to allegations or suspicions
It is not the responsibility of anyone working/volunteering with Que Rico to decide whether or not child abuse has taken place. The responsibility extends only to acting on any reasonable concerns and communicating these to the relevant authority.
Whistleblower Protection
Que Rico assures all staff and volunteers that it will fully support anyone who in good faith reports his/her concern that abuse or exploitation is or may be taking place.
Accused person protection
Que Rico assures all staff and volunteers that all details of any accusation will be kept strictly confidential and relayed only on a need to know basis to the relevant authorities. Further, that whilst respecting the need to protect children, full regard for the rights of the individual and the possibility of error in the reporting of concerns will be assured.
Procedures
If a disclosure is made to you, the following procedure should be followed:
- Make detailed notes about any allegation/suspicion and;
- Report your concerns as soon as possible to the relevant representative who will then contact the appropriate authorities or;
- Fill out the Que Rico Incident Reporting Form as soon as possible (this can be found in the appendix)
Information needed by the authorities and the police about suspected abuse:
To ensure that this information is as helpful as possible, a detailed record should always be made as close to the time of the disclosure/concern (if you need further assistance or information), which should include the following if known:
- Have the parents been contacted?
- If so, what has been said?
- If the child was not the person who reported the incident, has the child been spoken to? If so, what was said?
Where there is a misconduct complaint against or a disregard for Que Rico Child Protection Policy by anyone working within the organisation the following actions may take place:
- Immediate removal of the suspected person from the relevant Que Rico or partner premises pending further investigation
- A report to the appropriate authorities
- A criminal investigation and prosecution with the support of Que Rico
Confidentiality
Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that confidentiality is maintained for all concerned regardless of the outcome of the situation. Information will be handled and disseminated on a need to know basis only.
Criminal Record Declaration
As stated in the child protection policy, because of the sensitive nature of working with children, you are required to disclose details of any criminal record. Only relevant convictions and other information will be taken into account so disclosure need not necessarily be a bar to volunteering or working with Que Rico.
You must also declare that you have read and understood the child protection policy of Que Rico and agree to abide by and uphold the policy throughout the duration of your placement.