Child protection. Reporting and Responding.

1. Child protection
Reporting and responding
Care and Protection Network Meeting LAAM
14 – 18 July 2014

2. Content of the presentation
• Latest trends
• Reporting and Responding procedures in the GSC
• Existing challenges & obstacles
• Questions

3. LATEST TRENDS

4. External environment
 Certification scheme developed by the Keeping Children
Safe
• Most comprehensive assessment for monitoring compliance to
safeguarding standards to date
 Main benefits of certification:
• External verification by experts that child safeguarding measures are
‘fit for purpose’
• Award of the Keeping Children Safe kite mark, a visible symbol of
quality performance in child safeguarding
• Demonstrates to donors, partners, and the public, commitment and
competence in the area of child safeguarding
• Support to increasing quality, effectiveness and accountability in other
areas across the organisation

5. External trends
 Transparency and accountability
• Donors demanding more transparency and accountability with regards
to concerns such as child protection
• We need to inform proactively about identified concerns before donors
are informed through other channels
• We expect this trend to grow particularly with institutional partners

6. External/Internal environment
 Social media technologies used to share information about
child protection concerns
• Former youth are speaking out on child protection and quality
concerns using modern social media technologies such as Twitter and
Facebook as a platform
• Social media is used to communicate child protection concerns to the
GSC and PSAs
• We as an organization need to explore how to increase child and
youth participation in our endeavours to improve child protection

7. Reporting and responding procedures
 Relevant reporting and responding procedures were defined
for member associations shortly after introducing the SOS
Child Protection Policy in 2008
• No similar guideline available for the different levels within the GSC
 Identified in 2013 as one of the potential weaknesses through discussions
in the Management Council and in GSC
• It is proposed to the PAC to endorse a GSC reporting and
responding policy support document

8. REPORTING AND RESPONDING
PROCEDURES IN THE GSC

9. General framework
 SOS Children’s Villages do have child protection cases in its
programmes – we are not immune
 Employees and associates must immediately report any child
protection concern, suspicion or allegation
 Reporting a child protection concern, suspicion or allegation
needs to be seen as a positive step – only then, we can react
properly and to address the situation of the victim as well as
the perpetrator
 We need to be transparent towards all involved stakeholders
while dealing with reported child protection case

10. Key principles
Act on your concerns – IF IN DOUBT, SPEAK OUT!
Child Comes First – the protection of children is
the most important consideration
Timely and Appropriate actions – confidential local
reporting within clear, localized frameworks

11. General overview

12.  Co-workers in the International office can report any child
protection issue through online form available on the
Intranet
• When submitted, the information is automatically sent to
childprotectionIO@sos-kd.org (and not stored in the system)
• What can be reported
 Concerns that abuse, neglect, exploitation and violation of privacy may be
occurring
 Received allegation of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violation of privacy
 During a trip a child disclosed an incident (if not reported to the national
SOS CV child protection mechanism).

13.  Any information on child protection concerns can be sent
confidentially to the CPA in IO via the email
childprotection@sos-kd.org
• This applies both to internal and external reporters
• After receiving initial submission via this email address, the CPFP in
the International office will share it with CPFP in the respective IOR
• If necessary, information about the reporter can be hidden and not
shared further.

14.  Internal child protection incidents
• Any case where the victim is a child under the direct care of SOS
Children’s Villages
• Any case where the perpetrator is under the direct care, an associate
or employee of SOS Children’s Villages
 External child protection incidents
• Any case where a child is not under the direct care of SOS Children’s
Villages and the perpetrator has no links or associations to our
organisation

15. High-risk cases
 High-risk cases
• The safety of children is under significant threat.
• A death has occurred, and there is a suspicion or confirmation of
negligence, mismanagement or harmful actions that lead to the death
of a child.
• Cases that receive and/or is at the risk of receiving high media
coverage, donor, public and/or government interest.
Considering a child protection case as a high-risk case does not necessarily
mean its escalation to a higher level of the organization.

16. Child Protection Case Registers
 The Child Protection Advisor in the International Office is
required to maintain a Global Child Protection Case
Register (GCPCP), including information about the following
cases:
• Child protection cases reported directly to the CPFP in the
International Office
• All high-risk cases notified to the CPFP in the International Office by
the CPFPs in International Offices Region
 All International Offices Region are required to maintain a
Regional Child Protection Case Register (RCPCR),
including information about the following cases:
• Child protection cases reported directly to IOR or forwarded by the IO
CPFP
• All high-risk cases reported to MAs within the region

17.  Child Protection Case Registers are used as a basis to
monitor progress on GSC reported and high-risk child
protection cases in each region
 Both the IO and IOR must monitor that adequate actions are
taken and that policy is followed
 Member associations are required to report relevant child
protection cases (see previous slide) to the IOR

18. Escalation
 Escalation of the CP case = Taking the case to a higher level
of the organization
 Escalation criteria
• There is a conflict of interest which cannot be properly addressed in a
particular MA or GSC office.
• There is evidence of negligence on the part of an MA or GSC office to
decisively deal with a reported case.
 In case of an escalation the case should be brought back to a
member association’s accountability as soon as possible.

19. GSC involvement in dealing with
child protection cases

20. Periodic reporting
 Aggregated statistical reports summarizing the number,
nature and current status of all child protection cases are
submitted for review to the CPFP at the next level up on a
quarterly basis
• Aggregated quarterly reports on child protection cases need to be
submitted to the CPFP at the next level up at the end of every quarter
• Every IOR defines its internal reporting mechanisms together with the
MAs in the region
 Annual narrative report on the CP policy implementation
status as well as the latest CP trends in the respective region
• Submitted by the IORs to the CPA in the International Office
• Together with the quarterly statistical report covering the period
of January till December

21. Relevant documents:
• SOS Child Protection Policy
• Reporting and Responding Procedures for MAs
• Child protection investigation guidelines for MAs
• Child protection reporting process at IO

22. Questions ?

23. Thank you for your attention !
MR JAN FOLDA
Child Protection Adviser
Programme and Strategy
Tel.: +43 (1) 30083 5107
E-mail: jan.folda@sos-kd.org