Getting started with child protection can seem like a daunting prospect.
It is a huge area and one that can seem like a highly technical and possibly
very scary one. It isn't, well not totally. The main thing is to be committed
to the protection of children.
If you know how damaging violence against children is and the negative
consequences of child abuse, then you know how important it is to do as much as
you can to promote their health, well being and development and to keep them
safe from harm.
Once organisations are clear about the risks and issues and understand
their responsibilities to protect children, writing a policy or statement of
commitment is the next stage of the process. You should make this an inclusive
and participatory process.
Get as many people involved as you can and in different ways - you will
need someone to lead the policy development process and senior managers will
have to be engaged and consulted, but everyone can have a say as the child
protection policy will affect the whole staff as well as other representatives
such as volunteers, contractors, consultants, and so on.
It is a good idea to form a small team or working group to draft and
consult on the policy, and good to have members from different parts of your
organisation. If you are a small organisation do this as a whole team exercise
and use it as a team building initiative.
Try to make the policy development process as interactive and
interesting as possible. Sending round drafts for comments is fine but also
think about going to team meetings to discuss it face-to-face with colleagues,
hold consultation events as part of other scheduled meetings, use the Internet
or your Intranet if you have one.
Think creatively about ways to engage people in the policy development
process - this way you will get good feedback and develop a good quality
product but just as importantly, you will already have got people thinking
about child protection, you will have communicated the organisational
commitment to keeping children safe, and hopefully through your discussions
have secured their commitment and 'buy in'