Safeguarding Children Policy

Childcareibiza.com fully understands its responsibilities to safeguard children.

Our policy applies to all childcare professionals working with childcareibiza.com and the management team. There are three main elements to our policy:
Ensuring we practice safe recruitment in checking the suitability of the professionals working with childcareibiza.com to work with children by checking references, qualifications and Criminal Record Bureau enhanced disclosure checks. Developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse. Establishing a safe environment in which children can play, learn and develop.

The police, Social Services and the NSPCC (in the UK) have the primary responsibility for the safeguarding of children. These agencies also rely on the professionals working with children to observe and report any case of a child who is at risk.

The types of abuse which all childcare professionals need to be aware of are as follows:

Physical injury
Failure to thrive
Neglect
Emotional abuse
Sexual abuse

Any cases of suspected abuse of a child by anyone, i.e. parents, carers, relatives or childcare professionals, are reported to the Officer in Charge. Once a case has been reported the individual working with that child may be advised to observe and monitor the child for a short period of time to enable a suspicion to be supported. All details are logged in a statement including accurate conversations with exact wording. Other cases may be reported immediately to the Social Services and the child protection team in Ibiza and/or the country where the child resides.

Childcare professionals should never assume that children who appear to have bumps, bruises and cuts with alarming regularity are being abused. It may however, be necessary to gain clarification as to how they occurred and to log the injury and following discussions.

Changes in behavioural patterns need to be monitored as they can be a sign of abuse. Quiet children can often display aggression and a child who is normally extrovert may become unusually quiet.

If a child informs one of our childcare professionals that they are being abused, that individual must not promise to keep it a secret. It is the duty of all childcare professionals and organisations to inform the Officer in Charge. A broken promise to a child regarding confidentiality of this type can result in a lack of trust for all adults which could stop them confiding in anyone in the future.