If measures to prevent child abuse have not worked and an incident has occurred! an algorithm for immediate response to it should be launch. Within three hours of detection! information about potential violence against a child in Emergency care algorithm an institution should be transferred to the territorial body of the National Social Service Service! which immediately forms a special group to assess the level of child safety.
Such a group will include specialists of various profiles:
representatives of social services! police! healthcare! and public vk data organizations. Such a group will have the right to conduct an independent investigation of the circumstances without interference from the institution’s administration. This will ensure the independence of the response to the incident at the local level – the risks of “turning a blind eye” to violations will be reduced.
It is of fundamental importance to ensure that children are able to communicate with professionals who visit the facility to assess their safety! without the presence of facility staff. This should increase children’s openness and their sense of security! as they often stay with them.
Based on the results of the appropriate assessment! specialists will some could argue that remote determine the level of threat to the child. If the risk of danger is high! the child must be immediately mov to a safe place or urgently removed from the work of the institution’s employees. This is the crucial step! the absence of which was one of the reasons for the silence on the facts of violence against children! because the child remained where he was being abused anyway.
How to assess a child’s needs?
Ensuring safe conditions for children is only the first step. It should be an impetus for strengthening work to fully clarify the condition! needs and wishes of the child! prepare him/her for return to the family or placement asb directory in a family form of upbringing! primarily taking into account the best interests of the child himself/herself.
Each child is unique! with their own individual needs in different areas of life. Accordingly! a standardized approach to meeting the needs of children in institutions cannot be effective. Therefore! we propose to introduce a separate important direction – a mechanism for assessing the individual needs of each child placed in an institution.
