Protecting children, protecting you - Plan UK's child protection policy

Children are at the heart of everything that Plan does which is why we take the issue of child protection very seriously.  A reality of life is that children are potentially at risk from abuse or exploitation by some adults and this threat exists throughout the world. Although it is a very small minority that presents this risk, everyone has a responsibility and role in protecting children and following all practical and reasonable steps to counteract the risk.

Plan exists to help children, which is why we have policies and systems so that abuse is not perpetrated or compounded by those that Plan puts in contact with children and in whom children place their trust. These measures also protect sponsors from actions that could be misconstrued and lead to false accusations. This information sheet outlines our child protection measures.

Giving child protection priority
As a child-focused organisation, Plan is wholly committed to protecting children. 

•  Plan has a worldwide child protection policy and Plan UK's policy is in line with it.
•  Members of Plan UK's Board are responsible for considering child protection in all Board decisions
•  Our Supporter Relations Manager provides a point of contact for issues relating to child protection.
•  Staff and volunteers bring all incidents or concerns to his/her  attention however minor.

Recruiting carefully
We have a number of measures to ensure that staff do not put children at risk, either through their actions or lack of action. 

• Staff and volunteers undergo a police check/Criminal Records Bureau disclosure and satisfactory clearance is necessary before they start working with us
• Plan's child protection policy and guidelines forms part of the induction given to all new staff and volunteers.
• Plan staff are trained in child protection issues 

Control within our work
By the nature of our work we hold details of children and their families. This information has been given on the understanding that it will be used to find them a sponsor and then shared during the sponsorship. There are a number of ways that we ensure that information is not abused.

• Access to details of children is based on the role of the volunteer or staff member.
• Details are held securely and access to our computer systems is protected by passwords.
• If information containing details of children and their families has to be destroyed this is done so in a secure manner. The same applies to communications from sponsors.
• Suppliers and agencies working on our behalf are made aware of our child protection policy and appropriate steps are taken to ensure that their operations also offer the same degree of protection.

Building safe relationships through sponsorship
In the UK alone Plan has over 100,000 sponsors, many of which correspond and some who actually visit their sponsored child. Sponsorship is a wonderful opportunity to share in our work through the eyes of a particular child and their family, and many strong friendships develop. To ensure that we do not allow harmful relationships to develop we have the following safeguards in place.

• We consult with external bodies including the police if we have any serious doubts about a specific individual sponsoring a child, for example if a sponsor is in prison. Plan may decline sponsorship for any reason including concern for the safety or well-being of children or their families.
• Correspondence between sponsors and sponsored children comes via Plan rather than direct. Communications from sponsors are screened to intercept inappropriate written or visual material that raises child protection concerns. Where the sponsor writes in a local language, that cannot be screened by someone in UK, the Field Offices are asked to check the content. At the same time we check for political or religious comments that could cause offence or be illegal and we also protect the privacy of our sponsors by checking that letters do not contain their contact details. This could invite begging letters from people unconnected with the sponsored child. If we cannot send it we return the correspondence to sponsors explaining our concerns and actions.
• The Internet is an un-controlled and un-regulated media. Recognising this, we ask sponsors to respect the privacy of their child and their family by refraining from using the Internet to share their details with others. 
• When children leave the sponsorship programme some sponsors naturally are keen to stay in touch. We facilitate this only if the child and their parents agree.

Clear guidelines for visits to sponsored children - protecting them and you
We encourage and arrange for sponsors to visit their sponsored child and family in their own community. We have a firm policy in place to ensure that children being visited are safe. The policy has child protection as its basis, but the interests of the visitor are also catered for. The guidelines also protect sponsors from actions that could be misconstrued and lead to false accusations.

• All sponsors receive clear guidance on how to arrange a visit when they join and the visit policy is outlined in detail if a sponsor enquires about visiting.
• All visits should be arranged in advance through Plan's UK office and we ask that sponsors inform us at least 3 months in advance so that we can make the necessary arrangements. From September 02 this includes obtaining a background police check and satisfactory clearance is required before the visit. This would show if someone had been convicted for inappropriate behaviour and would go some way towards minimising the possibility of child-related offences. Visitors sign a statement, which says that they understand and agree to the policy before visiting and we also ask sponsors to provide us with their passport details as identification.
• Plan staff must be present throughout each visit to a sponsored child.
• Sponsored children and their siblings must not be invited or taken away from their communities.
• Plan strongly discourages any invitation by sponsors for sponsored children to visit the sponsor's country.
• Sponsors and sponsored families should not exchange mailing addresses during visits.
• After every visit a report is sent to UK. All visits are monitored.
• Only in exceptional circumstances do Plan staff do agree to a visit which does not follow the above policy. This would only be done when the child and their family agree and where staff are satisfied that the interests of the child have been protected.

Taking action if necessary
The vast majority of our sponsors follow our measures to protect children. However, occasionally, some do not. Plan takes all such incidents very seriously, but we are particularly concerned about unannounced visits to children, which are often reported by the sponsored families. In many areas where we work abduction of children is a real threat so parents are naturally concerned if someone visits without the normal arrangements. In most cases these are due to a lack of awareness by the sponsor rather than any harmful intent. However, Plan is careful to thoroughly investigate every case. We contact the child and their family, our colleagues in thecountry and the sponsor or person visiting.

Plan reserves the right to bring a sponsorship to a close without giving a reason.

Where sponsors go against our policies we may decide to bring their sponsorship to a close.  We would do this because:

• We cannot knowingly continue to put a child at risk, or at potential risk - and in making this decision we must err on the side of caution.
• For our development work to achieve results it is vital that we retain the trust and confidence of the children and families that we work with.
• We could not continue to facilitate a relationship knowing that it did not respect basic human rights of privacy and protection from harm.
• We cannot commit to long-term additional monitoring of 'potential risk' individuals, as this additional cost reduces the amount that we can spend on our work for children.  
• As a child-focused organisation we have a duty to protect all children.

Thank you for your support
As a Plan supporter you are an integral part of our work to help children in some of the world's poorest countries. Thank you also for your support in our efforts to protect children. If you have any questions or are interested in visiting please contact our Supporter Relations Team on 020 7482 9777.