Program Practices that Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect

At the Virtual Lab School, we have interviewed a number of families about their experiences in child development and school-age programs. When asked about the reasons they chose particular care for their children, the first answer was typically “safety.” Families want to know that their children are safe in your care. In this lesson, you will learn about the program practices that can help you and family members feel confident that children are safe in your program. These include supervising staff, supervising children, enforcing an open-door policy, and managing the admission and release of children.

Formal and Informal Supervision: Management by Walking Around

You have two responsibilities related to supervising staff. First, you must perform formal supervision duties. This includes observation and performance evaluation. There are many benefits of formal supervision, and it is beyond the scope of this lesson to discuss all the policies and procedures related to this topic. As it relates to child abuse and neglect, however, managers should know one important drawback of formal supervision: it does not happen very often. For some staff members, formal observations and performance evaluations may happen yearly. You cannot be an effective leader if you use formal supervision as your only mechanism for connecting with staff about their work. Therefore, you have a second responsibility to provide informal supervision. You are informally supervising your program when you talk with staff members, check on classrooms, greet families, introduce yourself to a visitor, accept deliveries, or look at lesson plans. Another way of thinking of this is “management by walking around.” You cannot keep children safe from behind a desk. You are expected to engage in your program each and every day.

By being present and active in your program, you are able to:

• Notice potential problems and take action before they escalate. For example, you might notice signs of stress in a staff member (you will learn more about this in Lesson 6). You can check in with the staff member and provide support.
• 监控和支持培训努力。通过花时间观察您的计划，您可以帮助培训和课程专家查明针对员工的具体培训需求。您可以与T＆C合作，并及时支持需要它的工作人员。
• Teach appropriate guidance or discipline techniques. You have a responsibility to enforce your program’s guidance and discipline policy. If you see something inappropriate (i.e., a staff member uses a harsh tone with a child), you can immediately and respectfully redirect the staff towards a more positive response.
• 防止比率和监督问题。你知道人员配置和出勤模式。您可以促进有效的安排。这最大化了资源，并确保儿童始终得到充分监督。
• Build relationships with all members of your team. This includes educational staff, food service or custodial personnel, contractors, volunteers, and families.
• 成为工作人员的资源。工作人员知道他们可以立即向您带来担忧或问题。通常，在简单，非正式对话中可以解决问题。
• Encourage and recognize staff members for jobs well done.

Supervision of Children

除了监督员工外，您还必须确保工作人员充分监督儿童。维持员工到儿童比率是您可以做的最简单的东西之一，以保护孩子免受伤害您的计划。您将在安全课程中了解更多信息。目前，您必须为您服务的每个年龄组群体认识和执行员工到儿童比率和最大组尺寸。与预防虐待儿童虐待和忽视相关的关键要素（Koralek，1993）：

• At least two adults must be present in the center at all times.
• 监督水平的至少一个工作人员必须随时存在于中心。
• Staff must wear nametags or apparel that visually identify them to parents and visitors as employees who are responsible for the program and the children enrolled.
• 未经儿童父母和中心董事许可，中心工作人员可能不会带入他们的家庭或自己的车辆中的儿童或儿童。
• 儿童和青少年不能无人看管或在青少年志愿者的唯一监督下。
• Staff must match their supervision to the needs and abilities of the children and youth. Children in CDCs and younger school-age children will need more direct supervision. Older school-age children may only need checked on every 15 minutes. Make sure an adult is always close enough to respond if the children call for help. Help staff adapt supervision based on the needs of the children and the characteristics of the activity. Potentially dangerous activities like woodworking and swimming will require direct supervision for all children regardless of age.
• Ensure staff use sign-in and sign-out systems to monitor which children are in attendance and where they are in the program.
• Work with your team to make sure all areas of the program are adequately supervised. Staff will need to monitor indoor rooms, outdoor spaces, hallways, restrooms, etc.

Open-Door Policy

儿童发展和学龄课程经常面临似乎竞争的需求：

• 我们希望为当前和潜在的家庭提供热情的环境。
• We want to be members of our communities and ensure children have access to the richness of experiences around them.
• We want to provide a secure environment that limits access to only approved individuals.

It is possible and necessary, however, to achieve all of these demands. It requires careful planning and coordination on your part. Providing an open-door for families is one of the most important things you can do to prevent child abuse and neglect in your program. It sends the message that you are proud of your staff and the work they do with children and youth. It also confirms the message that families are critical partners in your program. Families should know they can visit anytime. They do not need an appointment or to call ahead. They should have access to every part of the building that their child visits.

Why does this policy prevent child abuse and neglect in centers? It does so for two reasons. First, it allows families to monitor program activities and advocate for their children if they see an inappropriate action. Second, it helps strengthen the relationship between staff members and families. It can be helpful to think about this in terms of protective factors. An open door helps build社交联系between staff members and families. It provides an opportunity todiscuss child development和在家或计划中工作的策略。它有助于所有缔约方认识并回复support in需要的时候。Strong relationships between parents and staff members provide an opportunity for children to see maturesocial and emotional技能。

An open-door policy does not mean adults are free to roam the building. You must put reasonable safeguards in place to ensure the security of children. The following list of criteria is in place to protect children:

• Sign-in and sign-out procedures:Make sure your program is aware of and can account for all individuals in the building at all times. Your sign-in procedures must indicate where the adult is going, when they arrived, and when they left.
• 身份验证：Any unknown individual must be asked for identification. Confirm that the individual is listed on the child’s records as a family member.
• Visitor badges or stickers:提供一些视觉证据，即访问者已登录，有助于控制对您的建筑物的访问。
• Staff accompaniment:所有客人或访客（不知道的家庭成员）都应随时由一名职员陪同。客户供应商或工作人员必须伴随着适当的人员。例如，食品交付供应商应该伴随厨师。
• 监督监测：拥有批准的背景检查的工作人员必须在任何时候直接监督儿童。儿童不能留在参观该计划的家庭成员中。
• 明确的边界：限制区域的邮寄标志。例如，员工休息室或儿童记录保存的地区应明确标记为“仅限员工”。

Make sure family members know what to do if they witness something that makes them uncomfortable. Provide a paragraph in the family handbook about your open-door policy. Here is sample text from a CDC program:

Admission and Release of Children

You have a responsibility to make sure children are always in the care of approved individuals. This includes not only your staff but also the individuals you release children to. Your program must have in place clear policies for the admission and release of children to individuals other than their parents or guardians. This information should be in the parent handbook. Parents should be required to submit a list of individuals who are approved to pick up their child. Here is sample language from a parent handbook: