Overview of the Safeguarding webinars in different contexts of the Barnahus in 2021/22

Child Safeguarding is the responsibility of each organisation or institution to make sure their staff, operations, and programmes do no harm children, do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse, and any concerns the organization has about children’s safety within the communities in which they work, are reported to the appropriate authorities[1].

This includes both preventative actions to minimize the chances of harm occurring, and responsive actions to ensure that incidents which may happen are appropriately handled. Safeguarding implies a wider duty of care towards children rather than just upholding their right to protection.

Safeguarding children is at the heart of Promise Network both in terms of how we work to safeguard them as we implement Promise activities, and in developing capacities about the role and responsibilities of Barnahus to safeguard children in their work. Therefore, the Promise 3 consortium has endorsed a Child Safeguarding Policy and Commitment[2] , whereas it recognizes the risk of harm to children in the context of project implementation and is fully committed to prevent, address and report child safeguarding concerns.

The Promise safeguarding policy reflects the rights of children to be protected from abuse and exploitation as outlined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and EU Acquis Communautaire.

In addition, child safeguarding is a crucial principle and cross-cutting activity aligned specifically under the Barnahus Quality Standards on “Multidisciplinary and interagency collaboration in the Barnahus” and Standard 5 on “Interagency case management”, Standard 10” Prevention: Information sharing, awareness raising and external competence building”.

Considering the central importance of child safeguarding in Promise 3, a series of 5 webinars in total will be organised aiming to explore different aspects of child safeguarding related to practice in the “four rooms” of the Barnahus (Criminal Investigation, Protection, Mental Well-being, Physical Wellbeing), in addition to multidisciplinary and interagency collaboration and case management.  Panellists/Experts will be invited to discuss, in an interview format key questions related to the intersectionality of child safeguarding with the services provided and key recommendations as takeaways for the participants.

The webinars will be hosted in the Child Protection Hub platform (www.childhub.org) and will be widely promoted by the Promise partners on websites and on social media channels.