Methodological Guidance

The present methodological guidance – which is only available in Hungarian – aims to provide assistance to all adults coming into contact with children in state care (so not only for child protection professionals) to be able to make the appropriate action for the prevention and protection of children, based on substantiated, relevant information. The guidance provides nformation about sexual abuse of children; its short- and long-term effects; provides guidance on what to do if the suspicion of abuse is raised, or if the child reports that he/she was abused. The guidance can be useful for all adults, but especially those that come into daily contact with children growing up in state care. According to the Hungarian Child Protection Law, all adults – from the janitor of the care home to the family care worker, from the volunteer organising extracurricular activities on the weekend to the fully responsible director of the institution and the guardian – are all responsible for the well-being and safety of the children. The information provided in the guidance can be a useful point of departure for foster parent networks and care homes for creating their own child protection policies. These service providers and institutions need to create their own processes corresponding to their organisational structure about the management of child abuse cases.