Child Safeguarding Policy

JKAiD Hope Foundation exists to fund treatment for critically ill children whose families cannot meet the cost of care. That work brings our staff, volunteers and partners into contact with children who are seriously unwell, and with families under acute financial and emotional strain. Both conditions create risk, and this policy exists to manage it.

This policy applies to everyone acting for or on behalf of the foundation: staff, board members, volunteers, contractors, consultants, and any partner organisation working with us on a case.

It covers our conduct toward children, the handling of their information and images, how concerns are reported and acted on, and what a person raising a concern can expect from us.

The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration in every decision we take about a case. Where the interests of the child and the interests of the foundation appear to conflict, the child comes first.

• We treat every child with dignity, and we do not treat a child as a fundraising asset.
• We do not require a family to agree to publicity as a condition of receiving help. A family that declines is helped on exactly the same terms as one that agrees.
• We do not publish a child's name, photograph or medical story without the written consent of a parent or guardian, given separately from any consent to funding or treatment.
• We recognise that consent can be withdrawn, and that consent given once is not consent given for every future use.
• We do not photograph a child in a state of undress, distress or medical exposure, and we do not publish images that would be humiliating to that child as an adult.
• We take every concern seriously, we record it, and we act on it.

The foundation has a named safeguarding focal point who is responsible for receiving concerns, keeping the safeguarding record, and making sure that every concern is acted on and closed out.

The focal point can be contacted directly by anyone: a parent, a member of hospital staff, a volunteer, a member of our own team, or a member of the public. You do not need to be certain that something is wrong before you contact them. It is their job to work that out, not yours.

Where a concern involves the focal point, or where the person raising it would rather not go through them, it should be sent to the Executive Director, and if that is also not appropriate, to the Chairman of the Board.

Everyone acting for the foundation is required to follow these rules. Breach of them is a disciplinary matter, and where the law has been broken it will be reported to the authorities.

• Never be alone with a child you are not related to in a private or unobserved setting. Meet families in the hospital, in a clinic, or in a public place.
• Never contact a child privately through a personal phone number or a social media account.
• Never offer money, gifts or favours to a child or family outside the foundation's approved and recorded funding process.
• Never use language, or share material, that is sexual, degrading, or frightening to a child.
• Never take a photograph of a child on a personal device or publish one on a personal account.
• Never make a promise to a child or family about what the foundation will fund before that decision has been approved.

If you are unsure whether something is acceptable, ask the focal point before you do it rather than afterwards.

Telling the story of a child we have helped is how we persuade others to help the next one. That does not entitle us to tell it however we like.

• Consent is obtained in writing from a parent or guardian, in a language they read comfortably, before any name, image or medical detail is used.
• Consent is specific. It records what will be shown, where it will appear, and for how long. It does not cover future uses that were not described when it was given.
• Consent can be withdrawn at any time by contacting the focal point, and we will withdraw the material from anything we control.
• Where a family consents but prefers that identifying details be withheld, we withhold them.
• Where a child is old enough to understand, we ask the child as well, and a child's objection is respected even where a parent has consented.

Material already published under an earlier consent is reviewed when a family's circumstances change or when they ask us to review it.

Medical and financial information about a child and their family is collected only to assess eligibility, fund treatment, and monitor recovery.

It is held under restricted access, seen only by the staff whose role requires it, and it is not shared with donors, used in fundraising material, or published on our website. Our privacy notice sets this out in full.

Requests for information about an individual child from journalists, donors, or any other party are declined unless the family has consented in writing to that specific disclosure.

If you believe a child is at immediate risk of harm, contact the Ghana Police Service or the Department of Social Welfare first. Protecting the child comes before reporting to us.

Otherwise, contact our safeguarding focal point using the details on this page. Tell us what you saw or were told, when, and who was involved. You do not need to have proof, and you do not need to name yourself if you would rather not.

• We acknowledge every concern within two working days.
• We record it in a safeguarding log that only the focal point and the Executive Director can see.
• We assess whether the child is at risk now, and if so we act immediately, including referral to the Department of Social Welfare or the police where that is warranted.
• We investigate, keep the person who raised the concern informed as far as confidentiality allows, and record the outcome.
• We report safeguarding matters and their resolution to the Board.

Nobody who raises a concern honestly will be penalised for it, even if the concern turns out to be unfounded. Retaliation against a person who reports a concern is itself a disciplinary matter.

We fund treatment delivered inside hospitals that have their own clinical governance and their own safeguarding obligations. We do not duplicate their clinical oversight, and we do not substitute for it.

What we do require is that any partner working with us on a case understands this policy and tells us promptly of any safeguarding concern involving a child we are funding. This expectation is set out when a partnership agreement is put in place.

Everyone joining the foundation is taken through this policy as part of induction, and confirms in writing that they have read and accepted it.

The policy is reviewed at least annually, and immediately after any safeguarding incident, so that what we learned from the incident is written into how we work.

The review date at the top of this document is the date the current version was adopted. If that date is more than a year old, the policy is overdue and you should tell us.

This policy was drafted for the foundation and is published so that families, partners and the public can see the standard we hold ourselves to and can hold us to it.

It is a live document. Where our practice and this text ever diverge, the gap is a fault to be fixed rather than a wording problem, and we would like to be told about it.