Friends for Asia offers has various different policies regarding child protection, depending upon the project that a participant has chosen. We have now put these policies together to create one over-arching Child Protection Policy, that will be used for all of our placements where volunteers work within the vicinity or directly with children. For our Thailand programs, this would apply to our teaching and childcare placements.
Friends for Asia Child Protection Policy
All participants in Friends for Asia projects who work directly with or in the vicinity of children must provide a clean criminal background check prior to beginning the project. The check must be conducted via the participant’s local, regional or national police or government.
In our placements, participants are required to follow the rules and regulations of the specific project placement site. They will be under the supervision of our Friends for Asia coordinating staff along with the full-time coordinator for participants at the project site.
Any form of physical, emotional, sexual or verbal abuse towards children or other individuals at our project sites will not be tolerated.
In the event that any form of abuse has been detected by Friends for Asia staff, other participants or the project site coordinators, then the participant will be immediately removed from their placement and a formal police report will be filed. Where applicable, further legal action may also be taken.
Appropriate Distance and Personal Contact
Participants should never find themselves in a one-on-one situation with a child in an area that is out of sight of others (such as in a closed room).
Participants should never escort children off of the project-site grounds.
Spending individual time with one child is appropriate, so long as it takes place in an open area and there are other people present that can see the participant and child.
Brief hugs and non-intimate touching of children is appropriate. This would include touching a child’s hand, arm, shoulder, etc. Participants should never touch, place their hands or have another object touch the genitals or private areas of children, nor should they touch a child in a romantic or sexual way.
Photos, Social Media and Continued Contact with Children after Project Completion
During and after participating in one of our projects, participants are asked not to post photos with names of children or specific project site names on social media. They should not connect with children via social media, nor should they make direct phone calls or send items in the mail to any of the children. Photos of children in compromising positions or situations should never be taken, let alone posted anywhere online or offline.
Sending a package of items or gifts (such as candy, books, etc.) to all of the children at a project site is permitted, but these will be checked by Friends for Asia and/or project site staff prior to being distributed to the children.
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