The International Child Safeguarding Standards (ICS Standards) represent a commitment by organisations to “do no harm” when they come into contact with children, and that they meet the responsibilities set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.
Keeping Children Safe’s ICS Standards are recognised amongst others by the UK’s Department For International Development (now the FCDO), the European Commission (EC), USAID, and the UN.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the independent expert for the UN study on violence against children, acknowledged the importance of the ICS Standards. He stated that ‘[The ICS Standards] offer an excellent opportunity, not only for the improvement of the quality and professionalism of those working with children, but most importantly, they help achieve a greater impact for children’.
Standards that matter
There are four, globally recognised ICS Standards, now used widely in all sectors, that ensure best practices in child safeguarding, as well as better accountability for those who are using or benefiting from the services of an organisation. Each standard outlines the key elements that should be implemented to help you put child safeguarding at the heart of your organisation.
For more than two decades, KCS has published free open-source child safeguarding tools to help close child safeguarding gaps in organisations around the world. If you find our resources useful, please do consider supporting our work.
Start here
To get access to all of these KCS resources, click on the download button below.
Get access to KCS’s International Child Safeguarding Standards, and join our mission to end the abuse, exploitation and neglect of children in organisations around the world.
The International Child Safeguarding Standards
This resource sets out the International Child Safeguarding Standards, outlining the four core standards that have been designed to assist organisations to meet their responsibilities for safeguarding children.
Available in these languages: Arabic, English, French, Korean, and Spanish.
Understanding Child Safeguarding
This resource is for anyone with the responsibility for delivering learning events or facilitating workshops on child safeguarding. It will help you plan and facilitate workshops for staff and associates who have little understanding of what is meant by ‘child abuse’ and what their responsibilities are to safeguard children.
The content is built around four essential parts of a learning event, each with its own sessions and exercises. Notes and handouts are also included for learning activities and background information.
Available in these languages: English, with more translations to come soon.
Developing Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures
This resource will ensure that your organisation’s child safeguarding measures are robust, facilitate workshops with staff, support them in conducting risk assessments and develop strategies that reduce risk. It will also help with auditing current child safeguarding measures, as well as developing and strengthening child safeguarding policies and procedures.
Available in these languages: English, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Spanish and Ukrainian!
Management of Child Safeguarding Allegations
This resource provides an overview of how to manage incidents and concerns involving staff members, consultants, associates or volunteers from agencies or partner agencies. It is specifically targeted at more senior managers who hold designated responsibility for overseeing such investigations. It should complement internal child safeguarding policies, and procedures, and develop model investigation protocols.
Available in these languages: English, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Ukrainian!
Closing Child Safeguarding Gaps in Emergencies
This checklist is aimed at all types of organisations providing support to children as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. This includes businesses, such as hotels, that are offering shelter and food to refugees.
Keeping Children Safe offers free child safeguarding technical support and detailed resources to organisations supporting refugees from Ukraine!
Available in these languages: Bulgarian, English, Romanian, Russian and Spanish – with more languages coming soon!
We are here to help
KCS can take you through all the steps needed to ensure that your organisation meets the International Child Safeguarding Standards. From your initial self-assessment, providing expertise and high-quality audits, to achieving KCS Certification, we help organisations of all types and sizes to safeguard children. To find out if your organisation is doing all it can to keep children safe, start by using our free self-assessment tool that will help you discover your strengths and weaknesses.
