Child Protection Standards

Standards for the Protection of Minors at ProfessMed.

Basic Principles

CHILD PROTECTION STANDARDS AT PROFESSMED SP. Z O.O. MEDICAL FACILITY I. LEGAL BASIS Act of July 28, 2023 amending the Family and Guardianship Code and certain other acts Act of February 25, 1964, the Family and Guardianship Code, as amended Act of June 6, 1997, the Penal Code Act of June 6, 1997, the Code of Criminal Procedure Act of November 17, 1964, the Code of Civil Procedure Act of July 29, 2005 on Counteracting Domestic Violence Act of June 9, 2022 on Supporting and Rehabilitation of Minors II. PURPOSE The introduction of Child Protection Standards at the ProfessMed medical facility is intended to establish rules for safeguarding children against all forms of harm, neglect, exploitation, and violence. The underlying principles and good practices in contact with a child patient help effectively ensure children’s safety. The adoption of these Standards guarantees that the ProfessMed medical facility takes care to ensure that no child on its premises is exposed to the risk of harm and that, if any irregularities are noticed in this regard, they are responded to appropriately. III. POLICY The ProfessMed medical facility has established and implemented a Child Protection Policy. IV. STAFF The ProfessMed medical facility monitors, educates, and engages its employees in order to prevent harm to children. V. PROCEDURES At the ProfessMed medical facility, procedures are in place for reporting suspicions and taking intervention measures in situations where a child’s safety is at risk. VI. MONITORING The ProfessMed medical facility monitors and periodically verifies whether its activities comply with the adopted child protection standards. VII. GLOSSARY Child – any person under 18 years of age. Medical facility – any facility providing medical services, regardless of its legal form and source of funding, that provides services to children or operates for the benefit of children. Management/Director – a person who, at the ProfessMed medical facility, in accordance with applicable law and/or internal documents, is authorized to make decisions regarding the institution’s activities. Harm to a child – the commission of a prohibited act or punishable offense to the detriment of a child, violence against a child, or a threat to the child’s welfare, including neglect. Staff – any employee of the ProfessMed medical facility, regardless of the form of employment, who, by virtue of their role or duties, has even potential contact with children. VIII. APPENDICES Application for review of a child’s situation Notification of suspected commission of an offense List of institutions to which a parent in need of support for themselves and their child may be referred ProfessMed Intervention Card Blue Card – A TASKS OF THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM HARM Employees of the ProfessMed facility play a key role in providing first-line support in contact with minors and are tasked with: creating a safe, trust-building, and supportive space for the child, recognizing signs of violence, exercising sensitivity when conducting a diagnostic interview, responding to the child’s needs in terms of physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health, and, when necessary, initiating contact with other services such as the police, social welfare services, and other institutions involved in child protection. STANDARD I. POLICY The ProfessMed medical facility has established and implemented a Child Protection Policy. The Policy applies to all staff who have contact with minors, including doctors, employees, and associates. The Management Board of ProfessMed has approved the Policy, and the facility director is responsible for its implementation and supervision. The Management Board of ProfessMed has appointed a person responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Policy. The role, tasks, and qualifications of this person are clearly defined. This person is the facility director, Monika Kaszubowska, who may be contacted by email at monika.kaszubowska@professmed.pl or in person. The Child Protection Policy clearly and comprehensively defines: rules for the safe recruitment of staff, the method of responding to cases where there is suspicion that a child is experiencing harm and the rules for maintaining an intervention register, rules for safe staff-child and child-child relationships, rules for safe use of the Internet and electronic media, rules for protecting children’s image and personal data, and rules for monitoring indicators of the Policy’s implementation. STANDARD II. STAFF The ProfessMed medical facility monitors, educates, and engages its employees in order to prevent harm to children. As part of the recruitment of staff members working with children, candidates’ preparedness to work with children is assessed and, where possible, their references are checked. ProfessMed will obtain, for each member of the ProfessMed facility staff who has contact with children, data from the Register of Sex Offenders and information from the National Criminal Register. Before allowing a newly hired person to perform professional duties, the facility is required to check that person in the Register of Sex Offenders – the restricted-access register – and in the register of persons with respect to whom the State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Exploitation of Minors under 18 has issued a decision on entry in the register. The register is available at: rps.ms.gov.pl. In order to obtain information from the restricted-access register, it is necessary to create a facility profile in advance. To check a person in the Register, the following data are required: first and last name, date of birth, PESEL number, family name at birth, father’s first name, and mother’s first name. A printout from the Register must be kept in the personnel files of an employee or a person engaged under a civil law contract. Information from the National Criminal Register confirming no criminal record must be obtained from the employee/candidate. Rules for safe relationships, meaning safe contact, between all ProfessMed facility staff and children have been defined, indicating which behaviors are prohibited and which are desirable in contact with a child. The facility provides its employees with basic education on protecting children from harm and helping children in situations of danger, including in the following areas: recognizing signs of harm to children, applying legal intervention procedures appropriate to the situation in cases of suspected harm, the legal liability of facility employees obliged to take intervention measures, the “Blue Card” procedure, respecting the rights of the young patient, and respectful communication with children and their parents/guardians. STANDARD III. PROCEDURES At the ProfessMed medical facility, procedures are in place for reporting suspicions and taking intervention measures in situations where a child’s safety is at risk. The facility has procedures that specify step by step what actions should be taken in situations of suspected harm to a child or threats to the child’s safety from facility staff, family members, peers, or third parties. All staff know these procedures, understand what they are, and know the steps they include. The procedures are available to all employees, and it is known where to find them. Each staff member has information on whom to report suspicions to if a child is being harmed and who is responsible for conducting the intervention. STANDARD IV. MONITORING The ProfessMed medical facility monitors and periodically verifies whether its activities comply with the adopted child protection standards by reviewing and updating them. The adopted Child Protection Policy is verified and updated, with particular emphasis on analyzing data from the register of cases and situations involving threats to children’s safety. As part of the verification of the Policy, the facility consults with children and their parents/guardians. RULES FOR SAFE CONTACT BETWEEN STAFF AND A CHILD PATIENT AT PROFESSMED SP. Z O.O. In all actions taken toward a child patient, we are guided by the child’s welfare and best interests. In every interaction with a child, we take into account the child’s age, medical situation, cognitive abilities, and individual needs. The following rules have been written down to define the framework for professional relationships with a child patient and to indicate good practices, as well as behaviors that should never take place. Good practices: A young patient has the right to have their parents/guardians accompany them during treatment and while receiving medical services whenever they need it. In contact with a child patient and their parents or guardians, demonstrate kindness, empathy, respect, cultural sensitivity, and a non-judgmental attitude. Right to information in direct contact with a child patient: Before caring for a young patient, introduce yourself and say who you are. Provide the child with information in a way that is appropriate to their age, using simple language. Explain what you are doing and what is happening or will happen to them. Check whether the child understands the situation. Make sure the child knows they may ask questions of staff members. In communication with a child patient, be honest, meaning tell the truth and draw other staff members’ attention to the need to tell the truth, taking the context into account, including the child’s age, situation, and level of development. Use alternative forms of communication with a child who needs them. Respect for the child’s privacy During a medical examination, uncover the child’s body only in sections. During the examination, the child should be accompanied by a parent/guardian or another staff member. Physical contact with a child that is unrelated to the provision of medical services may take place only with the child’s consent and in accordance with the child’s needs. Before hugging, stroking, or taking a child onto your lap, for example to comfort or calm them, ask whether they need it. Cooperation with parents/guardians Inform the child and the parents/guardians about the rules in force at the facility. Ensure that the parent is kept informed about the child’s current medical situation. Suspected harm to a child, regardless of the person responsible for the harm, is an adverse event and must be reported to the director of the ProfessMed facility. The director maintains a register of reports concerning harm to a child, including: the number of individual cases of harm to a child, including the number of such cases with an indication of the person responsible for the harm (parent/legal guardian, staff member, another child), the type of intervention undertaken (notification of the possibility of an offense, application for review of the family situation, initiation of the Blue Card procedure), and the date of the intervention. Protecting children from harm: If you see or suspect that a child is being harmed, respond. If a parent/guardian or another staff member frightens a child, provides false information, or downplays the child’s needs and feelings, respond and remind them of the rules for communicating with a child. If something in the behavior of the child or the parent/guardian causes concern, ask another staff member to be present during the examination/visit. If there is suspicion that the child’s life is at risk or that the child is at risk of serious bodily harm due to domestic violence, and there are or may be other children in the family, the Police must be notified immediately by calling 112. The notification to the services is made by the staff member who first became aware of the threat. Harm to a child may take various forms: physical violence: violence as a result of which the child suffers actual physical harm or is potentially at risk of such harm; this harm results from an act or omission by a parent or another person responsible for the child; it may be repeated or one-time; it includes hitting, jerking, pushing, throwing objects, kicking the child, shaking or throwing the child, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair/ears, forcing the child to remain in an uncomfortable position, burning, scalding, or forcing the child to eat/swallow something. emotional violence: a chronic, non-physical, harmful interaction between a child and a caregiver, including both actions and omissions; this includes, among other things, emotional unavailability, ignoring the child’s emotional needs, a relationship with the child based on hostility, blaming, slandering, rejecting, humiliating, frightening, attributing negative traits to the child, developmentally inappropriate or inconsistent interactions with the child, failing to notice or recognize the child’s individuality and the psychological boundaries between the parent/guardian and the child; violence also includes inappropriate socialization, demoralization, and situations in which the child witnesses violence. sexual violence (sexual abuse of a child): any sexual activity undertaken with a child under 15 years of age; involving a child in sexual activity that the child is unable to fully understand and to which the child cannot give informed consent; sexual activity between a child and an adult or between a child and another child if, due to age or level of development, those persons are in a relationship of care, dependence, or authority; physical contact such as touching intimate body parts or penetration; non-contact acts such as exhibitionism; all forms of verbal harassment and inducing contact with pornographic content; grooming, meaning seduction on the Internet for the purpose of establishing contact; commercial sexual contact with a child, meaning sexual exploitation of a child, where the child receives a benefit or promise of a benefit in exchange for participation in sexual activities. neglect: failure to meet a child’s basic needs and/or failure to respect the child’s basic rights by parents, guardians, or other persons obliged to provide care, upbringing, and protection to the child; this includes both isolated situations and a pattern of functioning in which the parent/guardian does not provide appropriate conditions for the child’s development and well-being; this may concern areas such as health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter, and safe living conditions. INTERVENTION SCHEME IN CASE OF SUSPECTED HARM TO A CHILD BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN If there is suspicion that the child: is experiencing violence resulting in bodily harm, sexual abuse, and/or their life is at risk: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person suspected of causing harm. Notify the Police by calling 112 or 997. Notify your supervisor. Notify the child’s non-abusive parent/guardian. is experiencing domestic violence or is witnessing it: Initiate the Blue Card procedure by completing the Blue Card – A form. If there is suspicion that the child leaving the ProfessMed facility accompanied by a parent or legal guardian would be contrary to the child’s welfare, including posing a threat to the child’s safety, the child must be prevented from leaving and the court must be immediately petitioned to issue appropriate protective orders. is experiencing neglect of basic life needs or another threat to the child’s welfare has occurred, and also when the behavior of the parents/guardians does not constitute domestic violence or it is unclear how to classify it – an application should be submitted to the family court with jurisdiction over the child’s place of residence for review of the child’s situation. INTERVENTION SCHEME IN CASE OF SUSPECTED HARM TO A CHILD BY THIRD PARTIES, e.g. employees, persons present on the facility premises, and other persons who have contact with the child If there is suspicion that the child: is experiencing violence resulting in bodily harm, sexual abuse, and/or their life is at risk: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person suspected of causing harm. Notify the child’s parent/guardian. Notify the Police by calling 112 or 997. Notify your supervisor. is harmed by other types of offenses: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person suspected of causing harm. Notify the child’s parent/guardian of the suspicion and notify your supervisor. Inform the police or prosecutor’s office in writing by submitting a notification of the possibility of an offense. is experiencing another form of harm other than an offense committed to their detriment, for example a one-time instance of other physical violence such as spanking or pushing, or psychological violence such as humiliation, discrimination, or ridicule: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person violating the child’s dignity. Report the incident to your supervisor and to the child’s parent/guardian. INTERVENTION SCHEME IN CASE OF SUSPECTED HARM TO A CHILD BY A MINOR, meaning a person under 17 years of age (peer violence) If there is suspicion that the child: is experiencing violence from another child resulting in bodily harm, sexual abuse, and/or their life is at risk: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person suspected of causing harm. Notify the Police by calling 112 or 997. Notify the parents/guardians of both children. Notify your supervisor. is experiencing another form of harm from another child other than an offense committed to their detriment: Ensure the child’s safety and separate the child from the person suspected of causing harm. Notify the parents/guardians of both children. An application should be submitted to the family court with jurisdiction over the child’s place of residence for review of the situation of the child causing harm. CHILD HEALTH PROTECTION, OR HOW TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY AND LAWFULLY IN A SITUATION OF SUSPECTED HARM TO A CHILD PATIENT Basic legal intervention scheme: Civil intervention is undertaken in situations where, within the means available to parents/guardians, the child’s welfare is endangered through neglect of the child’s basic life needs, such as failure to provide appropriate conditions for the child’s development, failure to provide adequate nutrition, hygiene, clothing, educational needs, medical care, shelter, lack of supervision over fulfillment of compulsory schooling, safety, use of physical punishment, neglect of the child’s psychological and emotional needs, failure to follow medical recommendations, harsh disciplining of the child by parents/guardians, and also when it is known that a Blue Card procedure has been initiated in the family and the child’s needs and situation are not improving. Grounds: Threat to the child’s welfare – this occurs when the circumstances in which the child finds themselves may negatively affect the child’s welfare, meaning their spiritual, mental, and physical development 1 Form of intervention: Application for review of the family situation (in accordance with the appendix) Competent authority/entity/addressee of the report: Family court Applicable regulations: Family and Guardianship Code, Code of Civil Procedure Criminal intervention is undertaken when there is suspicion that an offense has been committed to the detriment of a child against the child’s life and health, sexual freedom and decency, and offenses against the family and care. Grounds: Suspicion of commission of an offense Form of intervention: Notification of commission of an offense (in accordance with the appendix) Competent authority/entity/addressee of the report: Police, prosecutor’s office Applicable regulations: Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure. Blue Card – this intervention is undertaken in cases of suspected domestic violence, meaning a one-time or repeated act or omission using physical, psychological, or economic advantage that violates the rights or personal interests of a person experiencing domestic violence. Domestic violence may take various forms: physical violence, meaning intentional action by the perpetrator aimed at violating the boundaries of the child’s body, which may cause various injuries psychological violence, also referred to as psychological abuse, which is repeated behavior by a parent/guardian or an extremely drastic event or events causing the child to feel worthless, unwanted, bad, or threatened sexual violence, which occurs when a child is involved in sexual activity that the child is unable to understand and to which the child cannot give informed consent, and which violates the law and accepted standards. Sexual abuse may occur between a child and an adult or between a child and another child. Its purpose is to satisfy another person’s needs. Grounds: Domestic violence2 Form of intervention: Completion of the Blue Card A form (in accordance with the appendix) Competent authority/entity/addressee of the report: Municipal/City Interdisciplinary Team Applicable regulations: Act on Counteracting Domestic Violence 1 Judgment of the Supreme Court of March 4, 1999, ref. no. II CKN 1106/98, LEX no. 1125073 2 A one-time or repeated intentional act or omission using physical, psychological, or economic advantage, violating the rights or personal interests of a person experiencing domestic violence, in particular exposing that person to the danger of loss of life or health, violating their dignity, bodily integrity, including sexual integrity, causing damage to their physical or mental health, or causing that person suffering or harm. By calling the free number 116 111 and via the website 116111.pl, children can talk about anything: friendship, love, puberty, relationships with parents and siblings, problems at school, or the emotions they are experiencing. They can also seek help when they feel discriminated against, when they experience violence, or when they witness it. The Commissioner for Children’s Rights operates a free, 24/7 Children’s Helpline at 800 12 12 12.

Contact and Presence of a Guardian

W sprawach dotyczących dzieci i młodzieży klinika działa z uwzględnieniem roli rodzica, opiekuna prawnego lub osoby upoważnionej, zgodnie z obowiązującymi przepisami oraz charakterem wizyty.

Reporting Irregularities

W przypadku zauważenia sytuacji budzącej niepokój lub naruszającej dobro małoletniego należy niezwłocznie zgłosić ją do kliniki, aby możliwe było podjęcie odpowiednich działań organizacyjnych i prawnych.