Step 10: Ensure equal rights of all children to protection

Abuse happens to male and female children of every race, gender, age, religion or disability, sexual orientation, social background or culture. Some children, such as disabled children, are particularly vulnerable. You should take steps to ensure that all children are protected and receive the support they require. Therefore, at least your Child Protection Policy should contain a written statement saying that your organisation is committed to the protection of all children.

But you should also ensure that your services are inclusive, meaning that they reach children of all backgrounds. Monitoring and evaluation are integral parts of how services are delivered. This Action Planning tool can help you to:

• make sure you have monitoring arrangements and performance indicators
• explicitly make reference to ethnicity, disability, gender, HIV status, sexuality, age, and any other identified differences of children, in any audit tools
• monitor, review and evaluate the progress made in your strategy to keep all children safe
• make specific reference to your commitment to protect all children in your reporting mechanisms, for example; your quarterly or annual reports
• publicise and celebrate achievements widely ensuring all minority groups receive information, sending out a strong message that your organisation is committed to addressing inequalities