Part 2: Recommended Best Practices for Child Protection Record-Keeping

Written by Telios Teaches; Posted with Permission, first posted on Telios Teaches

In Part 1 of this series on child protection record-keeping, we discussed why

effective record-keeping practices are vitally important for organizations that

work with children and how effective procedures for managing records can

impact external reporting, human resources, investigations, and even

litigation. In this second installment, we list and describe practical solutions

to improve record-keeping for child protection matters.

The following recommendations and guidelines can improve record-keeping

practices in the child protection context.

A. Child Protection Files and Folder Maintained Separately

1. Each country/field should maintain confidential child protection files

related to problems that arise, separate and distinct from other files, and

which only specified personnel can access.

2. There should be a separate file/folder for each matter. By “matter,” this

generally means that there is a file for each alleged offender, even if that

offender has had multiple incidents of having been accused, suspected,

or implicated in alleged child abuse. The file name should generally be

the offender’s name. For instances in which the alleged offender is not

identified, the file/folder can be named after the alleged victim with an

indication in the folder name that the offender is unknown. (e.g., “Doe, Jane–Offender Unknown”).

3. General child-safety-related documents such as child safety audit forms,

correspondence on general child safety issues, child protection policies,

and other files that are not matter-specific should be stored separately in

administrative files.

4. Annual updates of organizational documents should be retained, such as

revisions of policies, documentation of training, etc. Such a folder does

not need to be cluttered with extensive correspondence.

5. These administrative documents should only be included in the

confidential files if they are germane to a specific matter. For example, if

a child protection audit form mentions an alleged victim or offender,

then a copy should be included in the files of the specific matter.

Otherwise, mixing documents that pertain to general administration of

child protection with those that related to specific problems results in

confusion and difficulty.

B. Content of Folders Relating to Child Abuse Problems

1. The formal initial report of the abuse with any relevant attachments:

- The reporting form for abuse allegations should be filled out as

soon as reasonably possible after the first notice is given to the

organization of the alleged abuse. Under some circumstances,

matters may require a rapid response from leadership, and the

parties who would otherwise complete and submit a formal report

(i.e. victims, witnesses, other personnel) may not be able to fill out

the report immediately, but should do so as soon as possible.

- A formal report should include a description of all actions initially

taken in response to the allegations, as well as attachments such

as email correspondence evidencing the very first instance in

which leadership became aware of the matter.

2.Correspondence subfolder:

- This subfolder contains all written correspondence between and

among personnel, leadership, witnesses, alleged offenders,

victims, and child protection team members discussing the matter

or otherwise showing who responded to the allegation and how.

- Usually, such written correspondence would not be copied and

pasted into a log or Word document, but rather, each email, text

message, or letter should be individually saved, preferably in PDF

format, into the file. However, one approach may be to combine all

written correspondence in a single PDF compilation document, so

long as each constituent correspondence in the compilation can be

extracted or printed separately if necessary in the future, and as

long as each message retains all the relevant information such as

name, date, subject, etc.

- Original documents should also be retained if such a copy is made.

It is suggested that email chains be limited in length of thread and

also not include embedded attachments. Both these features make

the documents very difficult to access and review.

3. Conferences and meetings subfolder:

- This subfolder contains memoranda of all telephone conferences

and meetings relevant to the matter. These memoranda should

state the date, time, and medium of communication (telephone,

Zoom, in-person, etc.); identify all the parties to each

discussion/conference; and include detailed notes on what the

substance of was discussed and/or resolved. These notes should

preferably be made on a templated form that demonstrates such

notes are regularly kept business records in order to overcome the

hearsay rule. This is particularly important with important

meetings such as how to respond to child abuse allegations,

whether to terminate someone, or how to investigate.

4. Notes from interviews with witnesses, alleged victims, and alleged

offenders:

- As with the memoranda containing notes from internal

communications, the notes from investigative interviews should be

made on templated forms promulgated by the organization in

order to have the best likelihood of admissibility in court. If any

audio or video recordings are made of any interviews, those files

should also be stored in this subfolder.

5. Reporting of matters to law enforcement:

- When allegations give rise to a reasonable belief that child abuse

or neglect has occurred, the organization likely has a legal duty to

report the alleged abuse to law enforcement. These duties vary

from state to state under American law and vary even more from

country to country.

- When any report is made to law enforcement, the details of that

report should be thoroughly documented on a templated form.

When ministry organizations operate nationally or internationally,

abuse matters may implicate reporting responsibilities to multiple

agencies or jurisdictions. If so, the reports to each agency or

jurisdiction should be documented separately.

6. Appropriate subfolders for miscellaneous document categories such as

photographs, video recordings, or relevant portions of an offender’s

personnel record.

C. Titling and Format of Documents

1. With respect to the titling of documents in these files, a uniform method

of naming documents should be implemented across all matters. For

example, when e-mail correspondence is saved, emails can be titled and

dated to reflect a shorthand indication of the conversing parties, subject

matter, and the designation of sequence in a prolonged exchange

(e.g.“Date—Jones email to Smith re Johnson allegations,” “Date—CP

Committee exchange re Johnson allegations (4)”) rather than just the

subject line of the email. (e.g.“RE: FW: Johnson”). Uniformity in naming

files also prevents duplication of documents in the folder for a matter.

Some effort should be made to delete duplicates and not to allow email

chains to grow unmanageably long.

2. The title of each document should start with the date in the format of

“YYYY/MM/DD [document title].” This ensures not only that dates are

captured, but that the documents are listed in chronological order,

thereby making it easier for someone to review the documents and

quickly come up to speed on what has transpired to date in a given

matter.

3. Consider saving documents as file types that preserve the original

document dates, such as PDFs. Word documents and emails may

generate changing dates.

4. Carefully preserved timelines may also help to keep track of dates. A Log

in the format of a timeline with references to accompanying documents

that are properly filed could be very useful.

D. Keeping Personnel Records

1. In addition to child safety records, good personnel records should be

kept.

2. Personnel records should include:

- Applications, resume, and references;

- A record of trainings and conferences;

- Notes referencing allegations, investigations, and follow-ups (with

the full records in separate files);

- Letters memorializing corrections, terminations, awards, and

promotions.

3.Such a file gives an overall picture of an individual.

Conclusion

By implementing these record-keeping practices, ministries can help ensure

that their child safeguarding procedures are more effective and that any

inquiries into historical matters that may arise later can be handled and

resolved much more efficiently. With these measures in place, responding to

allegations, reporting suspected abuse, handling accused personnel,

cooperating with law enforcement, and defending litigation will be less

difficult and easier to track.