Child Protection Policy
of August 15.08.2024, XNUMX

Preamble

The guiding principle of all activities undertaken by the staff of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic. Fryderyk Chopin in Gdańsk is to act for the good of the child and in his or her best interest. Each staff member treats the child with respect and takes into account their needs. It is unacceptable for anyone to use any form of violence against a child. In achieving these goals, the institution's staff operates within the framework of applicable law, internal regulations of a given institution and their own competences.

Legal basis

  • Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989 (Journal of Laws of 1991, No. 120, item 526);
  • Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997 (Journal of Laws 1997, No. 78, item 483);
  • Act of February 25, 1964, Family and Guardianship Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 2809);
  • Act of July 28, 2023 amending the Act - Family and Guardianship Code and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1606);
  • Act of 13 May 2016 on counteracting threats of sexual crime (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1304);
  • Act of June 6, 1997, Penal Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 17);
  • Act of April 23, 1964, Civil Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1610).

Glossary of terms

  1. Institution and/ or Philharmonic is the Polish Baltic Philharmonic. Fryderyk Chopin in Gdańsk.
  2. Przez Director should be understood as the Director of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic. Fryderyk Chopin in Gdańsk.
  3. Staff and/ or member of staff is a person employed by the Philharmonic on the basis of an employment contract, a civil law contract, an apprentice, an intern or a volunteer.
  4. External employee is an employee of entities providing services to the Institution in the field of facility security, cleaning, spectator service or the implementation of a Philharmonic event, delegated to service the facility or events of the Philharmonic.
  5. Subcontractor is an entity providing services to the Philharmonic in the field of facility security, cleaning, spectator service, staging a concert for the Philharmonic, employing employees delegated to operate the facility or events of the Philharmonic.
  6. A child is every person up to 18 years of age.
  7. Child's guardian for the purposes of this document, there is a person authorized to represent the child, in particular his or her parent, legal guardian or teacher. Pursuant to this document, the foster parent is also a guardian.
  8. Parental consent child means the consent of at least one of the child's parents/legal guardians.
  9. Przez harming a child shall mean the commission of a prohibited or criminal act to the detriment of a child by any person, including a member of the institution's staff or an external employee, or a threat to the child's well-being, including neglect.
  10. Responsible person za Politics protection of children against harm is an employee appointed by the Director of the Institution who supervises the implementation Policies protecting children from harm in the Institution.
  11. Use of Personal data this is any information intended to identify a child.
  12. Event means all types of public events organized or co-organized by the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, in particular: concerts, workshops, lectures, exhibitions.
  13. organizer is an organizer of external events other than the Institution, i.e. events taking place on the premises of the Philharmonic that are not its events.
  14. Przez family member it should be understood as a related person or an unrelated person who is in an actual relationship and lives and farms together.

§ 1. Principles of safe relationships between employees of the Institution, external workers and children

  1. Staff members or external workers treat children with respect, understanding and attentiveness to their needs.
  2. It is unacceptable to use any form of violence or harm towards children.
  3. Staff or external workers respect the principles of equal treatment of children regardless of their individual differences, such as: age, gender, appearance, character, origin, skin color, religion, sexual orientation, health condition, family/material situation, specialized educational needs, disability e.t.c.

§ 2. Threat to children's safety and its prevention

  1. The staff or an external employee monitors the situation and well-being of children staying on the premises of the Institution to the extent possible and with every effort.
  2. As part of their duties, the Institution's staff or an external employee pays attention to the risks and symptoms of threats to children's safety, and if they are identified, they take immediate action to protect the child.
  3. If a staff member or external employee suspects that a child is being harmed, or if such a circumstance is reported by the child or the child's guardian or an external employee, the staff member or external employee is obliged to respond appropriately (depending on the case - notifying the child's guardian or the Police). , including preparing an official note and forwarding the information obtained to the person responsible for the Child Protection Policy. The note may be in writing or by e-mail.
  4. The intervention is conducted by the person responsible for the Child Protection Policy, i.e. an education specialist (tel. +48 58 323 83 65). Such a person is responsible for receiving reports of incidents that pose a threat to a minor, preparing an intervention card (Appendix No. 2 to the Child Protection Policy), and contacting the child's guardians.
  5. Threats to children's safety may take many forms, using various methods of contact and communication. For the purposes of this document, the following classification of threats to children's safety was adopted:
    a. a crime to the detriment of a child has been committed (e.g. sexual abuse, child abuse),
    b. there was another form of harm that was not a crime, such as shouting, physical punishment, humiliation.
  1. For the purposes of this document, intervention procedures have been distinguished in the event of suspected action to the detriment of a child by:
    a. adults (staff, external workers, other third parties, guardians),
    b. another child.
  1. If abuse is reported by the person designated to conduct the intervention, the intervention is carried out by a person designated as a substitute by the Director.
    7.1 If the person responsible for the Child Protection Policy is absent, then the actions described in this chapter are taken by the person who noticed the abuse or to whom the suspicion of abuse was reported.
    7.2 The person conducting the intervention informs guardians about the obligation to report suspected child abuse to the appropriate authorities (prosecutor's office/police or family and guardianship court).
    7.3 After informing the guardians in accordance with the preceding point, the institution's management or a person designated for this purpose, after informing the child's guardians of this fact, submits a notification of suspected crime to the prosecutor's office/police or an application for insight into the family's situation to the district court, family and juvenile department.
    7.4 Further course of proceedings falls within the competence of the authorities indicated in the preceding point.
    7.5 If child abuse is reported, a person designated by the Director of the Institution conducts a conversation with people who have or may have knowledge about the incident, in particular its guardians and staff or external employees, and tries to determine the course of the event, but also the impact of the event on mental and physical health child.
    7.6 If there is a suspicion that a crime has been committed against a child, the Director of the Institution or a designated person prepares a notification about the possibility of committing a crime and forwards it to the local police or prosecutor's office.
    7.7 If child abuse is reported by a member of staff or an external employee, that person is removed from all forms of contact with children (not only with the injured child) until the matter is resolved.
    7.8 If a member of staff or an external employee has committed any form of abuse towards a child other than committing a crime to its detriment, the person responsible for the Child Protection Policy should investigate all the circumstances of the case, in particular listen to witnesses of the incident and notify the superior of the staff member/external employee suspected of harming him to listen to this employee's explanation. In a situation where the violation of the child's best interests is significant, in particular when discrimination or violation of the child's dignity has occurred, the Director of the Institution shall take actions adequate to the degree of misconduct of the staff member, which are permitted by applicable law. If the person who committed the harm is not directly employed by the institution, but by a third party, then the subcontractor should be informed about the ban on this person's access to the institution's premises.
    7.9 All persons who, in connection with the performance of their official duties, receive information about child abuse or information related to it, are obliged to keep this information secret, with the exception of information provided to authorized institutions as part of intervention activities.
    7.10 If the suspicion of a threat to the child's safety was reported by the child's guardians, but the suspicion was not confirmed, the child's guardians should be informed of this fact in writing.
  1. If a child is suspected of being abused by another child staying in the institution (e.g. at educational concerts), a conversation should be held with the guardians of the child suspected of abuse, as well as separately with the guardian of the harmed child. Additionally, you should talk to other people who have knowledge of the incident. During the conversations, efforts should be made to determine the course of the event, as well as the impact of the event on the mental and physical health of the abused child.
    8.1 During interviews, make sure that a child suspected of harming another child is not himself being harmed by carers, other adults or other children. If such a circumstance is confirmed, intervention should also be undertaken with respect to this child.
    8.2 During the conversation with the caregiver, the staff provides information about the incident and
    about the need/possibility of using specialist support, including from other organizations or services, and about how to respond to the event (informing the family court, informing the school, informing the guardians of the abusive child).
    8.3 If the person suspected of abuse is a child aged 13 to 17 and his or her behavior constitutes a punishable act, the locally competent family court or the police must also be informed in writing.
    8.4 If the person suspected of harming is a child over 17 years of age and his or her behavior constitutes a crime, then the appropriate local police or prosecutor's office unit should be informed in writing.
    8.5 If you suspect that the child's life is in danger or there is a risk of serious damage to health, you should immediately inform the appropriate services (police, ambulance) by calling 112 or 997, 998, 999. The services are informed by a staff member or external employee who was the first to receive information about the threat.

§ 3. Protection of children's personal data

  1. The institution ensures standards for the protection of children's image and personal data in accordance with
    with applicable law.
  2. The institution is obliged to keep secret the personal data it processes and to keep secret the methods of securing personal data against unauthorized access.
  3. The child's personal data is made available only to persons and entities authorized under separate regulations.
  4. Recording and publishing the child's image by a staff member
    in any form (photography, audio-video recording, promotional and information materials), requires the written consent of the child's guardian, unless the image of the child is a detail of the whole, such as a gathering, landscape or was recorded during a public event taking place on the premises of the Institution.

§ 4. Protection policy

  1. The person responsible for the Child Protection Policy is obliged to undergo specialist training in the field of protection of the rights of minors.
  2. The person referred to in the preceding point is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Policy, for responding to signals of violation of the Policy and for making edits to the content of the Policy after consultation with the Director of the Institution and relevant departments of the Institution. The scope of competences of the responsible person is specified in §2.
  3. A person designated by the Institution's Director introduces the necessary changes to the Policy and announces the new wording of the Policy to the staff.
  4. Staff, subcontractors or external employees are obliged to point out any violations of the Policy in the Institution to the person referred to in §4 section 1.
  5. The person referred to in §4 section 1, after obtaining knowledge about the violation of the Policy, immediately takes action to explain the reported violation and assesses its scope and degree.
  6. After taking the actions specified in the preceding paragraph, if a violation of the Policy is confirmed, immediate actions specified in §2 are taken to remove or eliminate the effects of the violation, and in particular to protect the child.
  7. The person referred to in §4, section 1 is obliged to keep documentation of all incidents indicated in §2.
  8. The person referred to in §4 section 1. is obliged to evaluate the standards at least every two years to ensure their adaptation to current needs and compliance
    with applicable regulations. The conclusions of the assessment should be documented in writing in the form of a memo.
  9. Each staff member is obliged to sign a declaration (attached as Annex 1) confirming that they have read the content of this Policy.

§ 5. Rules for recruiting staff who have contact with children

  1. Before entering into an employment relationship with a person or before allowing a person to engage in other activities related to the upbringing, education, recreation or pursuit of other interests of minors, or taking care of them, the Institution or other organizer of such activity or subcontractor and the person with whom the an employment relationship is to be established or is to be admitted to such activity, the obligations specified in section 2-8 below.
  2. The institution, other organizer or subcontractor obtains information whether the data of the person referred to in section 1, are posted in:
    - Register with limited access;
    - Register in relation to which the State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Exploitation of Minors under 15 has issued a decision on entry in the Register.
  3. The person referred to in section 1, submits to the Institution, another organizer or subcontractor, information from the National Criminal Register regarding crimes specified in Chapter XIX and XXV of the Penal Code, in Art. 189a and art. 207 of the Penal Code and in the Act of 29 July 2005 on counteracting drug addiction (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 172 and of 2022, item 2600), or for prohibited acts corresponding to these crimes specified in the provisions of foreign law .
  4. The person referred to in section 1, having citizenship of a country other than the Republic of Poland, also submits to the Institution, another organizer or subcontractor, information from the criminal register of the country of citizenship obtained for the purposes of professional or voluntary activity related to contacts with children.
  5. The person referred to in section 1, submits to the Institution, another organizer or subcontractor a declaration about the country or countries in which he or she has resided in the last 20 years, other than the Republic of Poland and the country of citizenship (in accordance with Annex No. 4), and at the same time submits to the Institution, another organizer or subcontractor information from criminal records of these countries obtained for the purposes of professional or voluntary activities related to contacts
    with children.
  6. If the law of the country referred to in section 4 or 5 does not provide for the issuance of information for the purposes of professional or voluntary activities related to contact with children, information from the criminal record of that country shall be submitted.
  7. If the law of the country from which the information referred to in section is to be submitted 4-6, does not provide for its preparation or no criminal record is kept in a given country, the person referred to in section 1, submits to the Institution, another organizer or subcontractor a declaration of this fact, together with a declaration that he or she has not been legally convicted in this country for prohibited acts corresponding to the crimes specified in Chapter XIX and XXV of the Penal Code, in Art. 189a and art. 207 of the Penal Code and the Act of July 29, 2005 on counteracting drug addiction, and no other judgment has been issued against her stating that she has committed such prohibited acts, and that there is no obligation arising from the judgment of the court, other authorized body or the Act complying with the ban on holding any or specific positions, performing any or specific professions or activities related to upbringing, education, recreation, treatment, providing psychological advice, spiritual development, practicing sports or pursuing other interests by minors, or caring for them ( in accordance with Annex 5).
  8. The declarations referred to in section 5 and 7, are submitted under pain of criminal liability for submitting a false statement. The person submitting the declaration is obliged to include the following clause: "I am aware of criminal liability for submitting a false declaration." This clause replaces the authority's instruction on criminal liability for submitting a false declaration.
  9. Information referred to in section 2, the institution, other organizer or subcontractor records it in the form of a printout and attaches it to the employee's personal file or documentation regarding a person admitted to activities related to the upbringing, education, recreation, or pursuit of other interests of minors, or to care for them. The information and declarations referred to in section 3-7, the institution, other organizer or subcontractor shall attach to the employee's personal file or documentation regarding a person admitted to such activity.
  10. Performance of the obligations referred to in section 2-8, is not required before admission to the activities specified in section 1, a member of the minor's family, or a person known personally to the minor's parent or the minor's legal representative, when it is performed in relation to a minor child whose parent or legal representative is the author of the activity.

§ 6. Miscellaneous

  1. The policy enters into force on August 15, 2024.
  2. The announcement is made in a manner accessible to the Institution's staff, in particular by posting notices for staff in the place or by sending its text electronically.
  3. After its announcement, the content of the policy is immediately made available on the website of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, so as to enable guardians to become familiar with the institution's Policy on the Protection of Children against Harm.
  4. After its announcement, the content of the Child Protection Policy is immediately announced to Subcontractors so that they can familiarize their employees with its content.
  5. Within 14 days of announcing the content of the Policy, a person designated by the Director of the Institution is obliged to create a version that is understandable and accessible to children and make it available in a visible place in the Institution.

Files to download:

Annex No. 1 - Declaration regarding reading the content of the Child Protection Policy
Appendix No. 2 - Intervention Card
Appendix No. 3 - Sample notification on suspicion of committing a crime against a minor
Annex No. 4 - Declaration regarding citizenship and place of residence
Appendix No. 5 - Statement regarding failure to keep a criminal record
Information clause regarding submitted declarations