Safeguarding children

Our commitment

Save the Children believes all children have a right to protection from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. Our staff must respect children, listen to them and protect them from harm.

We are committed to making sure children are kept safe and that our staff never exploit the position of trust in which they have been placed. We are a child-focused organisation, and we expect that all our staff and partners are too.

We have zero-tolerance of any form of harm to children, perpetrated by staff, partners, or anyone else that we have given authority to, such as freelance trainers and researches, distribution committees and child protection committees.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was inspired by the work of our founder Eglantyne Jebb, says that all children have the right to be protected.

This means that even in countries where some forms of child abuse (such as 'smacking', or child marriage) are tolerated, we require our staff to uphold the highest standards, and always act in the best interest of children. If they don't, they cannot work for Save the Children.

In the know

It is important to us that the children and families we serve can learn more about our commitment to child safeguarding. This includes our policy, the behaviour they can expect from our staff and representatives and how to contact us if they have any concerns.

Further information

To report a concern about a child who participates in a Save the Children programme or a Save the Children staff member or representative, please call our Child Safeguarding Focal Points on 0203 763 0808 or email focalpoint@savethechildren.org.uk.

If your concern does not relate to Save the Children and you believe a child is at risk of harm, please the police on 101 or your local authority Children's Social Care team.

If you're in the UK and you believe a child to be at immediate risk of significant harm, contact the Police by dialing 999.

You can get advice and guidance about what to do if you're worried about a child from the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

If you need to report online child sexual abuse or concerns about the way someone has been communicating with a child online, you can contact the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre with the below button.