Israel Story is committed to providing safe and respectful environments that support the health and well-being of all people receiving our services. Israel Story seeks to institute guidelines and resources for staff and enforce zero tolerance for those actions which may jeopardize the health, safety or welfare of any person receiving services.
Israel Story defines abuse and neglect of people receiving services in broad terms, including acts which both cause actual harm and create the risk of harm, including but not limited to physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.
Screening and hiring procedures provide safeguards to strive to eliminate from consideration any candidate who demonstrates behavior that indicates a high risk for violating this policy. Screening and background information required to comply with Israeli law depend on the position and its level of involvement with children. The procedures outlined in this section pertain to those who have regular contact, or that level as required by law, with children.
Candidates for positions that involve regular interaction with children are screened and selected as follows:
• Standard employment application that includes signed authorization to perform necessary background checks;
• Criminal background checks for those who will have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted contact as required by law including signed authorization to perform the check;
• In-person interview of the candidate that includes questions about experiences and thoughts on how to handle challenging behaviors, conflicts, or other unexpected circumstances when providing care, as well as how they feel about providing care to this
vulnerable group. Any remarks indicating unwillingness to accept legal definitions of abuse and neglect and related reporting procedures are thoroughly explored.
• Professional references are required, contacted directly via telephone and asked questions from an established reference check guideline.
• If hired, police checks are conducted regularly in accordance with Israeli law.
All information collected about any candidate is reviewed to determine if the candidate is appropriate for the respective position. If hired, all information collected during the hiring process is included in the staff’s permanent file.
All programs delivered to children are designed to encourage safe interactions between staff and children. The following guidelines are meant to maintain effective safeguards while upholding the dignity of the individual, and respecting their ability to direct their own life.
Staff to Child Ratio: Programs have an established staff to child ratio consistent with identified individual needs for services and supervision and with applicable national regulations.
One to One Meetings: Programs do not allow for occasions when a staff and a child are alone and cannot be observed by others. Parents are welcome to observe any one-to-one meeting (online or in-person).
Team Communication: Programs establish and maintain mechanisms for staff to communicate with members of their team as needed (this includes supervisors, co-workers, clinicians, etc.)
-Regularly scheduled supervisory, and/or team meetings, include planning for and review of circumstances that require staff to spend time alone with an individual.
– Management promotes and models a culture of respect, collaboration, honesty and accountability.
Abuse prevention training is provided to ensure that staff understand what constitutes abuse, signs and symptoms of abuse, and their responsibilities to protect children from abuse and neglect as defined above. The training includes guidance on how to step in and stop an incident, as well as procedures to assess the impact of an incident on the individual, to monitor the individual for behavioral changes following an incident, and to identify and address any negative impact on other people receiving services in this program.
Each program provides refresher trainings on abuse prevention annually. Staff receive training on the Justice Center’s reporting requirements and retaliation protections outlined below prior to allowing a new hire to provide care to people receiving services, and annually thereafter.
Staff receive training on the Justice Center’s Code of Conduct for Custodians of People with Special Needs. Programs ensure staff sign the Code of Conduct, when they are hired and on an annual basis.
Staff training on topics including professional boundaries, stress management and conflict resolution are provided as necessary based on the needs of each program. Program training needs are identified through team discussion, supervision and incident management recommendations.
The Anti-Harassment Policy outlines expectations for staff to exercise safe, responsible and respectful behavior in their interactions with children. The organization culture modeled by all levels of management reinforces the code of conduct.
The following standards are meant to further guide staff during their interactions with children. These guidelines do not and cannot outline every situation encountered while on the job, thus requiring staff to act with a certain degree of personal discretion. Because a certain action is not prohibited in this section does not mean it is acceptable behavior. Israel Story reserves the right to take disciplinary action against staff whose actions are found to be inappropriate regardless of whether they appear in this section.
Respectful Interactions:
– Staff treat all children with respect and consideration. Treatment must be fair and equitable, and must not impose bias due to gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or economic or social status, or disability.
– Diligent effort is made to avoid preferential treatment or the appearance of such.
– Staff do not use harsh, demeaning or inappropriate language, degrading punishment or any type of unauthorized restraining device in the name of behavior management.
– Staff do not participate in or allow others to engage in any form of hazing, unwelcome teasing, ostracism or bullying.
Social Boundaries:
– Staff do not intentionally connect with children outside of the course of their work and limit unintentional contact to brief greetings and conversation.
– Staff do not connect with children via social media.
– Staff do not share sleeping locations with children, except as deemed necessary by the child’s guardian. This includes beds, tents, hotel rooms and other similar areas.
Physical Boundaries:
– Staff do not engage in certain types of physical contact that may be unwelcome or misconstrued by the individual or others. This includes bear hugs, pats on head, pinching cheeks, pat on the buttocks, etc. Staff may provide supportive, affectionate physical contact, as indicated by each individual’s needs and preferences. For example, those who benefit from supportive touch are provided with it in a manner that best meets their individual needs and that is discussed, clearly defined, and documented.
– Staff, to their best ability, identify when circumstances are beyond their capacity to address in a productive manner, and request support from peers or a supervisor to manage any risk of abusing or neglecting a child.
– Staff intervene and provide support when they observe co-workers exhibiting a loss of ability to safely and effectively manage a challenging behavior, or other circumstances involving children.
– Staff do not use physical punishment in any form. The only time physical force is allowed with a child is when their actions are placing themselves or others at an immediate risk for serious harm.
Sexual Boundaries:
– Staff do not have any sexual contact with children, including touching of non-sexual body parts for the purpose of sexual stimulation for either party.
– Staff do not dress or undress with, or in the presence of children.
– Staff do not discuss their own sexual history, preferences or fantasies, nor their use of illicit or pornographic materials while in the company of children.
– Staff do not possess any sexually oriented materials (i.e., books, magazines, videos, clothing) when conducting business in the name of Israel Story.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
While representing Israel Story, staff do not possess, distribute, use or allow others to use any alcohol or drugs except as allowed by organizational policies.
If, for any reason, a staff makes an exception to the above guidelines, they discuss it with their supervisor as soon as possible. Any reportable incidents are reported in accordance with legal protocol. Supervisors document and address circumstances that do not rise to reportable incident but fail to follow the above, or other established organizational guidelines.
Reporting Protocol: Reports of harm or potential of harm of a child are made as soon as possible, within 24 hours of discovery, at any time of the day or night and on any day of the week, by telephone to the relevant authorities including The 105 hotline. If an individual is in immediate danger, staff are to immediately contact the police.
Internal Reporting Protocol: Staff respond immediately to discovery of an incident. This includes first ensuring immediate safeguards for the individual. Phone numbers and website addresses for reporting are located in known, accessible and visible areas of each program site. Steps for completing an incident report are clearly defined. Management promptly ensures safeguards are in place and that appropriate entities investigate reportable incidents when they occur.
Protections: Israel Story is prohibited from taking any retaliatory action against a person who has made a good faith act of providing information to the relevant authorities.
Analysis of Trends: Incidents and trends are analyzed to identify and address program deficiencies and other safety concerns in order to remediate the circumstances to prevent future incidents of harm.
Staff take it upon themselves to ensure there are at least two adults present for all group activities, and to monitor each other to ensure that abuse prevention measures outlined in the policy and elsewhere in the organization are followed, and to identify any conditions that interfere with staff providing a safe, responsible and respectful environment.
Locations used for activities will be appropriate for children in terms of physical safety, accessibility, and surrounding content.
Any child who is not capable of providing consent (i.e., youth, adult with established guardian) will only be released to a parent, legal guardian or a person designated by a parent or legal guardian.
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