Appropriate Adult Interaction with Child Volunteers - Revision history

Ali: this is a procedure, not a policy

2010-07-22T23:13:30Z

this is a procedure, not a policy

Dave: undocumented policy

2010-07-06T21:21:03Z

undocumented policy

Shawn: category

2006-02-11T20:33:35Z

Shawn at 00:06, 21 January 2006

2006-01-21T00:06:33Z

Shawn at 23:33, 20 January 2006

2006-01-20T23:33:56Z

Shawn at 23:29, 20 January 2006

2006-01-20T23:29:14Z

Shawn at 22:14, 20 January 2006

2006-01-20T22:14:45Z

New page

Appropriate Touch

Touching children appropriately is an important part of personal safety training for children. It is a foundation in helping children express their feelings about touch and about their choices of what or who touches them and how. It is especially important in a hospital where children may have fewer choices about being touched for procedures and treatments. Appropriate touch also protects volunteers from misunderstandings about their interactions with children.

Young children may come in contact with adults who don’t make good decisions about touching children. Touch is confusing to children:

When the child is not used to the touch
When the child is not sure about the intent of the giver
When there are double messages about the touch
When the touch is equated with sex
When the touch feels good but there is something “secret” or not safe about it.

Volunteers can support the child’s sense of power over his/her body by asking the child if s/he wants to be picked up or hugged. Younger children will reach for you and even smile in their efforts to get attention from you. It is OK to hug or hold the child as long as s/he continues to give you signs that s/he is comfortable with the physical contact. Know the difference between focused attention (listening, eye contact) and physical affection – patients may be looking for focused attention more than affection.

Protect the Patient, Protect Yourself

For the safety of patients and volunteers, we want to provide volunteers with information and tools to:

Recognize and prevent situations that could lead to potential conflict or complaints.
Properly report situations that do arise

The easiest way to avoid a potentially confusing situation is to prevent one from occurring:

Conduct yourself in a professional manner (e.g. DCH volunteers have a fairly casual dress code, but modesty in personal appearance is important).
Let the patient know who you are and what your role is
It is not appropriate for a patient to treat you disrespectfully. If a patient does make a comment that is disrespectful:
Remain calm
Let her/him know it’s not acceptable
Graciously excuse yourself from the area if necessary
Report to Child Life or Volunteer Services (some of our patients will have been exposed to inappropriate behaviors and it will be important for Child Life to know this)

Recognize potentially high-risk situations:

Patient asking questions that feel too personal
Patient displays hesitancy or avoidance verbally or through body language
Patient groggy when waking up from sleep or on sedation
Privacy issues such as patient using bathroom, changing, etc. (volunteers do not
assist)
Being aware of perceptions when alone with a child (sensitivity to anything that
might appear inappropriate)

Additionally, it is never acceptable for volunteers to:

Touch areas that are normally covered by swimming suits. When hugging, it may be more appropriate to hug from the side over the shoulders, not from the front
Make sexual jokes, comments of a sexual nature, give massage, etc.
Reveal personal information about one’s sex life
Use physical contact in a coercive way – grabbing, pushing, etc.

If a concern is reported:

Avoid confusion by reporting any issue around appropriate boundaries or physical
contact to Child Life or volunteer services immediately
If a patient reports a concern about a volunteer, Clinical Risk Management may
need to conduct a full investigation (details in the online Respect at the
University training)
The volunteer may be placed on leave during an investigation

Sources:
Appropriate Touch, Volunteer Services, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA.
Protect the Patient, Protect Yourself, Legacy Health System, Portland, OR.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:13, 22 July 2010
Line 54:		Line 54:

	[[Category:HR]]		[[Category:HR]]
−	[[Category: ~~Undocumented Policy~~ ]]	+	[[Category: Procedures]]

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 ''Appropriate Touch'', Volunteer Services, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA.<br>
 ''Protect the Patient'', Protect Yourself, Legacy Health System, Portland, OR.
 [[Category:HR]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:33, 11 February 2006
Line 52:		Line 52:
	''Appropriate Touch'', Volunteer Services, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA.<br>		''Appropriate Touch'', Volunteer Services, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA.<br>
	''Protect the Patient'', Protect Yourself, Legacy Health System, Portland, OR.		''Protect the Patient'', Protect Yourself, Legacy Health System, Portland, OR.
		+
		+
		+	[[Category:HR]]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * Properly report situations that do arise
-==Prevention==
+===Prevention===
 The easiest way to avoid a potentially confusing situation is to prevent one from occurring:
 * Conduct yourself in a professional manner (Free Geek volunteers have a fairly casual dress code, but modesty in personal appearance is important).
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 ** Report what happened to a staff member.  The staff member will let someone on the HR committee know what happened.
-==High-risk Situations==
+===High-risk Situations===
 Recognize potentially high-risk situations:
 * Young volunteer asking questions that feel too personal
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 * Being aware of perceptions when alone with a child (sensitivity to anything that might appear inappropriate)
-==Don't do this Stuff Around
+===Don't do This Stuff===
-Additionally, it is never acceptable for volunteers to:
+Additionally, it is never acceptable for adult volunteers or staff to:
-Touch areas that are normally covered by swimming suits.   When hugging, it may be more appropriate to hug from the side over the shoulders, not from the front
+===Reporting Concerns and Consequences===
-Make sexual jokes, comments of a sexual nature, give massage, etc.
+* If you see something happen regarding one of our young volunteers that concerns you, avoid confusion by reporting any issue around appropriate boundaries or physical contact to a staff member or member of the HR committee immediately
-Reveal personal information about one’s sex life
+* If someone reports a concern about a volunteer, Free Geek's HR committee will investigate the issue.  The volunteer or staff member in question may be placed on leave during an investigation.
-Avoid confusion by reporting any issue around appropriate boundaries or physical
+Sources:<br>
-contact to Child Life or volunteer services immediately
+''Appropriate Touch'', Volunteer Services, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA.<br>
-If a patient reports a concern about a volunteer, Clinical Risk Management may
+''Protect the Patient'', Protect Yourself, Legacy Health System, Portland, OR.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * Properly report situations that do arise
 The easiest way to avoid a potentially confusing situation is to prevent one from occurring:
 * Conduct yourself in a professional manner (Free Geek volunteers have a fairly casual dress code, but modesty in personal appearance is important).
@@ Line 28: / Line 29: @@
 ** Report what happened to a staff member.  The staff member will let someone on the HR committee know what happened.
 Recognize potentially high-risk situations:
-Patient asking questions that feel too personal
+==Don't do this Stuff Around
 Additionally, it is never acceptable for volunteers to:

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Appropriate Touch
+At Free Geek, we have a small number of regular volunteers who are under 18 years old.  Sometimes, these children gain special permission to spend time at Free Geek without direct adult supervision.  This document is aimed towards Free Geek adult volunteers and staff, and focuses on touching and interacting with children at Free Geek in a way that nurtures children while protecting our organization's culture of family-style fun.
 Touching children appropriately is an important part of personal safety training for children.  It is a foundation in helping children express their feelings about touch and about their choices of what or who touches them and how.  It is especially important in a hospital where children may have fewer choices about being touched for procedures and treatments.  Appropriate touch also protects volunteers from misunderstandings about their interactions with children.
-Young children may come in contact with adults who don’t make good decisions about touching children.  Touch is confusing to children:
+Young children may come into contact with adults who don’t make good decisions about touching children.  Touch is confusing to children:
-−
-When the child is not used to the touch
+* When the child is not used to the touch
-When the child is not sure about the intent of the giver
+* When the child is not sure about the intent of the giver
-When there are double messages about the touch
+* When there are double messages about the touch
-When the touch is equated with sex
+* When the touch is equated with sex
-When the touch feels good but there is something “secret” or not safe about it.
+* When the touch feels good but there is something “secret” or not safe about it.
 Volunteers can support the child’s sense of power over his/her body by asking the child if s/he wants to be picked up or hugged.  Younger children will reach for you and even smile in their efforts to get attention from you.  It is OK to hug or hold the child as long as s/he continues to give you signs that s/he is comfortable with the physical contact.  Know the difference between focused attention (listening, eye contact) and physical affection – patients may be looking for focused attention more than affection.
-Protect the Patient, Protect Yourself
+==Protect the Child, Protect Yourself==
 For the safety of patients and volunteers, we want to provide volunteers with information and tools to:
+* Recognize and prevent situations that could lead to potential conflict or complaints.
-Recognize and prevent situations that could lead to potential conflict or complaints.
+* Properly report situations that do arise
 The easiest way to avoid a potentially confusing situation is to prevent one from occurring:
+* Conduct yourself in a professional manner (Free Geek volunteers have a fairly casual dress code, but modesty in personal appearance is important).
-Conduct yourself in a professional manner (e.g. DCH volunteers have a fairly casual dress code, but modesty in personal appearance is important).
+* Let the patient know who you are and what your role is
-Let the patient know who you are and what your role is
+* It is not appropriate for a child volunteer to treat you disrespectfully.  If a young volunteer does make a comment that is disrespectful:
-It is not appropriate for a patient to treat you disrespectfully.  If a patient does make a comment that is disrespectful:
+** Remain calm
-Remain calm
+** Let her/him know it’s not acceptable
-Let her/him know it’s not acceptable
+** Graciously excuse yourself from the area if necessary
-Graciously excuse yourself from the area if necessary
+** Report what happened to a staff member.  The staff member will let someone on the HR committee know what happened.
 Recognize potentially high-risk situations: