How Safe Are the Children in Your Institution?

Whether the institution treats child digital safety as a formal responsibility—embedded into leadership, written policies, and operational planning.

Why it matters: Child digital safety without governance is fragile. When there’s no written policy, no named responsibility, and no leadership commitment, protections depend entirely on individual staff goodwill. Policies endure.

How the institution collects, stores, uses, protects, and disposes of children’s personal data—including what it shares with third parties.

Why it matters: Children’s data is among the most sensitive data in existence. It can include health records, learning difficulties, family circumstances, behavior records, locations, and images. A breach can cause lasting harm.

How the institution controls who can access children digitally and how devices used in the institution are managed.

Why it matters: Access controls are the primary technical barrier preventing harm. Inadequate controls allow unauthorized adults to contact children, allow children to access inappropriate content, and create vulnerabilities that enable breaches.

How the institution monitors content children are exposed to, content produced involving children, and how it detects and responds to harmful content.

Why it matters: Filtering prevents most harm. But no filter catches everything. Monitoring provides the secondary layer—human or technological oversight that catches what filtering misses.

Whether all staff understand their digital safety responsibilities, are trained to recognize and respond to digital harms, and are held accountable for their digital conduct with children.

Why it matters: Staff training is consistently identified as the single highest-return investment in child protection globally. Technology can only do so much—ultimately, child digital safety depends on human judgment.

Whether the institution actively educates children and families about digital safety—building genuine digital literacy and resilience beyond just rules and restrictions.

Why it matters: Technology evolves faster than rules can. The most durable protection for any child is their own informed judgment. Family engagement amplifies impact.

Whether the institution has a clear, tested plan for when digital safety incidents occur—from cyberbullying to data breaches to online exploitation.

Why it matters: Every institution will face a digital safety incident. The question is not if but when. Institutions with tested plans contain harm quickly and support affected children effectively.

Whether the institution meets its legal obligations, submits to external scrutiny, and demonstrates accountability to regulators, funders, and the public.

Why it matters: Self-assessment is valuable. External accountability is essential. Institutions that welcome external scrutiny signal genuine commitment rather than performative compliance.