Safeguarding Policy

Our highest commitment

The children who appear on OrphanGive are real children, in real circumstances, with real vulnerabilities. They are minors. Many have lost one or both parents. Some have experienced trauma. All of them deserve to be cared for, protected, and treated with the dignity that any child deserves — and more.

Our safeguarding policy is not a legal disclaimer. It is the framework by which we judge every decision we make. When in doubt, we choose the child's safety over the sponsor's convenience. Always.

This page explains our specific commitments, the systems we have in place to honour them, and what you should do if you have a concern about any child you encounter through our service.

What safeguarding means here

Safeguarding is the term used by child protection professionals worldwide to describe the proactive measures an organisation takes to prevent harm to children in its care. It is broader than reacting to abuse after it occurs. It is the architecture of safety we build before harm has any chance to happen.

For OrphanGive, safeguarding covers:

• The vetting and ongoing supervision of our partner orphanages

• The verification and registration of every child profile we publish

• The boundaries we place on what information sponsors can access and when

• The training and accountability of staff and volunteers who interact with children

• The reporting channels through which concerns can be raised and resolved

• The legal and procedural frameworks under which we cooperate with authorities when serious matters arise

Partner orphanage standards

OrphanGive does not directly operate orphanages. We partner with established orphanages in Bangladesh that have themselves been registered with the relevant Bangladeshi authorities, including the Social Welfare Department where applicable.

Before any partner orphanage is listed on OrphanGive, we verify:

• Their registration documents and operating licenses

• The leadership and governance of the organisation

• Their existing safeguarding policies and staff training records

• Their accountability to local authorities and to the children they serve

• Their willingness to comply with our additional safeguarding requirements

We conduct site visits before partnering and we maintain ongoing oversight through quarterly check-ins, annual deeper reviews, and unannounced visits where appropriate. Partner orphanages that fail to maintain standards have their partnership suspended pending remediation, or terminated where the failures are severe.

Child profile verification

Every child listed on OrphanGive has been verified by our field team, not just submitted by an orphanage. Verification includes:

• Confirmation of the child's identity and date of birth through official documents where available

• Confirmation that the child is in the lawful care of the registering orphanage or guardian

• Confirmation of orphan status — at minimum, the loss of one parent, with appropriate documentation

• Consent from the child's legal guardian for the child's photograph and basic information to be shared with prospective sponsors

• The child's own assent, where the child is of an age to understand and give it

We do not list children whose identity, status, or consent cannot be verified. Where doubt exists, the child is not listed.

Information boundaries

We publish on OrphanGive's public pages only what is necessary for a prospective sponsor to begin a relationship:

• The child's first name (sometimes a chosen name rather than a legal name, for privacy)

• A general district or region within Bangladesh (never a specific address)

• The child's approximate age

• A photograph cleared by the child's guardian and reviewed by our team for safety

We never publish on the public site:

• The child's full legal name

• The child's exact address or specific school name

• Identifying details of family members

• Medical information

• School reports or grades

• The child's handwritten letters or detailed personal stories

These additional details are made available only to active sponsors of that specific child, and only after a formal reveal request is approved by our team. Reveal-controlled information is shared on a need-to-know basis and expires after ninety days, after which a fresh reveal request is required.

If a sponsor's relationship with a child ends — through cancellation, refund, or natural completion — their access to that child's reveal-controlled information is immediately revoked.

What sponsors may not do

Sponsors using OrphanGive agree not to:

• Attempt to contact a sponsored child directly outside the channels we provide

• Travel to the child's location to meet them without our prior coordination and the orphanage's approval

• Photograph, film, or record any communication with a sponsored child for any purpose

• Republish, distribute, or commercially exploit any content shared with them through a sponsorship — including child photographs, names, stories, or letters

• Use information learned through sponsorship to attempt to identify, locate, or contact the child through other channels (social media, school records, public databases)

• Engage in any communication with a child that is romantic, sexual, manipulative, financially exploitative, or otherwise inappropriate

Violation of any of these will result in immediate termination of the sponsorship, refund of pending payments, permanent ban from our service, and where the conduct is criminal, notification of Bangladeshi authorities.

Staff and volunteer accountability

All staff and volunteers of Children's Heaven Trust who interact with children — whether in person, by phone, or through written communication — undergo:

• Background checks where possible under Bangladesh law

• Safeguarding training before they begin any role involving children

• Ongoing supervision by senior staff

• A formal code of conduct that they sign and that we hold them to

No staff member or volunteer is ever alone with a child without another adult present. No staff member or volunteer may communicate with a sponsored child outside of officially recorded channels. Breaches of these rules are treated as gross misconduct.

How to report a concern

If at any point — during a sponsorship, after viewing a profile, in conversation with our team, or through any other channel — you have a concern that a child may be at risk of harm, we ask that you report it to us immediately.

Concerns can include:

• Anything in a child's communication that suggests they are being mistreated, neglected, or abused

• Inappropriate behaviour by anyone associated with our service or our partner orphanages

• Suspicions about another sponsor's conduct or intent

• Concerns about the welfare or safety of a child you encounter in any way through OrphanGive

To report, write to **safeguarding@orphangive.org** with as much detail as you can provide. If the matter is urgent and the child is in immediate danger, also contact local authorities in addition to writing to us.

We commit to acknowledging every safeguarding report within twenty-four hours and to investigating thoroughly. Where authorities should be involved, we involve them. Where confidentiality is needed to protect the child or the reporter, we maintain it absolutely.

False or malicious reports waste time we owe to real concerns, but we would always rather investigate a sincere worry that turns out to be nothing than dismiss a real concern that turns out to be something. Err on the side of reporting.

Cooperation with authorities

We cooperate fully with the Social Welfare Department of Bangladesh, the police, and any other relevant authority on any matter involving the welfare of a child. We respond promptly to lawful requests for information. We provide records, we facilitate interviews, we comply with court orders.

We do not share information about a child with any party who does not have a legitimate role in protecting that child. Sponsors, journalists, researchers, and other interested parties do not have automatic access to child information regardless of their stated good intentions. Access is granted only where it serves the child's interests and only with appropriate consent.

Continuous improvement

Safeguarding is not a static policy. The understanding of child protection evolves; our threats evolve; the technology through which we operate evolves. We commit to:

• Reviewing this policy at minimum annually, and more frequently as needed

• Training all new staff and volunteers in our current safeguarding practice

• Auditing our partner orphanages regularly

• Learning from any safeguarding incident that does occur — within the limits of confidentiality — to prevent recurrence

• Listening to the children themselves, where age and circumstance allow

If you have a suggestion for how this policy or our safeguarding practice can be strengthened, we welcome it. Write to us.

Governing law

This safeguarding policy is governed by the laws of Bangladesh. Children's Heaven Trust is registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh under Registration No. iv-98/2021. We comply with Bangladesh law on child welfare, including the Children Act 2013 (Shishu Ain, 2013) and applicable regulations of the Department of Social Services.

We hold ourselves to international best practice on safeguarding regardless of jurisdiction, including the principles articulated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Contact

For any safeguarding concern, urgent or otherwise:

Children's Heaven Trust & GoodVerse Foundation Operating OrphanGive General email: support@orphangive.org

We respond to every safeguarding message within twenty-four hours. We treat every concern with the gravity it deserves.