Draft policy — not adopted. This statement must be reviewed and signed off before the programme accepts a single family.
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Safeguarding & Child Protection

Keeping children safe.

The programme hosts families with children. That places child protection at the centre of everything we do — not as a document, but as a condition of running at all.

Status — draft for review, not adopted This is a working draft. It has not been reviewed by a safeguarding professional, adopted by the Foundation, or checked against Irish child-protection law (including the Children First Act 2015 and Children First: National Guidance). It is a starting point for that review, not a policy in force. No family will be hosted until a signed-off policy is in place.

Our commitment

The welfare of every child hosted by The Christmas Table is the first consideration in every decision. Children have a right to be safe, to be listened to, and to be treated with dignity. The Christmas Table is a holiday, not an intervention — light-touch by design, with no mandatory activities and no assessments — and safeguarding is the condition that makes it possible.

What this means in practice (draft — to be confirmed)

The following are the measures we intend the reviewed policy to establish:

  • A named Designated Liaison Person (DLP), and a deputy, responsible for child-protection concerns for the duration of the programme.
  • Garda vetting of everyone in a role of responsibility around families — with references and role suitability — before the programme begins.
  • Clear reporting of any concern to Tusla (the Child and Family Agency) and An Garda Síochána, in line with mandatory-reporting duties under the Children First Act 2015.
  • Codes of behaviour for staff, volunteers and hotel personnel, setting out acceptable conduct around children.
  • Families are hosted as family units in their own rooms; parents and guardians retain care of their children throughout. The programme does not take children into its care.
  • A risk assessment of the accommodation, activities and travel, reviewed before each season.
  • Privacy and dignity: families are never identified or marked as "homeless families" within the hotel; no child is identified, photographed for publicity, or written about in an appeal, and any media activity is fully consented.
  • The referring organisation remains a point of contact for each family before, during and after the stay.

Raising a concern

Anyone with a concern about a child's safety on the programme should be able to raise it easily and know it will be acted on. The named contact and route will be set out here once the DLP is appointed. A concern about a child at immediate risk should always go to An Garda Síochána or Tusla directly.

Review

This statement will be reviewed and signed off before launch, and before each subsequent season, by a person competent to do so.

Open decision — for the Professor Safeguarding policy sign-off is a launch blocker. Required before publication: professional review against Children First; appointment of a DLP and deputy; a Garda-vetting process; and confirmation of how safeguarding responsibility is shared between the Foundation and the host hotel.