Legal
Safeguarding & Child Protection
Aadyah works with children and with people in vulnerable circumstances. This page sets out our commitment, what we actually do, and how to raise a concern about anyone — including us.
Our commitment
Every child and every adult who comes into contact with Aadyah has the right to be safe, to be treated with dignity, and to be listened to. Safeguarding is not a document we produce for funders. It is a condition of the work, and it takes precedence over any programme, timeline, relationship or reputation.
Who this applies to
Every member of staff, every board member, every volunteer, every consultant, and every partner organisation working alongside us in a setting where children or vulnerable adults are present. There is no category of person to whom it does not apply.
What we do
- Everyone working with children is screened and referenced before they begin.
- Everyone is trained in our child protection process, and retrained annually.
- No adult is alone and unobserved with a child in the course of our work.
- Nothing a child produces — writing, drawing, recording or photograph — is published without informed consent from the child and their guardian.
- No child is ever identified by full name, school and photograph together.
- We do not photograph children in distress, and we do not use anyone's difficulty as fundraising material.
Listening safely
Project Kahani invites children to speak about their own lives, which means it must be built to receive difficult disclosures well. Facilitators are trained to respond calmly, never to promise secrecy they cannot keep, and to follow the escalation route below. A child is always told, in language they understand, what will happen to what they say.
Raising a concern
Any concern — about a member of our team, a partner, a volunteer, or anything you have observed in one of our settings — can be raised confidentially at info@aadyah.org. It reaches our designated safeguarding lead and nobody else.
We acknowledge every report within two working days. Reports may be made anonymously. Nobody who raises a concern in good faith will face any adverse consequence for having done so.
What happens next
The designated safeguarding lead assesses the report immediately. Where a child is believed to be at risk of harm, we act on that first and consider everything else afterwards — including referral to statutory authorities, Childline (1098) or the police, as the situation requires. Where our own team is implicated, the person is removed from contact while the matter is examined.
If a child is in immediate danger
Do not wait for us. Call Childline on 1098 or the police on 112. Both are free and available at any hour.
Last updated 26 August 2026.