Safe in Town – Child Safeguarding Framework | | Movimento Globale per i Diritti dell’Infanzia

The General Child Safeguarding Framework was developed by Keeping Children Safe in collaboration with Defence for Children Italia, in the framework of the Safe in Town project. 

Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), national governments have a legal obligation to ensure the protection of all children from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. To fulfil this obligation, States are required to establish and maintain a comprehensive child protection system. Such a system encompasses a coordinated set of laws, policies, regulations, and services across all relevant sectors – including social welfare, education, health, justice, and security – to prevent and respond to child protection risks in a timely, effective, and rights-based manner.

While child protection responsibilities are often shared across government bodies, with local authorities, non-state actors, and community groups playing critical roles in service delivery, this fragmentation underscores the need for strong coordination mechanisms. Effective protection requires clear roles and referral pathways, routine inter-agency collaboration, and the implementation of safeguarding standards at all levels.

However, at the local level, these systems too often fall short in ensuring that every child is protected and respected. One of the main contributing factors is the lack or inadequate implementation of child safeguarding policies and procedures by the key actors involved in children’s lives – including public institutions, private entities, and community-based structures.

These guidelines aim to support municipal actors in understanding and fulfilling their responsibilities in line with the UNCRC. They offer a practical, user-friendly, and flexible framework to interpret and apply national laws and procedures in a way that strengthens local child safeguarding capacity. Grounded in a child rights-based approach, the document provides tools and knowledge to guide the design, development, and implementation of coordinated, multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral child safeguarding policies at the municipal level.

The overarching goal is to ensure prevention, early identification, and appropriate response to all forms of violence against children, by providing a common foundation for developing comprehensive Municipal Child Safeguarding Policies. These guidelines are also intended to contribute to strengthening local child protection systems and promoting a culture of shared responsibility, accountability, and respect for the rights and dignity of all children.

The project works with selected municipalities in Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Portugal to create safer, inclusive, and child-friendly environments. It promotes a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together local authorities, service providers, communities, and children themselves to prevent violence, strengthen protection systems, and ensure effective responses when risks arise.

The document is available to read and download in PDF format: