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Find out how much of a difference your response to violence against a child can make.
Your response to harm restores your child’s sense of security and gives him a chance for a better future. It can protect your child’s health and even life!
You can notify the family court nearest to the child’s place of residence about the situation of violence against the child in the family. You can send a letter requesting insight into the child’s situation anonymously. When the family court learns that the child’s welfare is at risk, it will be obliged to take measures to check the child’s situation, protect and support the parents in raising the child.
You can write the notice yourself. There is no need to use a specific template. However, if you want to use a model letter, you can find it below. In the notice, describe the situation of the child, give his name – if you know it. Be sure to include the child’s home address so that the court can take action.
Sample letter – notification to the court
You can find the contact for the nearest family court on the website. Type: www. city name without Polish liter.sr.gov.pl (eg www.gliwice.sr.gov.pl).
You can send the notice by regular mail, electronic mail (e-mail) or deliver it in person.
Do you know that a child is grossly neglected? Parents are leaving it unattended, taking no interest in it, putting it in danger, failing to provide it with food, proper clothing, treatment? RESPOND
Do you know or suspect that a child is being sexually abused? RESPOND
Do you see violence against a child by a parent or guardian in a public space? The child is tugged, challenged, humiliated, beaten (e.g., spanking punishment)? RESPOND
Do you see violence against a child by a parent or guardian in a public space? The child is tugged, challenged, humiliated, beaten (e.g., spanking punishment)?
It can protect your child’s health and even life!
NOTE
Signal that you have noticed a child abuse situation. Making eye contact may be a sufficient response to stop the violent behavior of a parent, guardian or other adult accompanying the child. Don’t be afraid to observe. You have the right to watch what happens in public spaces.
CONTACT
When a parent is overcome by such strong emotions that he cannot stop violence against his child, rational arguments will not reach him. If you want to respond effectively, try to lower his tension. Ask a simple question, such as: “Excuse me, is something wrong?” You can also refer to your own experience, such as: “I remember when my children were that age. It’s a very difficult time. Is there anything I can help with?” Sometimes it’s enough to say out loud, “I can see that you’re having a hard time,” or “Sometimes we have a bad day and then we can’t get along.” Just trying to start such a conversation can give the parent food for thought and stop the violence against the child. It can also be the beginning of further conversation leading to calming the situation.
NAME THE SITUATION
Don’t criticize or attack, but also don’t avoid calling a spade a spade. Calmly but firmly talk about what has bothered you – such as: “I see that you hit the child”, “Please do not hit the child. Please never do that.”
When the person hurting the child is also violent towards you, or when your attempt to stop the hurting violence has failed and the child continues to be subjected to violence, then report the situation to the police by calling 112 or 997.
112 – general emergency number. A staff member will forward your call to the appropriate emergency services, in this situation the police.
997 – Police emergency number. You will call the nearest unit.
Emergency numbers 112 and 997 are free and open 24 hours a day.
If you know or suspect that your child is experiencing violence from peers. RESPOND!
If you know or suspect that your child is experiencing violence from peers – RESPOND! If the situation takes place on the Internet (cyberbullying) it may be helpful to intervene by securing evidence – taking a screen shot/photo of the correspondence or publication.
You can notify a staff member of the abused child’s school about peer violence: a teacher, educator, psychologist or headmaster. These specialists know the child’s school and peer environment, the situation of the child and his family. They can support the child experiencing violence and interact with the perpetrators/perpetrators, including the consequences provided for in the school statute, and notify the Family and Juvenile Court. Educational institutions should have an action scheme in place in case peer violence (both online and offline) occurs in the school environment. Importantly, in the case of peer violence, the school can take educational, corrective, preventive measures in the entire school environment, including the child’s classroom. In the case of peer violence, actions should include: victims, perpetrators and witnesses. In addition, the school can inform the parents of the victimized as well as the perpetrators and cooperate with them to end the violence.
Your response to the harm restores the child’s sense of security and gives him a chance for a better future.
It can protect your child’s health and even life!
Yes, you can report the case anonymously. In this case, the authority or institution should check your suspicions “ex officio”, that is, on their own initiative, initiated by your notification, investigate the case. However, when deciding to report, remember that your personal testimony in the case is very important! It may turn out that there will be a need for additional information that you could provide very quickly, but not having your data, the authority or institution will have to determine the issue on its own, which prolongs the time. And time in cases involving children is often crucial to ensure their safety!
If it turns out that the child is not being harmed that’s great news! You, with your attitude – attentiveness to a potential threat to a child’s well-being – even if it turned out that in this case the child is not being harmed – contribute to building good role models in society and show that it is necessary to react.
Are you worried about the legal consequences of filing a notice that turned out to be unfounded? Don’t be. If you had grounds to believe that a child was being harmed, no one will punish you for this, nor will they draw consequences against the child’s parents/legal guardians. The law only punishes people who knew, or were certain, that a crime had not occurred, but made a false report, e.g. to stalk or otherwise annoy someone.
Any corporal punishment is a manifestation of domestic violence, as according to Article 2(1)(1) of the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence of July 29, 2005 (Journal of Laws No. 180, item 1493), domestic violence should be understood as a single or repeated intentional act or omission, using physical, psychological or economic advantage, violating the rights or personal property of the person suffering domestic violence, in particular:
- exposing that person to danger of loss of life, health or property,
- violating her dignity, bodily integrity or freedom, including sexual freedom,
- causing damage to his physical or mental health, causing him suffering or harm,
- limiting or depriving that person of access to financial resources or the ability to work or become financially independent,
- materially invading the privacy of that person or causing that person to feel threatened, humiliated or anguished, including those undertaken by means of electronic communication.
The use of violence against another person is prohibited by law in Poland. The age of the person is irrelevant. The use of violence against a child as well as an adult is equally punishable. Each of us has a moral obligation to report violence as a crime. By reporting violence, you can save someone’s health or life. When making a report, ask for the data of the person taking the report, write it down and keep it.
There is a lack of awareness in society that the best place for a child is the family, but only when it is safe. Which means that a child in this family does not experience violence from his or her loved ones. In many situations, the child remains with his relatives, and help is directed to his parents. Specialists support them in using such parenting methods that do not harm the child, and also teach adults how to regulate their own emotions. However, if the child cannot stay with his parents for security reasons, the services will first turn to the child’s relatives and ask them to take care of the child. If there is no one in the family willing to take on this role, the child will be placed in foster care, as a last resort in an institutional facility. For many children, placement in foster care is a chance for safety and further development.
Violence can escalate and increasingly threaten the safety and proper development of the child. In addition, the child continues to live with the feeling that he is alone and no one will help him. When you fail to respond to so-called “serious crimes against children (grievous bodily harm, rape, sexual exploitation of helplessness, sexual abuse) you expose yourself to criminal liability. (Article 240 par. 1 of the Penal Code).
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