Child Safety and Safeguarding Policy

The rules that keep adults and children at a safe distance: screening, training, which channels an adult may use, recordings, and how a concern gets reported.

Effective: September 4, 2026
Version: 1.1
When it applies: Whenever a child takes part in anything Skhillz runs.

You confirm you have read this when you create an account.

Revision note: Recording restated as a condition of participation and a safeguarding control rather than a permission, to match the Privacy Policy and Data-Use Consent. Confirmed with counsel 2026-09-04.

Skhillz Academy, LLC is committed to protecting children and creating learning environments where safety, dignity, privacy, and appropriate adult boundaries are central. This Policy applies to employees, contractors, tutors, teachers, volunteers, authors, presenters, vendors, partners, parents, guardians, learners, and guests participating in Skhillz Academy activities.

1. Policy Commitments

Skhillz Academy will:

Treat the best interests and safety of the child as a primary consideration
Maintain clear adult-child boundaries
Screen and train covered personnel appropriate to their roles
Use observable, authorized communication channels
Respond promptly to concerns and allegations
Make legally required reports without delaying for an internal investigation
Protect reporters from retaliation
Limit child information and access to those with a legitimate need
Design online services with high privacy and safety protections by default

2. Scope of Safeguarding

Safeguarding includes prevention and response concerning:

Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
Neglect
Grooming and exploitation
Bullying and cyberbullying
Harassment and discrimination
Self-harm or credible threats of harm
Trafficking
Inappropriate adult-child relationships
Online privacy and communication risks
Unsafe learning activities
Unauthorized recording, image use, or disclosure

3. Safeguarding Roles

Skhillz Academy will designate a Safeguarding Lead and at least one alternate. Responsibilities include:

Receiving and triaging reports
Coordinating immediate protective steps
Ensuring mandatory reports are made by the legally responsible person
Preserving relevant records
Managing internal escalation without compromising an external investigation
Coordinating parent communication when safe and lawful
Reviewing training, incidents, and systemic improvements

The Safeguarding Lead does not replace the independent reporting duty of a person who is a mandatory reporter.

4. Screening and Qualification

Before unsupervised or recurring access to minors, covered personnel must complete screening appropriate to the role and law, which may include:

Identity verification
Criminal-history and sex-offender checks
Reference checks
Qualification verification
Employment or volunteer history
Interview and boundary assessment
Re-screening at defined intervals

An adverse record requires individualized review consistent with law. No screening method guarantees that misconduct will not occur.

5. Required Training

Before child-facing service and periodically thereafter, covered personnel must complete training on:

Recognizing indicators of abuse, neglect, grooming, and exploitation
Mandatory reporting
Professional boundaries
Authorized communications
Virtual-classroom safety
Privacy and confidential information
Incident documentation
Emergency escalation
Anti-bullying and nondiscrimination
Accessibility and developmentally appropriate practice
Recording, photography, and media rules

Attendance and completion records must be maintained.

6. Adult-Child Interaction Standards

Observable and interruptible contact

Interactions should occur through approved systems that are observable, reviewable, and capable of adult oversight. One-to-one instruction may occur when authorized, but communications and session access must follow established controls.

Prohibited conduct

Adults must not:

Engage in sexual, romantic, exploitative, humiliating, or grooming conduct
Request secrecy from a child concerning communications or interactions
Use disappearing messages or unauthorized personal accounts
Exchange personal telephone numbers, private emails, or social-media connections with a child
Meet a child outside the approved setting without written authorization and safeguards
Provide transportation without specific authorization
Give inappropriate gifts, money, or favors
Use corporal punishment or degrading discipline
Share sexually explicit, violent, hateful, or developmentally inappropriate content
Ask a child for unnecessary personal, family, medical, location, or financial information
Retaliate against a child or reporter

7. Electronic Communication

Staff communicate through the portal, authorized email, institutional account, or approved video platform.
Parent or guardian access or visibility must be maintained for minor communications.
Private direct messaging between an adult and a minor is prohibited unless the system is authorized, logged, necessary, and subject to oversight.
Staff should not communicate with minors through personal social-media accounts, disappearing-message services, or personal texting.
Emergency communication should include the parent, guardian, Safeguarding Lead, or another authorized adult as soon as reasonably possible.

8. Virtual Sessions

Meeting links and access credentials must not be publicly posted.
Waiting rooms, authenticated access, host controls, and participant management should be used.
All sessions are recorded, after notice. Recording is a safeguarding control as well as an instructional one and is not optional.
Unauthorized screenshots, recordings, and redistribution are prohibited.
Staff must respond to inappropriate backgrounds, attire, language, visible conduct, or third-party presence.
A parent may be required to remain nearby for younger learners, high-risk activities, or accommodation needs.
Breakout rooms involving minors require approved settings and monitoring.
Chat, file sharing, screen sharing, annotations, and private messaging should be restricted to the instructional need.

9. Storytime Studio, Authors, and Guests

Authors, illustrators, speakers, and guests must:

Receive written expectations before participation
Use Skhillz Academy-hosted access
Avoid collecting child contact information
Answer only moderated or pre-screened questions
Avoid direct sales pressure toward children
Obtain permission for copyrighted readings and replay use
Avoid private follow-up with minors
Follow the Code of Conduct and this Policy

Guest access ends after the authorized event unless extended in writing.

10. Images, Recordings, and Media

Recording a session and using that recording are two different things, and only the second is a permission.

All Skhillz Academy sessions are recorded, as a condition of participation, for instruction, accessibility, attendance, quality, staff supervision, replay, and safety. Recording exists in part so that a concern raised about conduct in a session involving children can be reviewed rather than argued from conflicting recollections, which is why it cannot be switched off for an individual participant.
Access to instructional recordings is limited to the personnel assigned to that learner or program, administrators with a legitimate need, the learner, and the learner's parent or guardian, together with authorized replay within the program.
Routine recordings are generally retained for up to 12 months.
Child images, voices, names, likenesses, or identifiable work may not be used publicly without separate parent or guardian authorization.
Where feasible, the final promotional item will be presented to the parent for approval before use.
Declining promotional permission will not exclude a child from the underlying educational Service.
Participants may not capture or publish other children.

11. Physical and At-Home Activities

Activity materials should include age guidance, supervision requirements, allergens, tools, hazards, and emergency instructions as applicable.

Parents and guardians are responsible for at-home supervision. Activities involving heat, blades, electricity, chemicals, choking hazards, food, outdoor travel, or other elevated risks require clear adult-control instructions or must be excluded from unsupervised child access.

12. Transportation, Pickup, and In-Person Events

If offered:

Written parent authorization is required.
Only approved adults may pick up a minor.
Identity verification and sign-in/sign-out records must be used.
Vehicles, drivers, supervision ratios, insurance, and restraints must meet law and policy.
No employee, contractor, or volunteer may provide unauthorized transportation.
In-person sites require emergency, restroom, missing-child, visitor, and reunification procedures.

13. Reporting a Concern

Immediate danger

Call 911 or the appropriate local emergency service.

Suspected abuse or neglect

Contact the appropriate child-protection or law-enforcement authority immediately when required. In Florida, reports may be made to the Florida Abuse Hotline through the official state channels. Do not delay a required report while seeking internal approval.

Internal notice

After immediate safety and legal duties are addressed, notify:

safeguarding@skhillzacademy.org
888-429-5094

A report should include facts, dates, names, communications, and immediate risks when known. Do not interview a child repeatedly, promise absolute confidentiality, confront the accused, or conduct an amateur investigation.

14. Response Procedure

Skhillz Academy may:

Address immediate medical or safety needs
Preserve evidence and access logs
Separate an involved person from child contact
Make or support a mandatory report
Notify insurers, counsel, platform providers, institutions, or authorities when appropriate
Communicate with the parent or guardian unless doing so may increase risk or compromise an investigation
Conduct a limited internal administrative review coordinated with authorities
Implement corrective and preventive action

Administrative leave, access restriction, or removal during review is protective and not a predetermined finding.

15. Confidentiality and Records

Safeguarding information is shared only with people who need it for safety, legal compliance, investigation, insurance, or support. Records must be factual, dated, securely stored, access-restricted, and retained according to law and legitimate safety needs.

Routine deletion requests may be delayed when information must be preserved for protection, reporting, investigation, or legal claims.