Let's protect children and teenagers in sports
Child abuse is an excessively frequent phenomenon worldwide, multicausal and multisectoral, but it can be prevented.
The World Health Organization defines child maltreatment as the abuse and neglect of children under 18 years of age, including all types of physical or psychological abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and other forms of mistreatment, sometimes even including exposure to gender-based violence. The organization itself emphasizes the consequences of maltreatment on the physical and mental health of children and adolescents, with repercussions throughout their adult lives.
One in five women and one in 13 men report having suffered sexual abuse in childhood (WHO).
Some of the risk factors for child abuse can be related to the child (such as being under 4 years old or an adolescent), to the parents or guardians (difficulties in establishing an emotional bond with the baby, not taking care of the child, history of child abuse, alcohol and drug use or economic difficulties), relational factors (isolation or lack of a social support network, family breakdown or gender violence, or physical, mental or developmental problems of a family member), or social and community factors (social and gender inequalities, lack of adequate housing, high levels of unemployment and poverty, instability or economic inequalities, easy availability of alcohol and drugs, or insufficient prevention policies).
Certain settings, such as education, sports, and leisure, are crucial for detecting cases of child and adolescent abuse. In the case of after-school sports activities, as in schools, these are spaces where children, adolescents, and adults spend a significant portion of their time engaged in activities and socialization, interacting with each other. These activities can offer an alternative or complementary relational model to what they experience at home with their families. Furthermore, bonds of trust can be established, allowing for the earlier detection of potential abuse.
In this regard, the Barcelona Sports Institute of the Barcelona City Council has developed a Protocol for the prevention, detection and action of mistreatment and sexual violence against children and adolescents in sports activities in the city of Barcelona to provide intervention circuits to the entities that manage sports activities with children and adolescents.
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The protocol emphasizes the importance of taking preventative measures to avoid risky situations, which can range from working in pedagogical pairs, to ensuring that sports facilities facilitate visibility in the spaces used, to avoiding leaving a professional alone with a child or adolescent, creating quiet spaces in open areas for individual interviews instead of holding them in closed spaces, protecting the confidentiality of data and not giving or requesting personal telephone numbers or email addresses without informing the families.
Tot ok?, an online resource to report and respond to situations of child violence
It also recommends that professional teams at these sports facilities take action in situations where they suspect abuse within a child's family environment, whether by a member of the staff or by another child or adolescent with whom they participate in activities. Action should always be prudent and guided by the principles of discretion (only a few people should be informed of the situation and involved), transparency (communicating all available information to the families and individuals affected), and minimal intervention (children should not be interviewed by more than one person from the sports organization).
As also outlined in the Framework Protocol for Action against Child and Adolescent Abuse in Catalonia , it is advisable to designate a Child Protection Officer . This person should be contacted if any indication of abuse is detected, and they will advise the organization's management and professionals on how to intervene or follow up on identified cases. The document from the Barcelona Sports Institute notes that in organizations with insufficient resources to accommodate a dedicated Child Protection Officer, these functions will be assumed by the president, director, or coordinator of the organization.
Thus, it is essential to reduce child abuse that entities managing sports activities outside of school hours participate by implementing prevention measures, training their professional teams in detecting situations of abuse, and providing guidelines and tools for action.
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