As part of your AAOT Foundation Learning, you have been asked to complete Child Protection Level 1 / National Principles training. This external study provides an important foundation in recognising and responding to child-safety concerns, understanding safeguarding responsibilities, recognising possible indicators of abuse and neglect, responding appropriately to disclosures, and knowing when concerns require further action.

Child protection is particularly relevant to Occupational Therapy because OTs may work directly with children and young people and may enter homes, schools and other environments where they have opportunities to observe everyday interactions that other professionals may not see.

Assistance-animal practice can provide similar insight. During an assessment or other professional activity, an AAOT may observe people:

• interacting with children, partners, family members, carers or support workers;
• completing everyday activities;
• interacting with and caring for animals;
• managing an assistance animal;
• navigating their home and community; or
• discussing circumstances that reveal a concern unrelated to the original assistance-animal referral.

This means an AAOT may notice a safeguarding concern that has nothing directly to do with the assistance animal or handler they were originally asked to assess.

A practitioner cannot disregard a concern simply because:

“I am only here to assess the assistance animal.”

Although your external training focuses primarily on children and young people, AAOT asks you to think more broadly about how the safeguarding principles you have learned may inform your professional awareness of children, vulnerable people and animals.

Importantly, this awareness is not limited to the assistance-animal and handler team. You may encounter a safeguarding or welfare concern involving another person or animal entirely.

Applying Your Child Protection Learning More Broadly

The concepts encountered in child-protection training—including recognising possible abuse or neglect, responding appropriately to disclosures, documenting concerns, understanding professional boundaries, knowing when to seek advice, and recognising that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility—have broader relevance to assistance-animal practice.

An AAOT may encounter concerns involving:

Children and young people, including possible abuse, neglect, exploitation, grooming, exposure to domestic and family violence or other threats to their safety and wellbeing.

Vulnerable people, including adults who may be experiencing abuse, neglect, coercive control, exploitation, financial abuse, inappropriate restrictive practices or mistreatment by a partner, family member, carer, support worker, service provider or another person.

Animals, including possible cruelty, abuse, neglect, inappropriate training practices, untreated illness or injury, inadequate veterinary care, excessive workloads, inappropriate equipment, poor living conditions or environments that compromise physical or behavioural welfare.

The applicable laws, reporting pathways and professional obligations are not identical across these areas. Completing child-protection training does not make an OT an expert in adult safeguarding or animal-welfare law.

Instead, we want you to transfer an important professional habit:

Notice concerns. Do not dismiss them simply because they fall outside the original referral. Know the limits of your role, document appropriately, seek advice and follow the applicable professional and legal pathway.

Safeguarding Is Broader Than Obvious Physical Abuse

Safeguarding concerns are not limited to visible physical injury.

Depending upon the person and circumstances, concerns may involve:

• physical abuse;
• sexual abuse or exploitation;
• psychological or emotional abuse;
• neglect;
• exposure to domestic and family violence;
• coercive or controlling behaviour;
• financial abuse or exploitation;
• grooming;
• unsafe caregiving environments;
• inappropriate restrictive practices;
• withholding necessary care or supports; or
• other forms of abuse or exploitation.

Some situations may be immediately apparent. Others emerge gradually through a pattern of observations, disclosures or inconsistencies.

Your role is not necessarily to prove that abuse occurred before taking a concern seriously.

Safeguarding Vulnerable People

Although the required external study focuses upon children, safeguarding principles are also relevant when working with adults who may be at increased risk of abuse, neglect, coercion or exploitation.

For example, an AAOT may become concerned that another person is:

• controlling the participant’s finances;
• withholding disability supports;
• preventing access to healthcare;
• interfering with communication;
• preventing access to their assistance animal;
• making decisions on their behalf without appropriate authority;
• exploiting their dependence upon care;
• subjecting them to violence or coercive control; or
• otherwise compromising their safety or wellbeing.

Disability should never automatically be treated as evidence that someone lacks decision-making capacity or is inherently vulnerable.

Equally, respecting autonomy does not require a practitioner to ignore genuine safeguarding concerns.

The principles of autonomy, supported decision-making, dignity of risk and safeguarding must therefore be considered together.

The Child Is a Person and Rights-Holder

When an assistance animal is proposed for a child, adults can easily dominate the process.

The referral may come from parents, doctors, therapists, teachers, support coordinators, trainers or disability providers. However, the child is not simply the recipient of an intervention chosen by adults.

Consistent with the human-rights and supported decision-making principles explored earlier in AAOT, consider the child’s:

• age and development;
• communication;
• understanding;
• preferences;
• distress;
• relationships;
• disability; and
• evolving capacity.

Where appropriate, children should be supported to participate meaningfully in decisions affecting them.

Does the Child Actually Want the Animal?

A parent may strongly want an assistance animal for their child.

That does not necessarily mean the child does.

Consider:

• Does the child like the proposed species or animal?
• Do they enjoy interacting with it?
• Are they frightened of it?
• Do they avoid it?
• Is physical contact welcome?
• Are barking, licking, smell or movement distressing?
• Does the child understand the animal’s role?
• How does the child communicate consent, preference or refusal?
• Who will actually be responsible for the animal?

A child should not be repeatedly forced into unwanted interaction with an animal because adults believe that interaction will be therapeutic.

Communication Differences Must Not Be Mistaken for Lack of Credibility

Children and vulnerable people may communicate in many different ways, including:

• speech;
• AAC;
• sign;
• gesture;
• behaviour;
• writing;
• visual communication;
• communication partners; or
• combinations of approaches.

A person who communicates differently should not automatically be regarded as incapable of expressing preferences, discomfort or concerns.

Similarly, neurodivergence, intellectual disability or communication disability should not automatically lead a practitioner to dismiss what somebody communicates.

This is another reason your earlier learning in Supported Decision-Making and Neurodivergent-Affirming Practice is important to safeguarding.

Listen Without Becoming the Investigator

A child or another person may unexpectedly disclose something concerning during an OT appointment.

Your role is generally not to conduct your own investigation.

Repeated, unnecessary or leading questioning may distress the person and may interfere with subsequent professional investigation.

The appropriate response depends upon the circumstances and applicable requirements, but broadly involves:

• remaining calm;
• listening;
• taking the disclosure seriously;
• avoiding promises you cannot keep;
• considering immediate safety;
• documenting appropriately; and
• following applicable safeguarding, reporting and professional procedures.

You do not necessarily need to determine whether an allegation will ultimately be substantiated before responding appropriately to a safeguarding concern.

Confidentiality Has Limits

Children, vulnerable people and other participants should understand confidentiality in a way appropriate to their age, communication and circumstances.

An OT should not promise:

“Whatever you tell me will stay between us.”

There may be circumstances in which information needs to be shared to protect someone or meet legal or professional obligations.

What must or may be disclosed depends upon the circumstances, jurisdiction and applicable professional framework.

Safeguarding Concerns May Be Completely Incidental

Imagine you are conducting an assessment because a family is seeking a seizure-alert dog for their child.

During the home visit, you identify a potential safeguarding concern involving the child’s sibling.

Or you notice an elderly family member appears to be experiencing serious neglect.

Or there is another dog on the property whose physical condition raises significant welfare concerns.

None of these individuals is the subject of your assistance-animal assessment.

That does not mean the concern should automatically be ignored.

This is an important principle throughout AAOT:

Professionals remain professionals when they encounter a concern incidentally to the service they were originally asked to provide.

The original assistance-animal referral does not create an artificial boundary beyond which you must ignore everything else you see.

Safeguarding Applies Beyond the Assistance-Animal Team

Safeguarding awareness is not limited to the assistance animal and handler you are assessing or supporting.

A concern may involve any person or animal you encounter through the course of your professional practice.

For example, you might become concerned about:

• another child in the household;
• a sibling of the participant;
• an elderly or otherwise vulnerable family member;
• a partner or other household member;
• another client or service user;
• another assistance animal;
• a companion animal or pet;
• a foster or rescue animal;
• livestock or another animal on the property; or
• another person or animal encountered while providing the service.

The fact that the person or animal is not your client, not the handler, or not the assistance animal being assessed does not mean an apparent safeguarding or welfare concern should automatically be ignored.

This does not mean that an AAOT should investigate every situation they encounter or act outside professional scope. What action is appropriate will depend upon the circumstances, seriousness of the concern, applicable law and professional responsibilities.

The important principle is:

Safeguarding awareness extends to the people and animals you encounter through your professional practice—not only the assistance-animal and handler team named on your referral.

Do Not Use an Assistance Animal to Manage a Safeguarding Problem

An assistance animal should never become a substitute for appropriate safeguarding.

For example, an animal should not be expected to:

• protect someone from an abusive person;
• act as a security animal;
• prevent violence within a household;
• notify a guardian that an unsafe person has attended the premises;
• supervise a child or vulnerable person instead of an appropriate human;
• physically restrain a handler;
• physically restrain another person; or
• compensate for an unsafe caregiving environment.

Where somebody is unsafe, the safeguarding issue needs to be addressed.

An assistance animal cannot make an abusive or unsafe environment acceptable.

Assistance Animals Must Not Be Trained for Protection

This distinction is especially important where a family is worried about someone’s safety.

An assistance animal and a protection or security animal perform fundamentally different roles.

An assistance animal should not be trained to attack, bite, threaten, intimidate or aggressively guard a person.

If someone says:

“I want the dog to protect my child.”

explore what they actually mean.

They may be describing a legitimate disability-related task poorly. However, if the intended function is actually protection from other people, an assistance animal is not the appropriate intervention.

---

Safeguarding Animals

Assistance-animal practice also requires practitioners to recognise animal-welfare concerns.

An AAOT may encounter:

• deliberate harm or cruelty;
• neglect;
• inadequate food or water;
• unsuitable living conditions;
• untreated illness or injury;
• inadequate veterinary care;
• inappropriate or aversive training practices;
• excessive workloads;
• inadequate opportunities for rest;
• inappropriate equipment;
• significant fear or distress; or
• other circumstances in which an animal’s welfare needs are not being met.

An animal’s importance to a person’s disability support does not reduce its welfare needs.

At the same time, avoid automatically blaming the disabled handler when a welfare concern arises. The underlying issue may involve:

• inadequate disability support;
• financial hardship;
• another household member;
• poor professional advice;
• inappropriate training;
• unsuitable matching;
• lack of knowledge;
• inaccessible veterinary care; or
• another circumstance requiring consideration.

Establish what is actually occurring rather than beginning from an assumption.

Human and Animal Safeguarding Can Intersect

Human and animal safeguarding concerns sometimes occur together.

For example, an abusive person may:

• threaten or harm an assistance animal to control its handler;
• deliberately withhold veterinary treatment;
• remove or hide the animal;
• prevent the handler from accessing it;
• interfere with training;
• threaten to surrender or euthanise the animal;
• withhold money required for its care; or
• use the person’s attachment to or dependence upon the animal as a means of coercion.

Likewise, concerns about the treatment of animals may sometimes arise within a household where there are also concerns about the treatment of people.

The presence of one concern does not prove that another form of abuse is occurring.

It does mean that practitioners should be sufficiently aware to consider the broader context rather than viewing human and animal welfare entirely in isolation.

Safeguarding Is a Dual Responsibility in Assistance-Animal Practice

An assistance-animal intervention cannot be considered successful simply because it improves a person’s occupational performance if the animal’s welfare is seriously compromised.

Equally, animal-welfare considerations must be approached in ways that respect the rights, dignity and circumstances of the person with disability.

Consider:

• the safety and welfare of the person;
• the safety and welfare of the animal;
• the quality of interactions between them;
• whether appropriate supervision and support are available;
• whether the animal can withdraw and rest;
• whether its physical, behavioural and veterinary needs are being met;
• whether the person has the support required to provide appropriate care; and
• whether another person within the environment presents a risk to either the participant or animal.

Good assistance-animal practice requires consideration of both human rights and animal welfare.

Family and Household Circumstances Matter

Children and adults exist within families, households and other support systems.

An AAOT may need to understand:

• parenting arrangements;
• shared custody;
• multiple households;
• siblings;
• partners;
• other animals;
• carers and support workers;
• school or workplace arrangements;
• household routines;
• who is responsible for animal care; and
• whether the assistance-animal plan can operate safely across environments.

For example, where a child lives across two households, an assessment may need to consider how the assistance animal will function in both environments.

Family complexity itself should not be treated as evidence of a safeguarding problem.

Do Not Confuse Difference, Disability, Poverty or Culture With Neglect

Safeguarding requires professional judgement.

A household being:

• financially disadvantaged;
• culturally different from your own;
• unconventional;
• cluttered;
• neurodivergent;
• experiencing disability; or
• using different family or caregiving arrangements

does not automatically establish abuse or neglect.

Practitioners need to remain alert to their own biases.

The relevant question is whether there is a genuine concern about a person’s safety, care, rights or wellbeing, or an animal’s welfare, considered within the appropriate professional and legal framework.

Documentation Matters

Where a safeguarding concern arises, documentation should generally be:

• factual;
• contemporaneous where possible;
• professionally relevant;
• clear about what you personally observed;
• clear about what somebody else reported;
• free from unnecessary speculation; and
• stored and shared in accordance with applicable requirements.

There is an important difference between documenting:

what you observed + what was said + what action you took

and making conclusions that you are not qualified or authorised to make.

Know Your Legal and Professional Responsibilities

Safeguarding and reporting requirements differ depending upon:

• the jurisdiction;
• whether the concern involves a child, adult or animal;
• the nature of the concern;
• the practitioner’s professional role;
• the service setting; and
• other applicable legislation and professional requirements.

Child-protection requirements, for example, differ between Australian states and territories, including who is considered a mandatory reporter and when reporting obligations arise.

Different frameworks apply to animal welfare and to the safeguarding of adults.

An AAOT should therefore know the current requirements applying in the jurisdiction in which they practise rather than assuming that one reporting rule applies everywhere or to every type of safeguarding concern.

Seek Advice When You Are Unsure

Safeguarding situations can be complex.

Depending upon the circumstances, appropriate consultation may include:

• your employer or safeguarding lead;
• professional supervision;
• the relevant child-protection authority;
• police or emergency services where appropriate;
• an animal-welfare authority;
• another appropriately qualified professional;
• legal or professional advice; or
• another relevant safeguarding pathway.

Seeking advice when you are uncertain is part of safe professional practice.

What This Means for an AAOT

Your external Child Protection Level 1 / National Principles training provides the starting point. AAOT asks you to take the principles you learned there and begin applying safeguarding thinking more broadly.

Remember:

Safeguarding extends beyond child protection.

Children, vulnerable people and animals may all require safeguarding.

Safeguarding awareness is not limited to your client or the assistance-animal team. It extends to people and animals you encounter through your professional practice.

A concern arising incidentally should not automatically be ignored simply because it was not the purpose of your assessment.

The voice, will and preferences of children and adults matter.

Disability does not itself establish incapacity, vulnerability or inability to care appropriately for an animal.

Human and animal safeguarding concerns can sometimes intersect.

An assistance animal cannot substitute for appropriate safeguarding, supervision or protection.

You do not need to become the investigator yourself.

Recognise concerns, understand the limits of your role, document appropriately, seek advice and follow the applicable professional and legal pathway.

The objective is not to turn an AAOT into a child-protection investigator, adult-safeguarding specialist or animal-welfare inspector.

It is to develop the professional awareness to notice when something may be wrong and know that “this wasn’t what I was assessing” is not, by itself, a reason to look away.

Continue This Topic in Your Reflective Workbook

You have now completed the foundation material for:

Topic 10 — Child Protection and Safeguarding

Please complete the recommended Child Protection Level 1 / National Principles training identified in your AAOT Foundation Learning requirements and then refer to the corresponding section of your AAOT Foundation Learning Reflective Workbook.

The workbook asks you to take what you learned through the external child-protection training and apply those principles more broadly to realistic assistance-animal practice, including situations involving children and young people, vulnerable people and animals—including people and animals who are not themselves part of the assistance-animal team but whom you encounter through your professional practice.

You will consider recognition of concerns, disclosures, professional boundaries, confidentiality, documentation, reporting, family and household circumstances, interdisciplinary involvement, animal welfare and the distinction between assistance, supervision and protection.

You may return to these activities throughout AAOT as your knowledge and professional reasoning develop. Your reflections may also assist with your Capstone Portfolio, Capstone projects and later integrated case work.

These principles will be revisited throughout AAOT, particularly in later learning concerning domestic and family violence, trauma-informed practice, professional ethics, animal welfare, interdisciplinary practice and complex case reasoning.

Once you have completed or commenced the corresponding workbook activities, continue to Topic 11 — Trauma-Informed Care.