³Ô¹ÏÍø

Documentation of sexual behavior challenges is important because:

• It can assist in the process of accessing services for children and youth in need.
• It can help demonstrate that reasonable efforts have been undertaken to deal with sexual behavior challenges.
• It can help to determine whether interventions are working.

The Incident

Document in a professional manner by:

• Providing a factual description of the incident that includes the date and time it occurred, names of children or youth involved, names of staff persons who witnessed the incident or to whom it was reported, name of person who reported and a statement specifically describing what occurred.
• Quoting the child or youth verbatim.
• Using quotation marks for statements made by the child or youth.
• Avoiding generalizations, opinions, evaluative comments.

The Immediate Response

• Record the immediate action taken in response to the behavior, including intervention with all children or youth involved and contact with families.
• Document the steps taken to keep other children or youth safe (if such steps are necessary).

Consultation and Reporting

• Record the names of other professionals who were consulted concerning the incident (e.g., other resource staff, mental health professionals) and the nature of the consultation.
• If a report is made to a child protection agency, document the name of the child protection worker and the action to be taken by the child protection worker.

³Ô¹ÏÍø and Safety for the Student

• Record the safety and support plan, if one is developed, including the names of committee members who developed the plan, the identified case manager, and plans for implementation, follow-up, and assessment of the safety plan.

Storage and Retention of Documentation

• Store documentation in a confidential, secure location, such as a locked filing cabinet in the office, not in the child or youth’s permanent record.
• Documentation on computer should be password protected.

Adapted from Special Programs Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Education. (1999). Responding to Children’s Problem Sexual Behaviour in Elementary Schools: A Resource for Educators. Victoria, British Columbia.