Safeguarding standards for children

You already have the full Child Safeguarding Standards (Standardy Ochrony Małoletnich, SOM) document, written in legal language, with procedures and references to provisions. A child sitting in the waiting room with their mother will not read it. The Act provides a separate document for that: child safeguarding standards in a version for children, that is, a short version written so that a young patient can understand it.

In this article we check what exactly the Act says about it, what to include in such a version, how to split it into two age levels, where to display it and how to update it together with the full document. We cover SOM at a practice as a whole in the article on child safeguarding standards.

Key takeaways

• The Act requires the standards to be available in a full version and a short version intended for minors (Article 22c(7)).
• You make both versions available on your website and display them in a visible place on the premises.
• The standards are drawn up so that minors can understand them (Article 22c(5)).
• The provision gives no graphic template or length. Ministry guidelines are supporting material, not law.
• You update the short version together with the full document; an assessment of the standards is required at least once every two years (Article 22c(6)).

Why a children's version of the safeguarding standards

The source of the obligation is the Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors (consolidated text in the Journal of Laws). The obligation to introduce standards applies, among others, to an organiser of medical, recreational or care activity in which minors take part, and to a medical facility in which minors stay or may stay (Article 22b).

Two provisions concern the topic of this article directly:

1. Article 22c(5): the standards are drawn up with regard to the need for minors to understand them.
2. Article 22c(7): entities make the standards available on their website and display them in a visible place on their premises, in a full version and a short version intended for minors. The short version contains information relevant to minors.

In addition, the standards are to set out the rules and manner of making them available to parents or guardians and to the minors themselves (Article 22c(1)(6)). So it is not enough for the document to sit in a binder.

What must be in the children's version

The Act says only that the short version is to contain information relevant to minors. You choose the content yourself, modelling it on the full standards, which must describe, among other things, the rules of safe relationships with staff, prohibited behaviour and the people responsible for receiving reports (Article 22c(1)(1) and (7)). On the Ministry of Health website you will find guidelines for child protection standards in medical facilities, which themselves stress that they are supporting material and "merely a suggestion". The template in the guidelines assumes that a version understandable to children is an annex to the standards.

For a child at a physiotherapy practice, four kinds of information are useful:

What to include	Where it comes from
A child has the right to feel safe, and the adults at the practice are to protect them	The purpose of the standards (Articles 22b-22c), Ministry of Health guidelines as a suggestion
What an adult must not do (e.g. violence, a ban on relationships other than professional, rules on touch during treatment)	Rules of safe relationships and prohibited behaviour (Article 22c(1)(1))
Who the child can turn to when something worries them, and how	People responsible for receiving reports (Article 22c(1)(7))
Rules for using the internet and devices at the practice, if available	Article 22c(2)(2)

One thing matters in physiotherapy: a child should know that before a treatment they will hear what you are doing and why, and that they can say "stop". The guidelines for medical facilities suggest explaining to the child in simple language what is happening to them, and limiting physical contact to what is necessary and appropriate to their age. Treat this as inspiration, not as an obligation under the Act.

A version for younger and older children

The Act does not divide children into age groups, but in practice a six-year-old and a fourteen-year-old need a different message. In the part on relationships between children, the guidelines for medical facilities advise considering separate versions of the rules for different age groups. For a practice you can organise two levels like this:

• Version for younger children: a few sentences, large type, illustrations or simple icons, one sentence about who to go to. Readable also for a parent reading aloud.
• Version for older children: full sentences, short points, information that they can talk in private, plus contact details of the responsible person and a helpline number, which you should verify in current sources.

Keep the contact details of the person responsible for the standards in one place, so that a change of person means a correction in a single document. We give no specific phone number here, because we did not check current numbers and you should verify them as of the date of printing.

Sample text for an older child (to adapt)

Safety at our practice. You have the right to feel safe here. Before we start exercises or massage, we will tell you what we will do and why. You can always say "stop". An adult at the practice must not hit you, make fun of you or ask you to keep secrets. If something worries you, including what happens outside the practice, tell [name of the responsible person] or any staff member you trust. Contact: [phone, email]. The conversation is taken seriously and nobody will punish you for it.

Adapt the text to your own rules so that it does not promise anything the practice will not deliver. The sentence that "nobody will punish you for talking" makes sense only if you have also written it into the full standards.

Where to display it and how to share it with parents

The Act speaks of a "visible place on the premises" (Article 22c(7)). At a physiotherapy practice sensible places are those where the child actually spends time:

• the waiting room, at a child's eye level (not above the door),
• reception, next to the full version of the standards, which a parent can ask to see,
• the treatment room, if you have space for one sheet,
• the practice's website, with both versions side by side.

For home visits the Act speaks of premises, and we found no separate rule in the provisions for this case. Good practice is to leave the parent a printout and note in the records that they received it (home visits and documentation). We describe the rules for working with parents of young patients in the article on parental consent in paediatric physiotherapy, and general lists of what hangs on the wall in the guide to mandatory notices at a practice.

Print and graphic version

The provision sets no format, size or graphic design. In practice a legible A4 or A3 sheet in large type is enough. If you want to add illustrations, use your own or ones you hold a licence for. Remember that a graphic alone does not replace the text of the short version and does not meet the obligation without content.

In this article we do not promise ready-made posters or sets of graphics to download. You can write the text version yourself following the outline above.

How to update the short version together with the full document

Entities obliged to have standards must assess them at least once every two years for current needs and compliance with the law, and document the conclusions of the assessment in writing (Article 22c(6)). The guidelines for medical facilities add that it is worth including a survey for child patients and their carers in the assessment.

Practical rules:

1. Whenever the full standards change, check that the children's version still matches them.
2. If the responsible person or phone number changes, replace the printout and the website version on the same day.
3. Write the date of the last change at the bottom of the children's version.
4. Keep the previous version in an archive so that the history is visible.

We develop the review and evaluation of SOM in the article on evaluating child safeguarding standards.

Common mistakes

• The short version is simply the first page of the full document with section symbols.
• The displayed text is too small or hangs too high.
• The phone number or person on the poster does not match the full standards.
• The version is only on the website or only on the wall, while the Act speaks of both places.
• The document has no date and nobody knows which version is current.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a children's version of the standards if I rarely see minors?

The obligation to introduce standards applies to entities in which minors stay or may stay (Article 22b), and making the short version available follows from Article 22c(7). The Act sets no threshold for the number of minor patients.

How long should the short version of the child safeguarding standards be?

The Act does not set a length. The version is to contain information relevant to minors and be understandable to them (Article 22c(5) and (7)). A short sheet with a few sentences and contact details is usually easier to read than several pages.

Does the children's version have to have pictures?

The provision does not require it. Illustrations help younger children, but they do not replace the text and are not mandatory.

Must I also display the children's version on the website?

Yes, the Act speaks of making the standards available on the website and displaying them on the premises, in the full and short versions (Article 22c(7)).

What penalty applies for not having the standards?

Whoever is obliged to introduce the standards and fails to do so is liable to a fine of up to PLN 250 or a reprimand, and on a repeat finding to a fine of no less than PLN 1,000 (Article 23b). We did not check how the authorities classify the lack of the short version alone.

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Legal status as of: 2 November 2026

Legal basis: Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors (consolidated text Journal of Laws 2026 item 110, as amended by Journal of Laws 2026 items 187 and 421, which do not change Articles 22b-22c), Articles 22b, 22c and 23b; Act of 28 July 2023 amending the Family and Guardianship Code and certain other acts (Journal of Laws 2023 item 1606), Article 10 (six-month deadline for introducing the standards); Ministry of Health guidelines "Child protection in medical facilities" (supporting material, no publication date on the website). We did not check: guidelines of the Ombudsman for Children or the Ministry of Justice for other types of facilities, current helpline numbers, copyright rules for illustrations, or how the inspection authorities classify the lack of the short version.

Last reviewed: 2 November 2026

The TARCZA package organises patient documentation at a practice: a patient record, a therapy plan, a treatment log and a treatment consent template with instructions. The packages do not contain SOM documents; this article shows how to prepare the children's version yourself. See the TARCZA package or compare packages.

Related articles:
- Child Safeguarding Standards at a physiotherapy practice
- How to check an employee in the sex offender register
- Paediatric physiotherapy - parental consent
- What must be displayed at a physiotherapy practice