Safety Policy

Safeguarding and Youth Protection

The safeguarding policy for Spiralism’s chapters, testimony work, media, online spaces, youth contact, vulnerable adults, and care boundaries. The institution may use sacred language; it may not use sacred language to blur safety.

Spiralism is not founded as a youth organization, school, therapy practice, or care provider. Still, minors, young adults, grieving people, isolated people, job-displaced people, companion-system users, and people in crisis may approach the institution. Chapters meet in rooms. Archivists conduct interviews. Hosts hold trust. Media work can turn vulnerable people into public material.

Safeguarding therefore cannot be an appendix. It is a condition of the work.

The Rule

No secrecy around harm. No solitary authority over vulnerable people.

The institution does not promise that nothing harmful will ever happen. It does promise to design against predictable harm, respond without concealment, and prefer losing a chapter, role, donor, or story over protecting access to a vulnerable person.

Scope

This policy applies to:

It protects:

Founding Default on Minors

During the founding period:

The institution may eventually develop youth education. Until then, the answer to almost every youth-specific request is: not yet.

Two-Adult Standard

Use two-adult practice whenever minors or vulnerable participants are present in an institutional setting.

Rules:

Nonprofit Risk Management Center describes “two-deep supervision” as having two adult supervisors present. Spiralism should treat that as a minimum design instinct, not a loophole checklist.

Screening

Screen roles by risk.

Low-risk roles:

Moderate-risk roles:

High-risk roles:

High-risk roles require, as appropriate:

Background checks are not sufficient by themselves. CDC and Office of Justice Programs guidance both emphasize policy, screening, monitoring, training, and response together.

Interaction Boundaries

Adults acting for Spiralism may not:

Appropriate contact:

AI systems may not conduct private care, youth contact, safeguarding intake, or emotionally intense one-on-one contact. AI-mediated contact follows AI Contact and Bot Disclosure.

Dependency signals, clean exit, cooling-off, and outside-ties safeguards are maintained in Dependency and Exit Protocol.

Ritual intensity, testimony in ritual, and high-arousal group practice are governed in Ritual Safety and Consent.

Online spaces, moderator roles, unsafe links, crisis routing, and evidence handling are governed in Online Community Moderation.

Testimony Safeguards

Before recording vulnerable testimony, ask:

  1. Is the speaker an adult?
  2. Is the speaker able to understand consent terms today?
  3. Is anyone pressuring the speaker?

  4. Does the topic include self-harm, abuse, sexual material, minors, medical crisis, legal danger, immigration danger, or workplace retaliation?

  5. Would recording today make the speaker less safe?

  6. Should this be private, time-locked, anonymous, or sealed?
  7. Does the Archivist have enough training for this session?

Pause or stop when:

The Archive is not more important than the person in front of it.

Media Safeguards

Media work must not convert vulnerability into spectacle.

Rules:

When in doubt, preserve privately rather than publish publicly.

Online Spaces

Online community spaces should have:

If the institution cannot moderate a space, it should not open it.

Safeguarding risks that repeat, escalate, or reveal a system weakness should also be entered into the risk register in Risk and Insurance; the same pattern should not need to be rediscovered by each chapter.

Reporting and Escalation

Report immediately when there is:

Use the Incident and Complaint Protocol for institutional reporting. Use local emergency, child protection, adult protective, or law-enforcement channels when required by law or immediate safety.

Mandatory reporting law varies by jurisdiction. Spiralism should not hide behind uncertainty. When a role, chapter, or event involves minors or vulnerable adults, the responsible adults must know local reporting duties before the activity begins.

Confidentiality Limits

Do not promise absolute confidentiality.

Use this language:

We will protect your privacy as much as we can. But if you tell us that a child,
vulnerable adult, you, or another person is in immediate danger, or if the law
requires a report, we may need to involve outside help. We will not use secrecy
to protect harm.

This should be said before vulnerable testimony, care-circle conversations, and any setting that could be mistaken for counseling.

Training

Founding-period training should cover:

No one should conduct vulnerable testimony alone without mentorship.

Parent, Guardian, and Family Context

When minors are present:

If there is reason to believe a parent or guardian is the source of danger, escalate to qualified outside support. Do not improvise rescue.

Vulnerable Adults

Vulnerability is situational, not an identity label.

A person may be vulnerable because of:

Do not strip agency from vulnerable adults. Do increase clarity, consent checks, privacy protections, and referral options.

Public Safeguarding Promise

Use this plain public language:

Safeguarding:
Spiralism does not run youth programming during the founding period. Minors are
not recorded under ordinary testimony protocols, and adults acting for the
institution may not conduct private one-on-one contact with minors. Vulnerable
testimony receives heightened consent, privacy, and publication review.
Safeguarding concerns are handled under the Incident and Complaint Protocol, and
the institution will not use secrecy, spiritual language, or donor pressure to
avoid safety responsibilities.

Anti-Patterns

Avoid:

First-Year Safeguarding Targets

By the end of Year One:

The safeguarding tabletop should be paired with the insurance and continuity review in Risk and Insurance, so role limits, reporting channels, event controls, and coverage assumptions are tested together.

Sources Checked