Child safety standards

What is not allowed

• Creating, sharing, requesting or linking to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), in any form.
• Grooming: building contact with a child to sexually exploit them, including moving a conversation to another app or meeting outside a TCHF visit.
• Sextortion, or any sexual content, comment or request involving someone under 18.
• Trafficking or any other exploitation of a child.
• Asking a volunteer or household member under 18 for personal contact details, photos or a meeting that is not part of a TCHF visit.

How My TCHF protects young people

• Age rules. You must be at least 14 to have an account. Volunteers aged 14 to 17 take part only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian who has verified their ID. That guardian can pause them at any time, which also ends a shift that is running. Teen volunteers can take outdoor home jobs on their own, in daylight only, and never go inside a home; their guardian gets copies of their job messages. People under 18 are never TCHF staff. Asking for help at home is for adults (18 and over).
• Checks for adults. Adult volunteers verify their ID with Stripe Identity, check it again every 2 years, and provide a police record check before visiting homes, unless TCHF staff record a reasoned exception.
• Limited contact. There is no open messaging between members. The only conversation between members is the chat between a home and the volunteer who has taken a job there, about that visit, and it closes a day after the visit. Phone numbers are never shown to the other side.
• Staff oversight. TCHF staff can read home-visit chats and support messages to keep everyone safe. Photos are visible only to the home, the volunteer and TCHF staff, and location data is removed from photo files.
• Addresses. A volunteer sees only the rough area of a home until they take the job, and the exact address only while they are on duty.

How to report a concern

• In the app: tap Report under any message in a home-visit chat. TCHF staff see the report straight away.
• By email: write to info@tchf.ca with what happened, when, and who was involved. Do not attach or forward illegal images.
• In an emergency, or if a child is in immediate danger, call 911 first.
• You can also report directly to Cybertip.ca (cybertip.ca) or your local police.

What TCHF does with a report

• We review every child-safety report promptly and act on it before anything else.
• We remove the content, suspend the account involved, and stop any visits or shifts linked to it.
• We report suspected child sexual abuse material and exploitation to the police and to Cybertip.ca, as Canadian law requires, and keep the records they need.
• We tell the parent or guardian of a volunteer under 18 when it concerns their child, unless the police ask us not to.
• We cooperate fully with law enforcement.

Laws we follow

TCHF complies with Canada’s child protection laws, including the Criminal Code and the Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service, and with Google Play’s Child Safety Standards policy.

Child-safety contact

TCHF’s designated child-safety contact handles reports and questions about these standards: email info@tchf.ca with "Child safety" in the subject. We may update these standards; the date at the top shows the latest version.