Staff induction checklist. A printable induction checklist for somebody starting in a children's home — the children, the policies that matter on the first night, and what they must not do until they are trained.

The first line of this checklist is that pre-employment checks are complete, because everything after it depends on that. Safer recruitment requirements exist precisely because a children's home is a place where an unsuitable adult can do enormous harm, and 'the DBS is in the post' is not a position to start a shift from.

Safeguarding comes before the tour. A new member of staff who knows nothing else should know who the designated safeguarding lead is, how to raise a concern, and that they raise it immediately and to a person rather than into a form. That can be taught in five minutes on the first morning and is the single highest-value thing in any induction.

The 'must not do until trained' list is explicit, and physical intervention is on it. New staff are sometimes drawn into restraint on a difficult shift because nobody told them not to, and a checklist that says plainly they do not take part until they are trained and signed off protects the child and the member of staff.

Knowing the children is what makes somebody useful rather than present. A new worker who has read the placement plans, knows what helps each young person when things are hard, and has been introduced properly is a different colleague from one who arrives on a night shift having met nobody.