Better technology must strengthen responsibility, not remove it.
ORB is designed to support adults working in residential children’s homes while keeping safeguarding, professional judgement, accountability and final decision-making human.
Human responsibility remains central.
Residential childcare depends on relationships, judgement, curiosity, communication and accountability.
Technology can help an adult organise information, reflect on a situation, prepare a draft or identify something that may need further attention.
It cannot know the child in the same way as the adults around them. It cannot hold professional responsibility or make safeguarding decisions.
The adult remains responsible for checking accuracy, following policy, applying professional judgement and deciding what happens next.
The boundaries are part of the product.
Trust should not depend on a disclaimer hidden at the bottom of a page. It should be reflected in how ORB is designed and used.
Human reviewed
Anything prepared with ORB must be checked, corrected and approved by the adult before it becomes part of an official record or professional decision.
Child kept central
ORB should help adults preserve the child’s words, experience, communication and humanity without inventing information or speaking for them.
Responsibility stays human
ORB does not own the record, decision or action. Responsibility remains with the adult and their organisation.
ORB supports the process. The adult owns the outcome.
The adult remains involved from the first question to the final decision.
Provide context
The adult explains the task and decides what information is appropriate to use.
Receive support
ORB helps organise information, prompt reflection or prepare a draft.
Review carefully
The adult checks facts, removes assumptions, adds context and applies policy and judgement.
Decide and approve
Only the adult decides whether the wording, response or action is appropriate.
What ORB can support and what it cannot replace.
ORB can support
- Organising rough information and notes.
- Prompting reflection and professional curiosity.
- Preparing clearer drafts for human review.
- Identifying information that may be missing.
- Supporting factual and child-centred wording.
- Helping managers examine evidence and follow-up.
- Exploring residential childcare practice questions.
ORB does not replace
- Professional judgement.
- Safeguarding procedures.
- Provider and local policies.
- Statutory responsibilities.
- Management oversight.
- Emergency action.
- Human accountability.
- The relationship between an adult and a child.
Immediate risk requires immediate human action.
ORB is not an emergency service and does not replace the safeguarding procedures of the home, provider or local area.
Where an adult believes a child may be at immediate risk, they must follow their organisation’s procedures and involve the appropriate manager, safeguarding service or emergency service without waiting for ORB.
ORB may help organise information or support reflection after immediate safety action has been taken. It must not delay or replace that action.
Sensitive information should be handled carefully and only where appropriate.
Organisations remain responsible for deciding what information can be used and how their own privacy, information-governance and record-keeping responsibilities apply.
Use only what is necessary
Avoid unnecessary identifying or sensitive detail where the task can be completed without it.
Follow organisational policy
Provider privacy, information-governance, record-keeping and acceptable-use requirements continue to apply.
Check before saving
Review content carefully before copying, approving or entering anything into an official record.
Report concerns
Suspected privacy, accuracy, safety or information-handling concerns should be raised promptly.
ORB can be useful and still be wrong.
ORB may misunderstand a question, miss important context, provide incomplete information or produce wording that is not appropriate for the situation.
It does not know the child, the home or the full circumstances in the way the adults involved do.
Responses must therefore be reviewed rather than accepted simply because they appear clear or confident.
Where a situation is unclear, high-risk or outside the adult’s competence or authority, the appropriate manager or professional should be involved.
Concerns should be raised, examined and learned from.
Concerns about safety, privacy, accuracy, bias, inappropriate wording or unexpected product behaviour should not be ignored.
Raise a question or concern directly with the founder.
Contact TomThe adult remains responsible. The child remains central.
ORB is being built to support clearer thinking and stronger practice without taking judgement, accountability or relationships away from the people responsible for care.
ORB supports professional practice and human decision-making. It does not replace safeguarding procedures, statutory responsibilities, provider policies, management oversight, emergency action or professional judgement.