When someone working in a role serving vulnerable children says they never hurt the patients they worked with because “there were too many safeguards in place,” it should stop every professional in their tracks.
As Stephen put it:
“This is your response — too many safeguards? Not that hurting infants and children is despicable and evil? This is probably the scariest part of the article for me — the idea that people like this are working in these positions. If the safeguards aren’t in place, they will take advantage. No sense of morality at all between a terrible act and...
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not doing it.”
That statement doesn’t speak to an internal moral compass. It points instead to external controls as the main deterrent. The implication is straightforward: remove the safeguards, and the risk of harm increases.
For the ABA field — where services often happen one-on-one, behind closed doors, and without constant direct oversight — this is a flashing red warning. It’s a reminder that our systems must not only rely on trust, but also on practical, enforceable safety measures.
And while clinic safeguards are important, in-home therapy introduces unique vulnerabilities. The home is a less controlled environment. Staff are often alone with the client. There’s no front desk, no cameras in every hallway, no other coworkers walking by. That means the responsibility for building and maintaining safeguards is even greater.
Seven Key Safeguards for In-Home ABA Therapy
These steps are not about micromanaging staff — they’re about ensuring safety, compliance, and trust for clients, families, and teams.
1. Open Therapy Spaces
Therapy should be conducted in common, visible areas — living rooms, dining rooms, open play areas — where others can easily see and hear what’s happening.
Closed doors should be avoided unless clinically necessary, and even then, visibility should be maintained through door positioning, open windows, or partial barriers.
This isn’t about making parents sit in the room every minute. It’s about making it apparent that at any moment, someone could walk through the therapy location.
2. Camera Placement
Installing cameras in therapy areas can be one of the strongest safeguards in an in-home setting.
As Stephen explains:
“This isn’t about trust. This is something I would do with my own child, and it is my job to make sure people are doing the right thing.”
The goal isn’t surveillance for surveillance’s sake — it’s quality assurance, protection, and compliance. Staff should know the purpose of the cameras, and that recordings can help deter inappropriate behavior, provide evidence if concerns arise, and even be used for training purposes.
3. Unscheduled BCBA Supervision and Spot Checks
While scheduled supervision is required and valuable, there must also be unannounced pop-ins.
These visits might be conducted by a BCBA or another trained supervisor, and they don’t have to disrupt therapy. The point is to send a clear message: therapy spaces are never fully private and oversight can occur at any time.
4. Proximity Oversight
If the therapy space isn’t directly adjacent to where the parent will be during sessions, set up so that voices and activity can still be heard.
Sound carries important information — if a session gets unusually quiet or there’s a sudden change in tone, that can be a cue for a parent or guardian to check in.
5. Strict Boundaries Around Private Areas
Therapists should never take children into bedrooms, bathrooms, or other private spaces without documented, clinically necessary reasons.
That said, there’s an important nuance here: Sometimes, especially with older children, privacy requests may not be about unsafe behavior at all — they might be about working on personal issues, such as concerns about parents, without being overheard.
In these cases, Stephen stresses , this should be handled as a team decision:
“This needs to be a team approach — giving the necessary privacy while also understanding the risk and trying to come up with solutions for both safety and privacy.”
Boundaries should be explicit:
- Clear rules for how privacy is granted.
- Agreed-upon door positioning or supervision proximity.
- Defined time limits.
- Follow-up check-ins.
Everyone on the care team, including parents, must understand the risks and how they’re being mitigated.
6. Daily Communication
Quick check-ins before and after each session reinforce accountability and build trust.
This includes:
- Confirming session goals.
- Reviewing any incidents or progress.
- Maintaining consistent awareness that every session is monitored and connected to the bigger treatment picture.
7. Self-Advocacy and Long-Term Protection
As Stephen explains:“Self-advocacy is critical. Maybe our team can be trusted, but we’re not going to be around forever. Parents won’t be able to be with their child every moment. We need to teach these skills and foster their growth at every opportunity.”
Beyond immediate safeguards, the long-term goal is to equip clients with the ability to speak up when something feels wrong, to say no when boundaries are crossed, and to seek help when needed. This training protects them well after specific staff, services, or even family members are no longer present. Building self-advocacy into therapy isn’t optional — it’s essential for lifelong safety and independence.
Why This Matters for ABA Ethics and Safety
This isn’t just a theoretical discussion about best practices. When someone openly says they relied on “safeguards” — not their own ethics — to avoid harming clients, it exposes a critical truth: if the systems fail, so does the safety net.
The ABA field serves some of the most vulnerable individuals — children, often non-speaking, with disabilities that make it difficult to report harm. In-home therapy adds complexity because:
- The provider is a guest in the family’s private space.
- There are fewer environmental controls.
- Oversight can be inconsistent if safeguards aren’t built into the routine.
When strong safeguards are in place, they protect not just the client, but also the therapist and the integrity of the service itself.
Building a Culture of Transparency
Safeguards are only as good as the culture behind them. It’s not enough to install cameras or schedule spot checks — leadership must set the tone that these protections are non-negotiable and benefit everyone.
That means:
- Being transparent with families about why these safeguards exist.
- Training staff to see safeguards as part of professional best practice — not as a sign of mistrust.
- Reviewing and updating safeguards regularly, based on feedback and real-world experience.
The Bottom Line
The comment about “too many safeguards” should be a wake-up call to the ABA community. It’s not about paranoia — it’s about reality.
When oversight measures are in place, they work. When they aren’t, the door opens for harm. As Stephen put it:
“If the safeguards aren’t in place, they will take advantage.”
The role of ABA providers, supervisors, and organizations is to make sure those safeguards are always in place — in clinics, and especially in homes, where the risks can be greater and the oversight less automatic.
Ethical, sustainable ABA practice means designing systems that protect clients no matter who is providing services. That’s not just policy — it’s a moral responsibility.
