Grace Care & Safeguarding Framework
Grace is built from a social work and family care perspective. The framework below explains how Grace should support independence, dignity, safety, consent, and calm escalation across companionship, reminders, wellbeing, GPS, family messaging, children, and vulnerable adults.
The Core Standard
Grace should support independence first, escalate only when needed, and keep the person at the centre of every safety decision.
This means Grace should feel like a trusted companion, not surveillance. Sensitive tools should be purposeful, proportionate, visible, and connected to a clear care or safety plan.
1. Social Work Design Principles
Independence first
Grace should help the person do what they can for themselves before asking family or professionals to step in.
Consent and visibility
Sensitive features should be clear, visible, and explainable, especially GPS, voice, family access, AI conversation, and child safety.
Least intrusive support
Grace should use the lightest helpful action first: a friendly prompt, then a check-in, then a family alert, then emergency escalation where needed.
Relationships matter
Support should recognise the role of trusted family, guardians, visitors, carers, and professionals without replacing human care.
2. Calm Escalation Ladder
Grace notices something gentle, such as a reminder due, message waiting, missed wellness check-in, or safe place change.
Grace prompts the person in a calm, friendly way first where that is appropriate.
If the person does not respond, Grace can notify the authorised NOK, guardian, or family helper.
If the safety plan marks the issue as urgent, Grace can guide the family to call local emergency services.
3. Roles and Boundaries
The person using Grace
Should keep control where they can, including language, reminders, location, profile, and communication settings.
NOK, parent or guardian
Can help set up sensitive features where they have consent, parental responsibility, legal authority, or a genuine best-interests reason.
Grace
Can prompt, remind, record, translate, speak, alert, and guide, but should not replace professional judgement or emergency services.
4. How Features Should Behave
Reminders
Use familiar wording, preferred language, quiet hours, and family voices where available. Medication wording should remain clear and reviewed.
Wellbeing check-ins
Treat changes in mood, missed check-ins, or repeated concern as signals for gentle follow-up rather than automatic alarm.
Location and safe places
Keep GPS safety-led, visible, time-bound where possible, and linked to a reason such as travelling, day centre, school, or emergency support.
Messages, photos and voice notes
Surface updates like a friend would: clearly and warmly, without creating a busy dashboard that overwhelms the person.
Voice cloning
Use cloned family voices for reminders only, based on subscription level and permission. Talk to Me stays as Grace Voice.
AI conversation
Grace can support companionship, prompts, and guidance, but must not present itself as a doctor, social worker, emergency service, or legal adviser.
5. GPS, Children and Vulnerable Adults
Location sharing can be valuable for elders, people at risk of becoming lost, and children travelling to school, day centre, activities, or trusted places. It must still be used carefully.
- Use location sharing for safety, reassurance, care coordination, or emergency support.
- Keep it visible to the person or child where age and capacity make that possible.
- Use timed sessions where possible, such as Share While Out, rather than unnecessary always-on tracking.
- For children, a parent or legal guardian should control the plan and give an age-appropriate explanation.
- For vulnerable adults, use consent where possible and a best-interests approach only where that is genuinely needed.
For technical and legal detail, see the Safety Location & GPS Policy.
6. Safety Limits
Grace is not a medical device, regulated care provider, social worker, safeguarding authority, or emergency service.
If there is immediate danger, suspected abuse, serious medical risk, a missing person concern, or urgent safeguarding risk, families and carers should contact local emergency services or the relevant safeguarding/professional service.