Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy & Procedure

Participant Support Procedures > Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy & Procedure

Authorised by Chief Executive Officer

Revised Date: 22 June 2022

Policy

Kyeema Support Services is committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children and adheres to practices that protect the rights of children to be safe from harm.

Kyeema commits to zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated seriously and be consistent with our policies and procedures.

Scope

This policy applies to all workers, visitors and contractors at Kyeema.

Legislation

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005

The Child Wellbeing and Safety Amendment (Child Safe Standards) Act 2015

The Reportable Conduct Scheme 2017

Commission for Children and Young People’s Reportable Conduct Scheme

Victorian Child Safe Standards

Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)

Definition

The term Aboriginal in this document is inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Child/children includes both children and young people under the age of 18 years.

Child abuse:

• a sexual offence committed against a child

• grooming for sexual conduct with a child under the age of 16 (Crimes Act 1958 Vic)

• physical violence against a child

• causing serious emotional or psychological harm to a child

• serious neglect of a child

Harm: is damage to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child or young person, including as a result of child abuse by adults or the conduct of other children. It includes physical, emotional, sexual and psychological harm. Harm can arise from a single act or event and can also be cumulative, that is, arising as a result of a series of acts or events over a period of time.

Grooming: can involve a range of subtle, drawn out, calculated, controlling and premeditated behaviours. Grooming can involve behaviour in person and activities on social media, email or phone.

Inclusive environment:

Organisations with an inclusive environment:

• value all children

• respect their rights

• challenge all forms of discrimination

• understand and respond to the needs and capabilities of all children and their families, including Aboriginal children and their families

• adjust their approaches to ensure all children feel safe, welcome and can participate.

Child safe culture: A child safe culture means an organisation has shared attitudes, values, policies and practices that prioritise the safety of children cultural rights

Cultural rights are the rights of each child (either individually or as part of a group of people) to develop and express their background, customs, social behaviour, language, religion or spirituality, beliefs and way of living

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction to Kyeema Support Services related to one or more of the following:

• our services or dealings with individuals

• allegations of abuse or misconduct by a staff member, a volunteer or another individual associated with Kyeema

• disclosures of abuse or harm made by a child or young person

• the conduct of a child or young person at Kyeema

• the inadequate handling of a prior concern

• general concerns about the safety of a group of children or activity

Procedure

Creating culturally safe environments for Aboriginal children and their families

Kyeema is committed to promoting cultural safety of Aboriginal children, cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability

For a child to feel safe to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights, they need to see supportive and encouraging responses to expressions of Aboriginal culture and identity within Kyeema.

Aboriginal Cultural Rights are protected by law. Ways that Kyeema can support children to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights can include children:

• learning their histories, stories and traditions

• knowing where they come from and who they are connected to

• being part of cultural practices, including arts, songs, dance and ceremonies

• learning and speaking their language without discrimination

When Aboriginal children enjoy these cultural rights:

• they are more likely to experience services that are culturally respectful and experience cultural safety

• they feel respected and proud of their identity and culture

• they experience a culturally safe environment where they feel safe to speak up and trust that they will be heard

Ways that Kyeema can support workers to create an inclusive environment for Aboriginal children and their families:

• consulting with families and members of the Aboriginal community to identify opportunities to promote Aboriginal culture and practices in our programs

o First Nations people – Glenelg Shire Council

o Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative

o Dhauwurd Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service

• encourage workers to attend Aboriginal events and activities. This can assist in building understanding and a rapport with local Aboriginal communities.

• celebrating NAIDOC Week and acknowledging significant events including National Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week (see compliance calendar)

• providing training for workers on the strengths of Aboriginal culture and its importance to the wellbeing and safety of Aboriginal children

• Sentrient - Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy & Procedure

• All staff training day

• Child Safe Standards posters at Ameeyk House and Children and Adolescent Coordinator’s Office

• Aboriginal Torres Strait Inclusivity Poster KEF-08 displayed

The Traditional Owners for the Portland area are the Gunditjmara People.

https://www.gunditjmirring.com/

What is Kyeema’s approach to racism?

‘’We know that if Aboriginal children and young people feel safe to be themselves in an organisation, this better protects them from child abuse’’

-reflected Justin Mohamed, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People.

Racism means mistreating someone because of their skin colour, ethnicity or cultural background. If children and their families experience racism while interacting with Kyeema, they may not feel confident raising concerns or complaints. Racism within Kyeema is identified, confronted and not tolerated.

Kyeema holds a policy of zero tolerance to racism and has expectations that staff and volunteers will act on incidents of racism as expressed in position descriptions and the Code of Conduct – Staff

Kyeema is committed to child safety and wellbeing

• Kyeema publically commits to the safety of children and acknowledgement of country on the Kyeema website

• Child safety expectations are included in position descriptions, Code of Conduct

• Managers and governance set clear expectations around child safety and ensure the Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy & Procedure is implemented by workers

• Managers will promote a culture of reporting and regularly review Kyeema’s performance in delivering child safety and wellbeing

• Risk assessment properly focuses on identifying, preventing and reducing risk of child abuse and harm

• Workers understand their information sharing and record keeping obligations

• Workers read and comply with the Code of Conduct and complete child safety training

Kyeema takes child participation and empowerment seriously

Kyeema’s child safety policy and procedures are intended to empower children, who are vital and active participants in our organisation. Where possible we involve them when making decisions, especially about matters that directly affect them. We listen to their views and respect what they have to say.

The importance of friendships is recognised and promoted. Children and adolescents are encouraged to participate in group activities that promote social interaction. At Kyeema, children and young people are encouraged to have input into program planning and are given the opportunity to choose which activities they want to participate in.

Appropriate relationships between children and young people and adults are built on trust and respect. Relationships of this kind are empowering; they help develop resilience and encourage children and young people to speak up if they feel unsafe.

Empowering children about their rights means everyone at Kyeema:

• upholds and respects children’s rights at all times

• supports them to exercise their rights

• demonstrate they value and empower children as part of their day-to-day activities, by actively taking the time to listen and respond and for example, by asking children’s opinions

Kyeema informs children about their rights with:

• easy to understand documents that are accessible to children via the Participant Intake Pack

• advocate posters and easy read posters displayed on walls

• workers are trained to uphold the rights of children

Workers are trained to identify the signs of harm to children and how to report these to their manager:

• Child Safety & Wellbeing Training PowerPoint - Sentrient

• KEF-06 Indicators of Abuse

• KEF-07 What to do when an allegation of child abuse is made

• Incident Report Policy and Procedure

Involving families and communities

At Kyeema, families have input into decisions that impact their child/youth through:

• the Child & Youth Coordinator having the conversation with families about programs that are offered

• the families being given choice and control over which activities/programs their child/youth participates in

At Kyeema, families and communities have access to information about their child’s safety via:

• Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy and Procedure

• Participant Handbook

• Flyers/posters at Ameeyk House and The Child/Youth Coordinators office

• Newsletter articles

Kyeema communicates with families and communities about child safety via:

• Family and Carers Group

• Municipal Health & Wellbeing Plan – Kyeema management participation

• International Day of People with Disability – community, student and family involvement

• Participant Handbook

• Supported Employment Service – liaise with schools and students for work experience

• Family representatives on the Board

Safety of same-sex attracted, intersex, non-binary and gender diverse children and young people

Kyeema welcomes all children, young people and families irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex/intersex status.

Kyeema has zero tolerance approach to discrimination against a person on the basis of their sexual orientation, intersex status and gender identity as set out in the Code of Conduct - Staff

Kyeema supports and respects decisions that people make about their gender identity, including using their preferred name and pronouns.

Ways that Kyeema can support participants and workers to uphold diversity:

• Pride month – June

• IDAHOBIT International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Intersex-phobia May 17th

• Progress Pride Inclusivity Poster KEF-09

• Code of Conduct – staff

• Position descriptions

Recruitment

We take all reasonable steps to employ skilled people to work with children. We develop selection criteria which clearly demonstrate our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities. Our organisation understands that when recruiting staff and volunteers we have ethical as well as legislative obligations.

All people engaged in child-related work, including volunteers, are required to hold a Working with Children Check and to provide evidence of this Check.

We carry out reference checks and 100 point identification checks to ensure that we are recruiting the right people. All workers must have an NDIS Worker Screening Check.

If during the recruitment process a person’s records indicate a criminal history then the person will be given the opportunity to provide further information and context.

Workers receive half day training induction which covers workers responsibilities to young people and children, including record keeping, information sharing and reporting obligations.

Safe physical and online environments

Kyeema promotes child safety and wellbeing in physical and online environments in order to reduce the risk of harm by having robust work safe policies and procedures, trained workers and secure online environments which include - blacklisted websites that are not relevant or appropriate to our organisation, security systems and firewalls in place, two factor authentication for access to webmail out of the organisation. All participant files are password protected and/or locked in secure filing cabinets.

Kyeema aims to minimise risks of child abuse and harm without compromising children’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities by:

• Not allowing digital/electronic email, social media, internet postings that is unrelated to the staff member’s role

• Not allowing children and young people access to a staff member’s personal internet

• locations (e.g. social networking sites)

• Not uploading or publishing still/moving images or audio recordings of children and young people to any location, without parental and site leader’s consent

• No correspondence of a personal nature via social media, internet postings

• Not creating/using private online chat rooms

Training

Training and education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Our organisational culture aims for all staff and volunteers (in addition to parents/carers and children) to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns. Staff are made aware of how to support colleagues who disclose harm through the Employee Assistance Program - staff & wellbeing guidelines. We train our staff and volunteers to identify and minimise risks of child abuse and to detect potential signs of child abuse.

• Sentrient online training:

o Code of Conduct – Staff

o Child Safety & Wellbeing Training PowerPoint

• Police Youth Resource Officer – face to face training

• Training Induction – half day covers workers responsibilities to young people and children

• Child Safety & Wellbeing Training PowerPoint acknowledges Aboriginal culture and its importance to the wellbeing and safety of Aboriginal children

New employees and volunteers will be supervised to ensure they understand our organisation’s commitment to child safety and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as checking that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate (please refer to the organisation’s Code of Conduct to understand appropriate behaviour further). Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels.

Fair procedures for workers

The safety and wellbeing of children is our primary concern. We are also fair and just to workers. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and based on evidence.

We record all allegations of abuse and safety concerns using our incident reporting processes, including investigation updates. All records are securely stored.

If an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised, we provide updates to children and families on progress and any actions we as an organisation take.

Legislative responsibilities

Our organisation takes our legal responsibilities seriously, including:

• Failure to disclose: Reporting child sexual abuse is a community-wide responsibility. All adults in Victoria who have a reasonable belief that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child under 16 have an obligation to report that information to the police.

• Failure to protect: People of authority in our organisation will commit an offence if they know of a substantial risk of child sexual abuse and have the power or responsibility to reduce or remove the risk, but negligently fail to do so.

• Any personnel who are mandatory reporters must comply with their duties

Reporting - allegations, concerns and complaints

Our organisation takes all allegations seriously and has practices in place to investigate thoroughly and quickly. Our staff are trained to deal appropriately with allegations.

We work to ensure all children, families, staff and volunteers know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse or are a victim, and if they notice inappropriate behaviour.

We all have a responsibility to report an allegation of abuse if we have a reasonable belief that an incident took place (see information about failure to disclose above).

If an adult has a reasonable belief that an incident has occurred, then they must report the incident. Factors contributing to reasonable belief may be:

• a child states they or someone they know has been abused (noting that sometimes the child may in fact be referring to themselves)

• behaviour consistent with that of an abuse victim is observed

• someone else has raised a suspicion of abuse but is unwilling to report it

• observing suspicious behaviour

• reasonably believe that a worker has breached the code of conduct towards a child or you feel that the child is unsafe

Reporting summary:

1. Workers call and report to CEO/manager/on-call and follow directives

2. CEO/manager calls 000 for urgent medical and/or police assistance and provide first aid if required

o Where necessary you may need to maintain the integrity of the potential crime scene and preserve evidence

3. Child Safe Incident Report CCF-20 / Investigations Checklist CCF-05

4. CEO/manager report to:

o Police – all instances of suspected sexual abuse (including grooming) to Victoria Police

o DFFH Child Protection if child is in need of protection from abuse

o Commission for Children & Young People https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/assets/resources/Webform-guides/Mandatory-Notification-head-of-organisation.pdf

o NDIS Commission Portal

5. CEO/manager contact parents/carers

6. Provide ongoing support

o Managers may refer to the reference document: What to do when an allegation of child abuse is made KEF-07

Feedback and Complaints

Everyone in Kyeema needs to know what to do, and who to go to when making a complaint.

On first contact with the service, participants are provided with information about their rights, including their right to complain, how to do it and who to talk to, in a way that suits their communication needs

• Complaints Poster KCF-18

• Speaking Up Brochure KCF-10

• NDIS Culturally Inclusive Complaints Brochure KCF-07

We conduct the annual Participant Survey where participants and families have the opportunity to give feedback to Kyeema. The participant survey is collated by the Community Advocate and reported back to Kyeema.

• Participant Survey CCF-15

Workers are trained in how to respond to a complaint and when complaints should be reported to authorities, including Victoria Police, NDIS, Child Protection and the Commission for Children and Young People.

• Sentrient - Child Abuse & Wellbeing Training PowerPoint

• What to do when an allegation of child abuse is made KEF-07

• Kyeema Incident reporting Chart for managers/team leaders CCF-31

• Staff training days

• Complaints & Feedback Management Procedure

Privacy

All personal information considered or recorded will respect the privacy of the individuals involved, whether they be staff, volunteers, parents or children, unless there is a risk to someone’s safety. We have safeguards and practices in place to ensure any personal information is protected. Everyone is entitled to know how this information is recorded, what will be done with it, and who will have access to it.

Risk Management

In Victoria, organisations are required to protect children when a risk is identified (see information about failure to protect above). In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children.

We have risk management strategies in place to identify, assess, and take steps to minimise child abuse risks, which include risks posed by physical environments (for example, any doors that can lock), and online environments (for example, no staff or volunteer is to have contact with a child participant on social media).

Responsibility

Child safety is everyone’s responsibility. Anyone acting on behalf of the organisation including staff, the Board, volunteers, and third-party contractors have a shared responsibility for contributing to the safety and protection of children

• Duty of Care: Applies to all workers

• The Code of Conduct – Staff sets out the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour

• Managers have the responsibility to remind workers of ongoing child safety issues and to report any issues immediately to a manager

• CEO/manager to respond to incident, disclosure or suspicion of child abuse

Record keeping

Kyeema is committed to making and keeping full and accurate records about all child-related complaints or safety concerns.

All child safety complaints, concerns, incidents and near misses will be recorded in the incident reporting system.

Records which may assist with the investigation of a complaint or safety concern will be identified and kept as part of the record of an investigation. Records will be kept even if an investigation does not substantiate a complaint.

We will record and keep the outcome of any investigations, and the resolution of any complaints. This includes findings made, reasons for decisions and actions taken.

Records will be stored securely and kept by Kyeema for at least 45 years.

Review

This policy and procedure will be reviewed and updated regularly and following significant incidents if they occur. We will ensure that families and children have the opportunity to contribute. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities and culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities.

Related Documents

Responding to Allegations of Abuse Neglect & Exploitation Policy

Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005

Commission for Children and Young People’s Reportable Conduct Scheme

A Guide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation

Code of Conduct NDIS/TAC etc - Workers

Complaints and Feedback Management Policy and Procedure

Performance Management Procedure

Privacy & Confidentiality Policy and Procedure

NDIS Worker Screening Check Procedure

Employee Assistance Program - Staff Wellbeing

Child Safety & Wellbeing PowerPoint - Sentrient