Child Safety Policy

Definition

Child abuse includes sexual offences, grooming, physical violence, serious emotional or psychological harm, serious neglect and a child’s exposure to family violence.

Our Commitment to Child Safety

At the Dalyston Football Club we have a zero tolerance for child abuse and are committed to acting in children’s best interests and keeping them safe from harm. . The Club regards its child protection responsibilities with the utmost importance and is committed to providing the necessary resources to ensure compliance with all relevant child protection laws and regulations and maintain a child safe culture.

We demonstrate this through the implementation of a Code of Conduct, a Child Safety Policy, clear reporting guidelines and the following:

  • The Dalyston Football Netball Club is committed to child safety
  • We want children to be safe, happy and empowered
  • We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers
  • We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children
  • We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our policies and procedures
  • We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously
  • The Club is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks
  • The Club has robust recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers
  • The Club is committed to training and educating our staff and volunteers on child abuse risks
  • We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.
  • We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from a culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability
  • We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments. If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.

Our Children

This policy is intended to empower children who are vital and active participants in our Club. We will involve them when making decisions, especially about matters that directly affect them.

We listen to their views and respect what they have to say.

We promote diversity and tolerance, and people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds are welcome.

In particular, we will:

  • Promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children
  • Promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds ensure that children with a disability are safe and can participate equally

Our Staff and Volunteers

  • This policy guides our staff and volunteers on how to behave with children at our Club.
  • All of our staff and volunteers must agree to abide by our code of conduct which specifies the standards of conduct required when working with children.
  • All staff and volunteers, as well as children and their families, are given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the code of conduct.
  • The Code of Conduct is contained within our Club Handbook and distributed to everyone involved with the Club at the start of each season.
  • The Handbook is also available on the Club’s website.

Training and Supervision

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

Our 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.

We support our staff and volunteers through ongoing supervision todevelop their skills to protect children from abuse promote the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from linguistically and/or diverse backgrounds the safety of children with a disability.

New staff and volunteers will be supervised to ensure they understand our Club’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 our Code of Conduct to understand appropriate behaviour further). Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through the appropriate channels, including the Department of Health and Human Services and Victoria Police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.

Recruitment

We will take all reasonable steps to employ skilled people to work with children. We will develop selection criteria and advertisements 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.

We will actively encourage applications from Aboriginal peoples, people from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and people with a disability.

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. Please see the Working with Children Check Website for further information: www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au

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 (e.g. no Coaching Staff or Volunteer is to have direct one‐on‐one contact with a child via social media).

Regular Review

This policy will be reviewed every two years and following significant incidents if they occur.