BFNC Child Safe Policy

Child Safe Standards

Bannockburn Football & Netball Club

Child Safe Policy

Written By:              Scott Penning 

Purpose

This policy was written to demonstrate the strong commitment of the management, staff and volunteers of the Bannockburn Football & Netball Club to child safety and to provide an outline of the policies and practices the Club has developed to keep everyone safe from any harm, including abuse.

All staff and Volunteers are committed to identifying possible risk and significant risk of harm to children and young people at Bannockburn Football & Netball Club.

We aim to implement effective strategies to assist in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children. BFNC will perform proficiently and act in the best interest of the children, assisting them to develop to their full potential in a secure and caring environment by

: Promoting the safety of children 

: Preventing child abuse

: Ensuring effective processes are in place to respond to and report allegations of child abuse

: Creating and maintaining a child safe environment under the National Quality Standard.

Commitment to Child Safety

All children who are a part of the Club have a right to feel and be safe. The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and the Club has a zero tolerance to child abuse. The Club aims to create a child safe and child friendly environment where children feel safe and have fun and the Club's activities are always carried out in the best interests of the children.

Application of this Policy

This policy was developed by the Club and in collaboration with staff, volunteers and the children who use our services and their parents.

This policy applies to all individuals involved in our organisation (paid and volunteer) including, but not limited to:

·        Administrators

·        Coaches

·        Officials

·        Participants

·        Parents

·        Spectators.

All of the people to which this policy applies have a role and responsibility in relation to child protection. They must all:

·        understand the indicators and risks of child abuse;

·        appropriately act on any concerns raised by children; and

·        understand and follow all applicable laws in relation to the protection of children and reporting or management of child safety concerns.

BFNC is committed to safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. This will be the primary focus of our care and decision making.

BFNC has a zero tolerance for child abuse and is committed to providing a child safe environment where children are safe to feel safe.

BFNC will ensure that their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives.

Particular attention will be paid to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children and children from cultural and /or linguistically diverse backgrounds as well as safety of children with disability.

In its planning, decision making and operations, BFNC will:

: Take an approach that is preventative, proactive, participatory approach to child safety

: Foster a culture of openness that’s supports all persons to safely disclose risk or harm children

: Respect diversity in cultures and parenting practices to while keeping children safe.

: Provide written guidance on appropriate behaviour conduct and behaviour towards children.

: Engage only the most suitable people to work with children and have high quality staff and volunteer supervision.

: Share information appropriately and lawfully with other organisations where the safety and well-being of children at risk.

: Value the input of and communicate regularly with families and carers.

Child Abuse

Child abuse can take a broad range of forms including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse and neglect. People to whom this policy applies need to be aware that child abuse can occur whenever there is actual or potential harm to a child, and these are circumstances that the Club is committed to reducing the risk of occurrence.

Children’s Rights to Safety and Participation

The Club encourages children to express their views about their safety. We listen to their suggestions, especially on matters that directly affect them. We actively encourage all children who use our services to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them.

We teach children about what they can do if they feel unsafe. We listen to and act on any concerns children, or their parents, raise with us.

Valuing Diversity

We value diversity and do not tolerate any discriminatory practices. To achieve this we:

·        promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children and their families;

·        promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families;

·        welcome children with a disability and their families and act to promote their participation; and

·        seek appropriate staff from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Recruiting staff and volunteers

The Club takes the following steps to ensure best practice standards in the recruitment and screening of staff and volunteers:

·        Interview and conduct referee checks on all staff and volunteers

·        Require police checks and Working with Children Checks for relevant positions.

·         Our commitment to Child Safety and our screening requirements are included in all advertisements and as part of the induction process for new staff or volunteers.

Supporting staff and volunteers

The Club seeks to attract and retain the best staff and volunteers. We provide support and supervision so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated. We have developed a Code of Conduct to provide guidance to our staff and volunteers, all of whom receive training on the requirements of the Code.

Reporting a child safety concern or complaint

The Club has appointed Emma Jennings as Child Safety Persons with the specific responsibility for responding to any complaints made by staff, volunteers, parents or children.  Emma can be contacted on bfnc.juniorfootball@gmail.com More information on the complaints process is outlined here. https://www.aflbarwon.com.au/policies

Reporting Person’s Obligations

• Step 1: If the Child or Young Person is in imminent risk of harm or immediate danger, the reporting person is required to report the situation directly to the police - CALL ‘000’.

• Step 2: Regardless of whether the matter is reported to the police, it is imperative that the reporting person immediately contacts the Child Safety Coordinator.

• Step 3: When practical, the reporting person must make a report on the AFL’s online reporting platform. In some circumstances, the Child Safety Coordinator may take a statement and formally record the statement on the online reporting platform. The online reporting platform can be accessed via this link:

Make a report       (CLICK THIS LINK)   

Child Safety Officer’s Reporting Obligations

When a Child Safety Officer is notified by a reporting person (subject to Step 2 of the above) of an incident, they are to;

1. ensure the reporting person makes an online report as per Step 3 of section;

2. provide advice and guidance as per the step by step process detailed in section;

3. provide general advice and guidance on ‘what’ to report and the Policy’s purpose;

4. notify the Child Safety Manager by email of the notification as soon as possible to ensure the report is received by the AFL Integrity & Security Department; and

5. not provide investigative advice to the reporting person unless consent is provided from the AFL Head of the Integrity & Security Department or nominated delegate. In taking a report or disclosure of an incident from others, the reporting person or Child Safety Officer is not to assess the validity of such allegations or concerns, but to report all allegations as described in the step by step process outlined in the above section (Reporting Person’s Obligations)

Risk Management

We recognise the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and use this to inform our policy, procedures and activity planning. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children. To reduce the risk of child abuse occurring, adults to whom this policy applies should avoid direct, unsupervised contact with children. For example, this should be a consideration when:

·        using change room facilities;

·        using accommodation or overnight stays;

·        travel; or

·        physical contact when coaching or managing children.

Reviewing this policy

This policy will be reviewed every two years and we undertake to seek views, comments and suggestions from children, parents, carers, staff and volunteers involved in the Club.