CHILD SAFETY POLICY

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This version of the Child Safety Policy is an update that applies the New Child Safe Standards which are in effect from 1 July 2022.

 

Minimum Standards

Ministerial Order 1359 provides the framework for child safety in schools and school boarding premises. It replaces Ministerial Order 870.

 

Schools must update their child safety strategies, policies and practices by 1 July 2022 to comply with the new Standards.

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Introduction

A Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy supports schools and school boarding premises to create and maintain a child-safe organisation where children and young people are safe and feel safe. The policy provides a framework for how schools approach child safety.

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All school community members are responsible for caring for children and young people, positively promoting their well-being and protecting them from any harm or abuse.

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Your Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy tells your community about your strategies and arrangements to keep children safe.

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School policy must be publicly available. This will help you create a shared commitment to keeping children safe. It will also support everyone in your school community to know their responsibilities.

 

 

Understanding the Standards

The 11 Child Safe Standards are listed below. Organisations that must comply with the Standards must implement all aspects of the 11 Standards.

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Each of the Standards is expressed as a statement of an expected outcome that organisations must achieve. The new Standards also include minimum requirements to clarify what you need to do for your organisation.

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There are 11 Child Safe Standards:

 

Standard 1: Culturally safe environments – Establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.

 

Standard 2: Child safety and wellbeing – Ensure that child safety and well-being are embedded in school leadership, governance and culture.

 

Standard 3: Child and student empowerment – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

 

Standard 4: Family engagement – Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and well-being.

 

Standard 5: Diversity and equity – Equity is upheld, and diverse needs are respected in policy and practice.

 

Standard 6: Suitable Staff and volunteers – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and well-being values in practice.

 

Standard 7: Child-focused complaints processes – Ensure that processes for complaints and concerns are child-focused.

 

Standard 8: Child safety knowledge, skills and awareness – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

 

Standard 9: Physical and online environments – Physical and online environments promote safety and well-being while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.

 

Standard 10: Review of child safety practices - Implementing the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.

 

Standard 11: Implementation of child safety practices – Policies and procedures document how schools are safe for children, young people and students.

 

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Policy Statement & Commitments

At Taiwanese School of Melbourne, we hold the care, safety and well-being of children and young people as the School's primary and fundamental responsibility.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne have a moral, legal and mission-driven responsibility to create nurturing school environments where children and young people are respected, their voices are heard, and they are safe and feel safe.

 

The health, welfare and safety of all children in care are paramount. Taiwanese School of Melbourne will act on behalf of children to protect their rights to safety and security following legal and regulatory requirements. In cases of suspected child abuse and other welfare concerns, staff will report to the appropriate authorities. All staff working with children take on a duty of care to ensure that all children are protected and safe from harm.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne nominates one child safety officer for each campus. The officer must be up to date with child safety requirements and able to promote and effectively communicate with a range of stakeholders.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne have specific policies, procedures and training that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.

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Duty of Care

Organisations in positions of care, supervision or authority over children have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to keep them safe from harm. Schools must ensure processes are in place to avoid acts or omissions that place children in circumstances that may lead to injury or harm.

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Taiwanese School of Melbourne is committed to:

- Taking every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and any hazard likely to cause injury.

- Acknowledging children have the right to feel safe, with care, safety and personal privacy, and the right to counselling in case of abuse or neglect.

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Equity and Diversity

Taiwanese School of Melbourne recognises the diverse circumstances of children and young people and works to celebrate their strengths and individual characteristics and embrace them regardless of their abilities, gender, socio-economic status and cultural background.

 

Staff and volunteers are trained to recognise and respond effectively to children and young people with diverse needs, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with a disability, and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and LGBTIQ+.

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Forms of Abuse

Volunteers and employees must understand how child abuse can occur to create a child-safe environment. For the Child Safe Standards, Abuse constitutes any act committed against a child may include (this list is not exhaustive):

- physical violence

- sexual offences, including sexual abuse, grooming and sexual exploitation

- serious emotional or psychological abuse

- serious neglect

- exposure to family violence

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It is important to note that sexual abuse includes both contact and non-contact behaviours.

 

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Responsibilities

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All Employees, Students, Volunteers and Contractors

• To be aware of, understand and apply the requirements of this policy in all areas of work.

• Support Taiwanese School of Melbourne and CLV to embed and uphold the Child Safe Policy.

• Attend Child Safe training.

• Report any abuse/neglect concerns, allegations or disclosures to your child safe officer/principal and relevant authorities.

• Understand the legislation and legal obligations to report.

• Obtain and maintain a valid Working with Children Check as required for their role.

• Where a child is in immediate danger, call 000.

• Respond appropriately to a child who makes or is affected by an allegation of child abuse.

 

Child Safety Officer

• Act as the first point of contact for child safety concerns or allegations of abuse within the school.

• Consult and liaise with the principal and CLV on the implementation of the Child Safe Standards.

• Provide support to the child, the parents/caregivers, the person who reports and the accused person.

• Initiate internal processes to ensure the safety of the child(ren).

• Decide, considering legal requirements and duty of care, whether the matter will be reported to the Police or Child Protection and lodge a report as soon as possible (if required).

• Confirm relevant authorities have been notified i.e. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Child Protection, Police, DET, CCYP.

• Monitor compliance with the child safe policy and reporting procedure and respond appropriately where non-compliance is identified.

• Create, develop and support a culture of child safety within Taiwanese School of Melbourne.

• Ensure all employees, students, volunteers and contractors are aware of how to respond appropriately to a child who makes or is affected by an allegation of child abuse.

• Review and update the Child Safety Policy annually.

• Inform the children and young people about this policy and make it publicly available.

• Oversee the implementation of the Child Safe Policy and Reporting Procedure.

• Store the Incident Reporting Form for reporting purposes according to Taiwanese School of Melbourne privacy policy and procedures.

 

Principal and other Leaders

• Demonstrate leadership in child safe practices.

• Monitor compliance with the child safe policy and reporting procedure and respond appropriately where non-compliance is identified.

• Ensure organisational systems and processes are in place relating to recruitment, training, appraisals and ongoing management of staff and the implementation of the Child Safe Standards.

• Undertake or nominate an appropriate delegate where the Child Safety Officer is unavailable. Where this occurs, it must be widely publicised to the school community.

• Develop a culture of child safety within the school.

• Confirm the nature of the complaint and commence disciplinary processes if needed.

• Ensure child safe principles are included in risk assessments.

• Conduct appropriate child safe recruitment practices and screening processes.

• Ensure processes are in place to facilitate the appropriate response to a child who makes or is affected by an allegation of child abuse.

 

CLV Victoria

• Continuously develop a culture of child safety within CLV.

• Provide information relating to Child Safety via training to new and existing staff and volunteers.

• Make child safety resources/templates available to child safe officers and principals.

• Provide support and assistance to child safe officers and principals.

• Inform Child Safety Officers of any changes to legislation

• Research and share information and updates regarding Child Safe Standards and legislative changes to all employees, volunteers, and contractors.

• Develop and distribute child safe materials such as posters and leaflets.

• Work with schools to determine if an allegation is a Reportable Conduct offence and oversee any investigations into suspected staff and volunteer misconduct and provide advice in relation to disciplinary procedures as they apply to the Child Safe Standards and Child Safe Policy.

 

Code of Conduct

Taiwanese School of Melbourne recognises a Code of Conduct as an essential strategy to help keep children safe from harm. A Code of Conduct lists acceptable behaviours and those that are unacceptable. It identifies professional boundaries, ethical behaviour and how to avoid or better manage difficult situations.

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The Child Safety Code of Conduct is one of the requirements of the Child Safe Standards. It applies to all school employees, contractors, volunteers and other members of the school community involved in child-related work with students. This Child Safety Code of Conduct identifies inappropriate behaviour with children in a school environment. The objective is to guide school staff in identifying and regulating their behaviour and the behaviour of other school staff and to protect children from abuse in the school environment.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne develops the Code of Conduct to provide all staff, volunteers and committee members with clear principles about how they should behave with children. During the development and review process, Taiwanese School of Melbourne endeavours to include staff, volunteers, committee members, families, and children.

 

Allegations, Concerns and Complaints

Our School is committed to ensuring concerns, allegations and disclosures are reported through appropriate channels, including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Victoria Police. We prioritise the safety and well-being of children above all else and recognise we all have a responsibility to keep children safe. Taiwanese School of Melbourne considers all staff, volunteers and committee members to be obliged to report at all times, i.e. any child safety concerns must be declared along internal and external reporting lines.

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Call the police on 000 if you are concerned about a child's safety.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne takes all allegations and concerns seriously and has practices to investigate thoroughly and quickly. We ensure all children, families, staff, and volunteers know what to do and who to tell if they are concerned about a ' 'child's safety or well-being or if they observe inappropriate behaviour.

 

Child safety concerns may arise in a range of ways, including:

- Disclosure: a child states they or someone they know has been abused (noting that sometimes the child may be referring to themselves)

- Observation: a child's behaviour or development leads a person to form a belief that the child has been abused

- Information received from others: Someone else has raised a suspicion of abuse or revealed that a child is being abusedLegislative

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Employees and volunteers must remain open and aware of the various ways concerns may arise. Child abuse may occur in the context of Taiwanese School of Melbourne activity or outside Taiwanese School of Melbourne, e.g. at home or in another organisation. Taiwanese School of Melbourne expects staff and volunteers to be alert to abuse in all contexts and report concerns following this policy.

 

All staff, volunteers and committee members must be aware of the Failure to Disclose Offence which creates an obligation for all adults to report a reasonable belief that a child has been sexually abused to the police.

 

Internal and external reporting processes must always be adhered to. Taiwanese School of Melbourne recognises that internal processes must never interfere with external obligations and will support staff and volunteers in fulfilling those obligations.

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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 reasonably believe that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child under 16 must 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.

- Grooming: Grooming for sexual conduct with a child under the age of 16 years: the Offence of grooming occurs when a person over 18 years of age communicates, by words or behaviour, online or face-to-face, with a child under the age of 16 years or with a person who has care, supervision or authority for a child, to facilitate the ' 'child's engagement in or involvement in a sexual offence with that person or another person over the age of 18.

- Any personnel who are mandatory reporters must comply with their duties.

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The Reportable Conduct Scheme

The Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme seeks to improve organisations' response to their worker's and volunteers' allegations of child abuse and child-related misconduct. The scheme is established by the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (the Act).

 

The Commission for Children and Young People is responsible for administering the scheme.

 

The Reportable Conduct Scheme has been designed to ensure that the Commission can oversee and monitor the handling of allegations of child abuse and share information with relevant bodies (e.g. Working with Children Check Unit, relevant regulators and Victoria Police) to better prevent and protect children from misuse.

 

Reportable conduct includes allegations against an employee, volunteer, contractor, work experience or work placement student. It does not include claims made within a family context or those external to our schools.

 

There are five types of Reportable Conduct:

- sexual offences committed against, with or in the presence of a child

- sexual misconduct committed against, with or in the fact of a child

- physical violence against, with or in the presence of a child

- any behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm to a child

- significant neglect of a child.

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Reportable Conduct includes allegations against an employee, volunteer, contractor, work experience or work placement student in the context of your School and their personal life.

- More detailed information can be found at CCYP | Resources and support for the Reportable Conduct Scheme

- Any disclosure made regarding alleged Reportable Conduct must be brought to the immediate attention of the Child Safe officer and the Principal.

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Requirements of heads of organisations

 

The Reportable Conduct Scheme imposes new obligations on heads of organisations (Executive Directors and principals) within the scheme. This includes requirements to:

- have in place systems to prevent child abuse and, if child abuse is alleged, to ensure allegations can be brought to the attention of appropriate persons for investigation and response

- ensure that the Commission is notified and given updates on the organisation's response to an allegation

- report allegations that may involve criminal conduct to the police.

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The Reportable Conduct Scheme does not replace the need to report allegations of child abuse, including criminal conduct and family violence, to Victoria Police.

 

A snapshot of a head of Taiwanese School of Melbourne obligations under reportable conduct:

 

 

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Where to get help

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Organisations covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme should contact the Commission for clarification and guidance and to talk through any issues of concern.

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Telephone: 8601 5281

Email: childsafestandards@ccyp.vic.gov.au

 

Further information is also available on the Commission for Children and Young People’s website at www.ccyp.vic.gov.au

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CCYP | Resources and support for the Reportable Conduct Scheme

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Fair Procedures for Personnel

The safety and well-being of children are our primary concerns. We are also fair and just to personnel. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and evidence-based.

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

 

Suppose an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised. In that case, we provide updates to children and families and the employee/volunteer under investigation on progress and any actions we as an organisation take.

 

 

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.

 

CLV acknowledges that community language schools must exercise appropriate processes and guidelines which respect the privacy of all staff and students. CLV considers any breach of confidentiality by schools to be a serious issue that must be investigated.  

 

 

Record Keeping and Storage

Taiwanese School of Melbourne will keep confidential records of any child safety concerns or complaints should they arise. Notes and observations should be clear, easy to read and accessible. Documentation should include dates, times and location, as well as details of conversations with other employees, volunteers, contractors or the child and their family/carers. Reports should be accurate and impartial.

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Detailed descriptions of the incident or concern, evidence and actions taken, including incident forms, reports made to authorities and any other follow-up actions, will be completed. Following current best practice guidelines Taiwanese School of Melbourne will keep these records for up to 45 years (at minimum).

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All information collected by Taiwanese School of Melbourne will be retained with the principal.

 

 

Recruitment and Screening

We take all reasonable steps to employ safe and skilled people to work with children. We develop selection criteria and advertisements demonstrating our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities. Our School understands that we have ethical and legislative obligations when recruiting staff and volunteers.

 

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

 

All people engaged in child-related work, including volunteers, must hold a Working with Children Check and provide evidence of this Check. The Check is just one part of creating and maintaining child-safe environments. Child-related work is not limited to work involving direct and unsupervised contact with children. Any contact with children, unless it is only occasional and incidental, is enough to trigger the requirement to get a Check.

 

We also conduct police record checks to ensure we are recruiting the right people.

 

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

 

Interviewing and verbal reference checks are essential aspects of recruitment and screening. Interviews include behavioural questions focusing on child safety, and reference check templates concentrate on an applicant's appropriateness for work with children and young people.

 

Our School undertakes annual appraisals and exit interviews that include child safeguarding components.

 

 

Training and Support

Training and education are crucial to ensuring that all staff, volunteers and committee members in our organisation understand that child safety is everyone's responsibility. Staff, volunteers and committee members will be provided with comprehensive child safety training every two years to ensure child safety remains a high priority.

 

Our school culture aims for all staff, volunteers and committee members to feel confident and comfortable discussing child safety concerns. Training topics include:

- Our policies and Code of Conduct

- Definitions and examples of abuse, including child sexual abuse and grooming

- Indicators of abuse, including harm caused by other children and young people

- How to assess and minimise risks of abuse

- How to report Child Abuse

- Risks for children at various developmental ages and stages and supporting children to recognise abuse in age-appropriate ways

- Cumulative harm and multidimensional abuse

- Recognising and responding to diverse groups of children and young people, including LGBTQI+.

- Children's rights and perceptions of what makes an organisation child safe

- Current legislation and requirements

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We also support our staff, volunteers and committee members through ongoing supervision to: develop their skills to protect children from abuse; monitor and review the effectiveness of safe child practices; and promote the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from linguistically or diverse backgrounds, and the safety of children with a disability.

 

Supervision can be formal meetings or informal catch-ups and check-ins.

New employees and volunteers, and committee members will be supervised regularly 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 (as defined in our Child Safety Code of Conduct).

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Managing Risks to Children

Taiwanese School of Melbourne recognises that we have a responsibility to proactively identify and reduce or remove risks to children within our care. In addition to occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children.

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Taiwanese School of Melbourne has risk management strategies in place to identify, assess, and take steps to minimise child safety risks, which include threats posed by physical environments (for example, any doors that can lock) and online environments (for example, social media contact).

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne completes annual risk assessments for each location and program.

 

Taiwanese School of Melbourne is committed to reviewing any severe incidents or breaches of policy and procedure to ensure that learning can be utilised to strengthen our risk management processes across the organisation.

 

 

Promoting the Participation and Empowerment of Children and Young People

Taiwanese School of Melbourne recognises that informed and empowered children and young people aware of safe child practices are more likely to raise concerns about abuse or misconduct. While we recognise that adults are ultimately responsible for the safety and well-being of children, we believe the children and young people we work with have an invaluable contribution to our programs and activities. 

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Our School has a culture that supports children and young people to understand what child safety means in age-appropriate ways. Children are informed about their rights and responsibilities and feel empowered to actively participate in building an organisational culture that is safe from harm. 

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Taiwanese School of Melbourne wants all children and young people to feel safe and comfortable reporting concerns or allegations of abuse. Taiwanese School of Melbourne is always committed to taking the opinions and concerns of children and young people seriously.

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Reviewing the Child Safety Policy

This policy will be reviewed every year 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 all stakeholders, including local Aboriginal communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.

 

Changes to the Child Safety Policy are made based on review findings to better protect the children and young people we engage with. Children and their families, staff, volunteers, committee members and the CLV Child Safety Officer are, where relevant, informed of review findings and any modifications made. 

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