CREATING CHILD SAFE ENVIRONMENTS IN SPORT
A national approach to defining, developing and implementing child safe
environments throughout an organisation.
Our Journey
The YMCA and ACF partnership
Melinda Crole, Executive Manager, Development, YMCA Australia
Every YMCA branch had a commitment but policies varied greatly Understanding of staff and board members variedThere was no national supportPeople felt uncomfortable talking about child protection issues
Designed a template Safeguarding Children and young people policy
Encouraged a whole of organisation approach to protecting children and young people
Identified key strategies for building a safer organisation
Built knowledge about abuse and how to respond to incidents, disclosures and allegations
The Australian Childhood Foundation had developed what we were looking for We invested in a partnership and voluntary external accreditation with the ACF
Reviewed all our current policies
Implemented standards and an education
process
Searched for help How
Supporting a child safe
culture
Personnel induction and
training
Personnel roles and conduct
Commitment to Safeguarding
Children
Recruitment & Screening practices
Child abuse reports and allegations
Safeguarding ChildrenProgram
Involving children and
parents
• Community attitudes towards child abuse are reflected in organisational cultures and attitudes
• Lack of awareness and knowledge
• Lack of confidence
• Lack of knowing how and when to act
Community and organisational understandings of child abuse
• Safeguarding Children Program addresses organisational culture through
• Commitment• Policies and Procedures• Training and awareness• Responsiveness
• Achieved through compliance with 7 standards and independent review
Safeguarding Children Program
• It doesn't matter how big or small your organisation, a Safeguarding culture and practice is achievable
• Small community-based organisations and clubs with large volunteer base Eg Little Athletics
• Large not-for-profit organisations Eg UnitingCare
• Large federated national bodies Eg YMCA
• Internationally Eg AusAID Volunteer Program
Safeguarding Children in organisations is achievable
• Research shows organisational abuse takes a range of forms
• Safeguarding organisations make a commitment to the protection of children from all forms of harm
• Framework builds on existing strategies they already use to achieve the safe of children. Eg. Policies about bullying or internet communication, codes of conduct, recruitment processes
Organisational abuse is preventable
• Experience of the organisation/sport is more positive
• Increased rates of participation
• Increased parental confidence
• Increased likelihood of being believed and responded to appropriately
Benefits are multiple and measurable -Children
• Reduced insurance premiums and excess
• Decreased claims
• Increased confidence of management to ensure sound processes and procedures
• More than satisfies the test of 'reasonableness' re duty of care
• Sense of security that organisation is a safe place
Benefits are measurable and multiple -Organisations
• Critical incident management procedures are in place to provide immediate and ongoing support to the child, other children, families and staff
• Gives a framework for communicating with and engaging key stakeholders about an incident and the response plan - children, parents, police, media, funding bodies
• Platform for debriefing and support for all impacted by the incident
• Critical incident analysis - quality improvement cycle
Benefits are measurable and multiple - Organisations
Because there is a risk of those smiles being less bright if you
don't
Thank you
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