Chapter 1 Statement of Commitment to Child Safety
Chapter 1, educators and staff are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. We understand our responsibilities and statutory duty of care to implement the National Child Safe Principles and embed the Child Safe Standards to prevent and respond to allegations of child abuse. We are committed to implementing our Child Safe Environment Policy incorporating the Child Safe Standards. This policy accentuates our zero tolerance for child abuse and raises awareness about the importance of child safety and protecting children who have experienced or are at risk of significant harm, abuse or neglect within our Service and the broader community.
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We ensure all staff, volunteers and students engaged at our Service are suitable to work with children and young people through rigorous employment procedures and Working with Children Checks. We uphold our commitment to follow the Child Protection Policy, ensuring compliance with mandatory reporting and the Reportable Conduct Scheme responsibilities to safeguard children from physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect.
We are dedicated to promoting cultural safety and providing an inclusive environment for all children and young people, including First Nations Peoples, children with culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, disabilities, gender identity and/or diversity. We believe all children are unique and have the right to be protected against discrimination, harm and abuse. We support ongoing professional development for employees to maintain clear boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour and their ability to distinguish and respond to situations of abuse and neglect.
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We work in collaboration with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and educate children on their right to be safe, empowering them to voice any concerns they may have. We encourage children to express their views and opinions on matters that affect them and provide them with guidance on what to do if they feel unsafe. The Service policies and procedures are developed with the children’s voice to help keep all children safe from harm and abuse.
We value communicating regularly with families, carers and the community to assist with input towards the review of our policies and procedures, ensuring continuous improvement to child safe practices.
