CHILD SAFETY AT OCK
We are committed to child safety. We want children to be safe, happy and empowered and have zero tolerance of child abuse. We understand our legal and moral obligations to treat all concerns seriously and to report allegations and concerns about a child/ren’s safety and wellbeing to authorities.
We are committed to the cultural safety of all children including Aboriginal children, children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
OCK Commitment to Child Safety
OCK believes that the physical, psychological and cultural safety of children is fundamental for their learning and development and as a result we are committed to:
Zero tolerance of physical, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse of children, or any form of child neglect, racism, discrimination or prejudice in any form.
Encouraging all children and families to express their culture in a safe and supportive environment.
Ensuring OCK is a physically safe environment.
Ensuring children can express their views participate in decision-making in an age-appropriate way.
Providing an inclusive, nurturing environment with strong educator to children relationships. We build trust, so educators can be the “trusted grown up” children can raise their concerns with.
Actively supporting all children regardless of their needs, vulnerability, cultural background and children who are unable to live at home.
We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples as the traditional custodians of this land and support truth telling, treaty, reconciliation and commit to doing whatever we can to increase the educational standard for children who identify as Indigenous.
Promoting social connection between children and families.
Working with families understand how they can keep their children safe in all contexts.
OCK have:
A code of conduct for families and all staff which includes behavioural standards and responsibilities for child safety and well-being.
Risk management procedures and practices to identify and mitigate risks to children’s safety.
Recruitment and human resource management practices which take account of child safety, have rigorous reference checks and pre-employment screening for staff member.
A program of continuous education and training to ensure all our staff members are fully up to date with their child safe knowledge, skills and obligations.
This education extends to our Committee of Management.
Everyone who enters OCK while children are in attendance must have a working with children check.
Practices in place to ensure that families participate in decisions which affect their children.
Practices in place to identify children who are at risk of abuse or neglect outside our services.
Culturally safe processes for allowing families to raise concerns.
Complaint handling processes which are understood by families, staff and volunteers.
Polices and procedures including a complaint handling process which are publicly available for all families, staff and volunteers.
We take seriously:
All incidents relating to child safety and investigate all incidents are share our outcomes
Our obligations to report abuse and neglect
Our duty to safeguard children in our care
Privacy, but also know when and to whom we can share information about a child
Continuous Improvement and annually we conduct a review into our organisation’s child safe practices.
