Child Safe Environments Policy

As a Registered Training Organisation, Empowerdance Pty Ltd is committed to providing an environment in which children and young people to have the right to be and feel safe and cared for, no matter where in the studios they are or who they are with.

This child-safe policy sets out the general principles that guide the management of child and youth safety at Empowerdance Pty Ltd. 

 This policy has been developed to guide our employees towards a thorough understanding and management of child and youth safety and to set a framework to ensure that a safe environment for children and young people is provided and that objectives are met and comply with all legal and regulatory obligations in relation to these matters.

COMMITMENT TO THE SAFETY OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

 Empowerdance Pty Ltd welcomes all children and young people regardless of their abilities, sex, gender, and social economic or cultural background. Empowerdance Pty Ltd is committed to providing equity to all students and ensuring that this is a priority and reflected in all aspects of the business operations. 

The policy complies with the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd has a legal and ethical responsibility to provide a safe and friendly environment where all children are respected, valued and encouraged to reach their full potential. Bullying and harassment is not tolerated in any form. Empowerdance Pty Ltd aims to take all practical steps to protect children from harm ensuring a healthy and safe training environment.

SCOPE OF POLICY

This child-safe policy applies to any people who perform work for Empowerdance Pty Ltd including all directors, employees, contractors, subcontractors, volunteers, work experience students, children, young people and families, etc.  

For the purpose of this policy “student” refers to any person participating in education and training delivered by Empowerdance Pty Ltd.  “Staff” is a person(s) engaged by Empowerdance Pty Ltd to assist with the management of the RTO and the development, delivery, assessment, review of training and assessment of courses listed as part of the Scope of Registration.

COMMUNICATION

This child safe policy is available on the Empowerdance Pty Ltd website, and by request, and all staff members of Empowerdance Pty Ltd receive a copy every time that it is updated. 

Empowerdance Pty Ltd encourages and respects the views of children and young people and involves them in decision-making if appropriate. Empowerdance Pty Ltd provides age-appropriate and clear instruction or explanations to children and young people around their rights to safety, and their rights to be listened to. All students are given the right to provide feedback or make a complaint should they have any concerns and all have access to the Empowerdance Pty Ltd Complaints and Grievances policy. Any complaints or concerns are welcomed by all Empowerdance Pty Ltd staff and are received with respect and acted upon accordingly. 

CODE OF CONDUCT 

Empowerdance Pty Ltd adheres to a Code of Conduct that provides the basis for good practice in the services provided by us.

The Code of Conduct provides information to staff and students that demonstrates the commitment of Empowerdance Pty Ltd to quality training by

· Sticking to the organisation’s child-safe policy at all times and taking all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and protection of children and young people

· Treating everyone including those of different races, ethnicities, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, social classes, physical abilities or attributes and religious beliefs with respect and honesty and ensuring equity is upheld

· Being a positive role model to children and young people in all conduct with them

· Setting clear boundaries about appropriate behaviour between yourself and children and young people, ensuring both staff and students understand their roles

· Listening and responding appropriately to the views and concerns of children and young people

· Being alert to bullying behaviours and responding promptly and appropriately

· Ensuring another adult is always present or in sight when conducting one-to-one consulting, coaching, instruction or other activity

· Being alert to children and young people who have been harmed, or maybe at risk of harm and reporting this promptly to the Child Abuse Report Line (13 14 78)

· Responding quickly, fairly and transparently to any complaints made by a child, young person or their parent/guardian

· Encouraging children and young people to ‘have a say’ on issues that are important to them.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd does not:

· Engage in rough physical games

· Develop any ‘special’ relationships with children and young people that could be seen as favouritism such as the offering of gifts or special treatment

· Do things of a personal nature that a child or young person can do for themselves, such as toileting or changing clothes

· Discriminate against any child or young person because of age, gender, cultural background, religion, vulnerability or sexuality.

Any staff or student of Empowerdance Pty Ltd must report any breach or suspected breach to the director Gabrielle Robinson, either in person, by email (hello@empowerdance.com.au) or via phone (0414 830 469). These discussions will be addressed discretely, and any action needed will be taken immediately.

Any staff member or student who is involved in a breach of conduct will immediately attend a meeting with the director to discuss their further involvement with Empowerdance Pty Ltd and the action plan moving forward.

RECRUITMENT

Empowerdance Pty Ltd endeavours to engage the most suitable staff to work with children and young people we have the following recruitment practices in place:

· Staff are employed from recommendations from other staff or students that have grown with the studio

· Any staff that are employed via advertisements, are informed of our commitment to child safety

· Clear position descriptions that include our commitment to child safety and wellbeing

· Written applications from applicants

· Face-to-face interviews that use behavioural questions to determine the applicant’s knowledge of child safeguarding

· At least 2 referee checks and qualification checks.

In accordance with the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016, Empowerdance Pty Ltd is registered with the DHS Screening Unit and we link all Working with Children Checks (WWCC). All staff who will be working in a role with children and young people must hold a current, not prohibited WWCC issued by the Screening Unit of the Department of Human Services, and provide evidence of this prior to employment. Staff must renew this every 3 years and provide evidence of the renewed check. Empowerdance Pty Ltd will verify the accuracy of all WWCCs in the DHS Screening Unit portal as required by law.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will immediately contact the Department of Human Services Screening Unit should we become aware of information regarding any person involved with Empowerdance Pty Ltd, including any serious criminal offence, child protection information, or disciplinary or misconduct information.

TRAINING SUPERVISION AND SUPPORT FOR WORKERS 

Empowerdance Pty Ltd has strategies in place to supervise, train and support staff to understand the organisation’s child safe policy, their mandatory reporting obligations, how to build culturally safe environments and their responsibilities to create a child safe and friendly environment. Our strategies include:

·    Training:

Ensure all workers read and understand the Mandatory Notification Information Booklet available at: https://dhs.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/103179/CSE-Mandatory-notification-information-booklet.PDF during induction

Complete Safe Environments: Responding to Risk of Harm, Abuse and Neglect Training every 3 years

Include child safety as a standing item on meeting agendas

·      Supervision:

Regular supervision sessions that include a focus on child safety and wellbeing

·      Support:

An induction process for all new workers including a copy of this policy document

Regular performance appraisals that discuss child safeguarding 

REPORTING AND RESPONDING TO HARM OR RISK OF HARM

Empowerdance Pty Ltd endeavours to ensure that children and young people are safe from harm and risk of harm. Section 17 of the Safety Act defines ‘harm’ to mean physical or psychological harm (whether caused by an act or omission), including harm caused by sexual, physical, mental or emotional abuse or neglect.

Mandated notifiers at Empowerdance Pty Ltd are staff members who:

· Provide services to children and young people

· Hold a management position in the organisation the duties of which include direct responsibility for, or direct supervision of, the provision of those services to children and young people.

Mandated notifiers have a legal obligation to notify the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on 13 14 78 as soon as practicable if they have a reasonable belief that a child or young person is or may be at risk of harm. If the child or young person is at immediate risk, a report to South Australia Police (SAPOL) on 000 is also necessary.  In cases involving Aboriginal children and young people, support is provided by Yaitya Tirramangkotti – an Aboriginal team, via the CARL number.

Even if not a mandated reporter, any person can report harm or risk of harm to a child or young person. The individual who identifies the harm or risk of harm is encouraged to make the report to authorities and can request support from another worker to do so if required.

Information about making appropriate reports of harm or risk of harm is available from the South Australian Department of Child Protection website: https://www.childprotection.sa.gov.au/reporting-child-abuse.

All adult Empowerdance Pty Ltd staff (even if not a mandated notifier) have a legal obligation to report child sexual abuse to the police and to protect a child from sexual abuse. Failure to meet these obligations may be considered a criminal offence.

Following a report being made to CARL or SAPOL staff must make an internal report to management.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will follow the guidance of the Department for Child Protection and/or SAPOL after a report has been made as to whether an internal investigation needs to be conducted.

If an Empowerdance Pty Ltd staff member is reported to CARL or SAPOL for causing harm or risk of harm to a child or young person, they will be removed from any role that involves working with any child or young person until authorities have concluded their investigation.

Following a report to CARL or SAPOL Empowerdance Pty Ltd will support the child or young person by:

· Referring the child, young person or their family to other appropriate services

· Continuing to provide a service to the child, young person and their family and monitor their circumstances.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will document all information received regarding the report and store this securely in a separate file.

REPORTING AND RESPONDING TO GENERAL COMPLAINTS OR FEEDBACK

Empowerdance Pty Ltd strives to improve the quality of the services they deliver and is aware that a large part of this is done through providing and welcoming opportunities for complaints and feedback, to ensure that children, young people and their families feel valued and respected.  Children, young people and their families are informed that they can provide feedback or make a complaint in their welcome handbook which is received when they join Empowerdance Pty Ltd.

Compliments, complaints or feedback can be provided verbally or in writing to any staff member of Empowerdance Pty Ltd or to the director by telephone on 08 8351 9006/0414 830 469, via email at hello@empowerdance.com.au or by post addressed to Empowerdance, Level 1 237-239 Unley Road, Malvern SA 5061.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will deal with all complaints and feedback received from children, young people or their families promptly, sensitively and fairly.  We will:

· Listen to the complaint/feedback

· The person receiving the complaint will make a record of it if received verbally

· Advise of the time expected for an outcome

· If a staff member receives a complaint, they must forward it to the director as soon as possible

· The director will respond to the complainant with an outcome within 3 days

· Clearly document and securely store decisions and actions taken in response to complaints and feedback

· Make sure that procedural fairness is followed at all times.

If the child, young person or their family is not happy with the outcome of the complaints process they can contact CARL or SAPOL. Other organisations include:

· Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner 8226 8666 or Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency 1300 419 495

· Australian Human Rights Commission Online: www.humanrights.gov.au Tel: 1300 656 419

· South Australian Equal Opportunities Commission (for complaints relating to discrimination) Online: www.eoc.sa.gov.au Tel: 08 8207 1977.

RISK MANAGEMENT

· Child focused Code of Conduct is in place that sets the behavioural standards expected including what happens when a breach occurs

· Culture of management reflects a strong commitment to the safety of children and young people

· The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations are embedded in policies and procedures

· Empowerdance Pty Ltd meet the requirements of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (which mandates child-safe environments) and the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 (which mandates Working with Children Checks)

Organisational workers harm children/young people

· Recruitment processes including undertaking referee checks to ensure the suitability of persons before they are employed/volunteer with Empowerdance Pty Ltd

· Interview questions (no prior preparation) should gauge an applicant’s understanding of child-safe principles and actions that would be taken to prevent harm to children and young people

· All staff have WWCC with ‘not prohibited’ results before working with children and young people

·  WWCCs are updated every 3 years and status remains as not prohibited

· Children and young people and their families are given a copy of our Child Safe Environments policy and complaints and feedback process

Organisational workers don’t understand their obligations to report harm and risk of harm to the Child Abuse Report Line (or SA Police if a child/young person is at immediate risk)

· All workers trained in Responding to Risk of Harm and Neglect – Education and Care on commencement and refresher training every 3 years after

· All workers must abide by the child-safe environments policy and Code of Conduct (the latter is signed on commencement with the organisation)

Physical contact

· Any physical contact must be appropriate to the delivery of services being provided

· Where physical contact is required, this is undertaken safely by explaining why contact is required and what will happen and asking the child/young person for their permission (or their family if this is more appropriate) before proceeding

· Unnecessary physical contact is not allowed

Online communications

·  Cyber safety and social media guidelines are in place and provided to all staff

·  Appropriate supervision is provided for all online activities

·  Staff must not communicate with children or young people via social media

Transport of children and young people

· Staff must not transport a child or young person unless specifically approved

· Parents/guardians must provide consent before transporting a child or young person

· The worker must have a valid, unrestricted driver’s licence

· The vehicle must be registered, insured and in roadworthy condition

· A staff member must not be alone in a vehicle with a child or young person

Supervision

· Children and young people are to be supervised by parents/guardians at all times

· If the child/young person is not collected by the parent/guardian at the end of class/training, the teacher is to stay with the child/young person until they are collected

· When providing one-to-one consultation with a child or young person, it will be in the line of sight of another adult

Taking images of children and young people

· Consent of child, young person and their parent/guardian required

· Disclosure will be made as to how the image is to be used and consent must be provided by the child, young person and parent/guardian

· Images must be presented in a way that de-identifies the child or young person

Physical environment

·      maintain a risk register that is reviewed annually to ensure effectiveness

·      conduct risk assessments for all activities

·      ensure all equipment is in good working order

Privacy and confidentiality

· All documents containing confidential information will be stored privately in a locked filing cabinet (or similar place with restricted access)

· Digital files containing confidential information shall be protected electronically by restricting access to only those requiring it to perform their duties

· Staff must not disclose information regarding any child or young person without written consent of the child, young person and their parent/guardian

Change room requirements

· As the toilets and change rooms are a part of the studio room, supervision will be provided outside the door, ensuring the child or young person’s right to privacy

· Adults must not shower or change whilst supervising children or young people

· Phones, cameras and recording devices must not be used in the changing room

RELATED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

This policy is supported by the following Empowerdance Pty Ltd policies:

·      Fit & Proper person requirements

·      Code of practice

·      Managing close personal relationships

·      Recruitment, selection and induction

·      Student code of conduct

POLICY REVIEW

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will, at a minimum, review this policy and the related procedures once every 5 years as required by the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017.  Empowerdance Pty Ltd will also review this policy when:

· New or added risks are identified for children or young people, which may require a change in the policy or procedures

· A critical incident where a child or young person has experienced harm through involvement in the organisation

· Concerns are raised by anyone involved in your organisation about child safety or welfare in the organisation

· Awareness or compliance with the child-safe policy and/or procedures is low

· Legislative changes/requirements.

Empowerdance Pty Ltd will lodge a new child-safe environments compliance statement with the Department of Human Services each time we review and update this policy.

Policy Date:      19/10/2023

Review Date:   19/10/2028