OUR COMMITMENT TO CHILD SAFETY
We are committed to creating and maintaining a child safe organisation
At Umbrella Disability Services we prioritize the safety and well-being of children above all else. We are deeply committed to creating and maintaining a child-safe organization, ensuring a secure and nurturing environment for every child we engage with.
Our Intent
UDS is committed to creating and maintaining a child safe organisation. This means:
- Commitment to our values
- Commitment to Child Safe Standards
- Zero tolerance of violence and abuse
- Promoting safety and prevent harm
- Recognising children’s rights
- Taking responsibility for child wellbeing
- Child centred systems
Description of intent
- Commitment to our values: Being committed to our values of integrity, equality, empowerment, trust, and hope when supporting all children and young people.
- Commitment to Child Safe Standards: Implementing and monitoring Child Safe Standards effectively.
- Zero tolerance of violence and abuse: A culture of zero tolerance of violence and abuse towards children and young people. Prompt reporting of abuse is mandatory and timely action must be taken to address abuse.
- Promote safety and prevent harm: Actively promoting safety and reducing opportunities for harm by prompt identification and management of risks, including physical and online risks.
- Recognising children’s rights: Recognising the rights of children and young people: to grow up feeling loved, nurtured, and protected; their right to cultural safety, and support opportunities to reach their full potential.
- Taking responsibility for child wellbeing: Recruiting and training workers to meet Child Safe Standards, legislative requirements and to take all concerns and complaints seriously, reporting and acting on any feedback.
- Child centred systems: Ensuring operational and quality systems support children and young persons, placing their safety and best interests first.
HOW WE SUPPORT OUR COMMITMENT
UDS’s responsibility is to provide a safe environment for all children. To this end, we will work within and apply the New South Wales (NSW) Child Safe Standards, which are detailed below:
Standard 1. Child Safety is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture
- Through our Violence, Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation and Discrimination Policy and Procedure.
- Staff trained in: child safety codes of conduct, behavioural standards when interacting with children, and reporting obligations and record keeping.
- Risk Management Plans for each child.
- Comply with NDIS Code of Conduct and UDS’ Code of Conduct.
Standard 2. Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
- Children can express their views and are provided with opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
- The importance of friendships is recognised, and support from peers encouraged, helping children feel safe and be less isolated – work with the child and the family.
- Children access abuse prevention programs and information.
- Staff attuned to signs of harm and facilitate child-friendly ways for children to communicate and raise their concerns.
Standard 3. Families and communities are informed and involved
- Encourage families to take an active role in keeping children safe.
- Families and community members encouraged to provide feedback on how the organisation keeps children safe, and this information is acted upon where necessary through: complaint and feedback forms and meetings about children.
Standard 4. Equity is upheld, and diverse needs are considered
- The Director and staff understand barriers that prevent children from disclosing abuse or adults.
- The Director and our staff identify and respect the diverse needs, abilities and backgrounds of children and understand the value of treating them fairly: review each child’s cultural needs at intake, and provide relevant, culturally sensitive, age-appropriate activities
- All staff given information about the factors that increase a child’s vulnerability to harm – staff are trained and provided with information.
- The Director ensures that our workforce reflects our participants’ diversity, where possible.
- The Director and staff adapt activities and services to ensure all children feel included.
- A Risk Management Plan completed for each child
- strategy planning takes place with the child and their family.
Standard 5. People working with children are suitable and supported
- WWCC and ongoing training opportunities for all staff at: induction and annual training.
- Director is responsible for staff recruitment, is aware of child-safe recruitment practices.
- Staff recruitment includes job advertisements identifying that our organisation values.
- Our recruitment policy and processes involve a range of interview questions to establish staff suitability. Background and reference checks are carried out and recorded.
- Supervision includes reviews to check meeting Codes of Conduct and child-safe policies.
- Director monitors all aspects of staff supervision.
Standard 6. Processes to respond to complaints of child abuse (or other concerns) are child-focused
- The Director creates a culture where complaints are taken seriously. All adults take responsibility for children’s safety through our induction process and training staff in our culture.
- Director clearly explains that breaches of Codes of Conduct will result in disciplinary action at induction and ongoing as part of our training requirements.
- Staff are provided support and information on what and how to report, including external bodies.
- Accessible processes enable children, staff and others to make complaints. Procedures describe likely timeframes, review processes and potential outcomes of complaints.
Standard 7. Staff are equipped with knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training
- The Director provides ongoing education and training opportunities for all staff, including:
- Knowledge, skills and confidence to prevent and identify abuse
- How to respond to complaints and escalate appropriately
- If higher risks are identified, additional training is provided, e.g., behaviour management.
- Training is regularly reviewed in response to emerging best practices.
Standard 8. Physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse or other kinds of harm to occur
- The Director sets expectations about behavioural standards for staff interacting with children in physical and online environments.
- Risk assessments identify areas where staff can interact with children unsupervised, including one-off events and overnight accommodation.
- Physical environments altered to increase sight lines while respecting privacy.
- Higher-risk areas (e.g., cars, boarding facilities and offsite locations) are managed using specific safety measures (e.g., spot checks).
- Children provided information about online safety and encouraged to report negative experiences.
- Staff and parents are provided information about risks in the online environment.
Standard 9. Implementation of Child Safety Standards are continually reviewed and improved
- The Director maintains a culture of continuous improvement in keeping with our policy, to ensure that child safe policies and procedures are implemented and routinely reviewed, even though staffing may change.
- Director knows the value of continuous monitoring, open conversations and exploring new ways to keep children safe.
- Critical incidents are used to identify the root cause of the problem, identify risks to children’s safety, and make improvements.
- Children are supported to provide feedback, which is acted upon to inform service delivery and policy development.
Standard 10 Policies and procedures document how the organisation is child safe
- The Director will ensure that policies and procedures and reviewed and compliant.
- Staff trained and knowledgeable about child safe procedures.
- Staff, parents and carers informed and have access to UDS policies and procedures and Complaint Policy and Procedure.
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Umbrella Disability Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we operate and pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging. We recognise the enduring relationship Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples have with Country and that sovereignty was never ceded.