Transcript Module 12 - Catholic Education in the Diocese of Parramatta

Module 12
Child Protection
Briefing for Volunteers
Child Protection
is everyone’s business!
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All Australians need to do something to stop the
physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect
of children
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“There is no more important test for judging our
society than how it values children. Protection of
children from abuse and neglect is a moral and
ethical imperative.”
(NSW Premier Bob Carr 1997)
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“Our schools must be places of welcome and
safety for students, their families and staff.”
(Staff of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Parramatta, Focus on Learning
Conference 2003)
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Healthy communities honour and love their most
vulnerable – the children. In a Catholic school we
maintain that all children have the right to a safe and
supportive environment free from any form of abuse or
harm. In our school relationships between adults and
students are governed by trust and Gospel values.
1. Developments in NSW Child
Protection legislation
Since 1998 several new acts of child protection legislation
have commenced operation in NSW.
Act
Focus
Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998
Prohibited Employment Declaration
Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000
Registration of certain offenders
Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 Reporting to DoCS
Ombudsman Act 1974
Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998
Allegations against employees
Employment screening
2. Child Protection
(Prohibited Employment) Act 1998
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The Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998
requires any person working in child-related employment
involving unsupervised contact with children to complete a
Prohibited Employment Declaration
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Who is required to complete a Prohibited Employment
Declaration?
All current and prospective employees are asked to declare if
he/she is a “prohibited person”. A volunteer is considered an
“employee” under this Act as he/she is completing a task on
behalf of a child-related organisation, ie. a school.
Who is a prohibited person?
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A person found guilty of certain serious sex offences is
termed a ‘prohibited person’ under the Act. Such
offences include:
 Sexual abuse of a child
 Offences related to child pornography or child prostitution
 Carnal knowledge
 Sexual activity or
 Acts of indecency, committed in NSW or elsewhere would
have been punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment of
12 months or more if the offence had been committed in
NSW.
If a person has any doubts about
his/her status he/she should seek
independent legal advice
The Child Protection (Offenders
Registration) Act 2000
‘Registrable’ person is also a ‘prohibited
person’.
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This Act recognises there are offences, in
addition to sex offences, which may
render a person unsuitable to work with
children and young people eg. child
murder, kidnapping
What must a VOLUNTEER do?
Declare to the employer his/her status
relating to the definition of a prohibited
person
 NOT apply for, or remain in child-related
work if he/she is a prohibited person
 NOT make a false disclosure regarding
his/her status as a prohibited person.
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What must the employer do?
Obtain a Prohibited Employment Declaration
from ALL employees (paid and unpaid) who
may have direct, unsupervised contact with
children.
EM6 form
3. Employment Screening – Commission
for Children and Young People Act 1998
The Prohibited Employment Declaration is not to be
confused with Employment Screening which is a
further requirement for preferred applicants for
paid positions.
At this stage employment screening is not required
for volunteers.
4. Children and Young Persons (Care
and Protection) Act 1998
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Schools must report to DoCS children under
16 years of age, who are suspected of being
at “risk of harm”
What is meant by “risk of harm”?
A child or young person is at risk of harm if current
concerns exist for his/her safety, welfare or wellbeing because of any of the following circumstances:
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basic physical or psychological needs are not being
met
not receiving necessary medical care
physical or sexual abuse or ill-treatment has or may
occur
domestic violence in the household
carer’s behaviour creates risk of psychological harm
What if I have concerns about the
well-being of a child?
It is possible that a volunteer working in a
school may encounter a child who is at
risk of harm.
i.
Disclosure by a child eg. conversation in
the classroom, on excursion, or
ii. Observation eg. noticing of marks,
bruising
Report to the Principal
If you have concerns about the safety, welfare
or well being of a child
report to the Principal
5. Ombudsman’s Act 1974
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This Act applies to employees in designated
agencies including schools
Under the Act an ‘employee’ includes both
employees and any individual engaged by the
school to provide services to children.
This includes volunteers.
What constitutes child abuse under the
Ombudsman’s Act?
Child abuse includes:
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Sexual abuse – any sexual act or sexual threat
imposed on a child, eg. sexual intercourse, acts of
indecency and indecent assault
Physical abuse – physical assault (hostile towards a
child) and/or non-accidental injury and/or harm
towards a child. Actual physical harm does not
have to occur for an assault to have taken place. An
assault can occur regardless of the adult’s intention
to harm
Neglect – failure to provide basic necessities of life
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Behaviour causing psychological harm –
behaviours shown to have caused psychological
and emotional harm to a child eg. public
humiliation, exposure to domestic violence,
threats to hurt or kill
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Misconduct that may involve child abuse
– eg. inappropriate relationship with a child (not
sexual), inappropriate language, inappropriate
touching (not sexual), exposing children to
pornography.
What if my concerns involve a
member of school staff?
Report to the principal
6. Further information
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Confidentiality
Child protection legislation requires the identity of
the person reporting a child protection matter
remain confidential.
Good practices for adults dealing with
children and young people –
Listen
 Be interested
 Ask for help
 Act if we suspect abuse
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Establishing adult – child boundaries
in the school setting
Volunteers maintain an appropriate
relationship with a child or young person
Examples of boundary violations
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Inappropriate comments about a student’s appearance
Conversation of a sexual nature
Use of pet names
Jokes of a sexual nature
Obscene gestures and language
Facilitating access to pornographic or overtly sexual material
Personal correspondence including email, phone, sms text
Discussing personal details of lifestyle of self or others
Sharing of personal information about other volunteers, staff or students
Unwarranted and/or inappropriate touching of a student
Initiating or permitting inappropriate physical contact by a student eg.
massage
Inviting students home
Being alone in a school facility with a student after hours
Watching students in a change room
Appropriate physical contact with students
The following are good practice guidelines
 Avoid touching a student anywhere other than the hand, arm, shoulder,
or upper back
 Never be with a student in a one-on-one and out of sight situation, and
never touch a student in such a situation
 Do not presume that a hug or touch is acceptable to a particular student
 Do not touch a student in a way that may be uncomfortable for the
student
 In some circumstances, a young child may require appropriate
deflection of physical contact from the volunteer without embarrassing
the child, eg. minimising of unnecessary physical contact with
volunteer by calmly and quietly removing child’s hand from volunteer.
Important!
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Do not use physical contact to require
a child to do as they are instructed
Report to the Principal
If you have concerns about a violation of an
adult-student boundary
report to the Principal
Fifty years from now it will not matter what kind of
car you drove, what kind of house you lived in,
how much you had in your bank account, or what
your clothes looked like.
But the world may be a little better because you were
important in the life of a child.