Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy

Purpose

Rotary International District 9790’s (our/the district) Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy demonstrates our commitment to creating and maintaining a child safe and child-friendly organisation, where children and young people are safe and feel safe.

This policy provides an overview of our approach to implementing the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations in all Rotary and Rotaract environments within our district.

It informs our community of everyone’s obligations to act safely and appropriately towards children and young people and guides our processes and practices for the safety and wellbeing of children and young people across all areas of our work.

Scope

• applies to all Rotary and Rotaract members, volunteers, and service providers in the district whether, or not, they work in direct contact with children and young people, except Rotary Youth Exchange which has their own policies.
• applies in all physical and online environments used by children during district programs and those provided through third-party providers on behalf of the district
• should be read together with our other child safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, and codes – refer to the related policies section below.

Statement of commitment to child safety

Rotary International District 9790, and all clubs within the district (our clubs), are child safe organisations which welcome all children and young people, and their families.

We are committed to providing environments where children and young people are safe and feel safe, where their participation is valued, their views respected, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Our child safe policies, strategies and practices are inclusive of the needs of all children and young people.

We have no tolerance for child abuse and take proactive steps to identify and manage any risks of harm to children in our programs.

We promote positive relationships between children and young people, and adults and between children and young people, and their peers. These relationships are based on trust and respect.

We take proactive steps to identify and manage any risk of harm to children and young people in our programs. When child safety concerns are raised or identified, we treat these seriously and respond promptly and thoroughly.

Particular attention is given to the child safety needs of Aboriginal children and young people, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, international youth exchange students, students with disability, those unable to live at home, children and young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary, intersex, queer, questioning and asexual (LGBTIQA+), and other children and young people experiencing risk or vulnerability. Inappropriate or harmful behaviour targeting children and young people based on these or other characteristics, such as racism or homophobia, are not tolerated, and any instances identified will be addressed with appropriate consequences.

Child safety is a shared responsibility. Every person involved in our district and clubs has an important role in promoting child safety and wellbeing and promptly raising any issues or concerns about a child’s safety.

We are committed to regularly reviewing our child safe practices, and seeking input from children and young people, families, Rotary and Rotaract members, and volunteers to inform our ongoing strategies.

Roles and responsibilities

District Protection Officer

The district protection officer is responsible for ensuring that a strong child safe culture is created and maintained, and that policies and practices are effectively developed and implemented in accordance with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and relevant state legalisation.

The district protection officer is the first point of contact for child safety concerns or queries and for coordinating responses to child safety incidents within district organised meetings, events and/or programs.

The district protection officer will:

• monitor compliance with the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy in district organised meetings, events and/or programs.
• The district protection officer is responsible for informing the district about this policy and making it publicly available.
• ensure effective child safety and wellbeing governance, policies, procedures, codes, and practices are in place and followed.
• model a child safe culture that facilitates the active participation of children and young people, families and Rotary and Rotaract members in promoting and improving child safety, cultural safety, and wellbeing.
• enable inclusive practices where the diverse needs of all children are considered.
• reinforce high standards of respectful behaviour between children and adults, and between children taking part in our programs.
• promote regular open discussion on child safety issues within Rotary including at district leadership team meetings, club board meetings and general club meetings.
• facilitate regular professional learning for Rotary and Rotaract members, and volunteers (where appropriate) to build deeper understandings of child safety, cultural safety, wellbeing, and prevention of responding to abuse.
• create an environment where child safety complaints and concerns are readily raised, and no one is discouraged from reporting an allegation of child abuse to relevant authorities.

District Board

The District Board will:

• champion and promote a child safe culture with the district.
• ensure that child safety is a regular agenda item at youth program meetings.
• participate in an annual briefing on child safety.
• approve updates to child safety policies, and act in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

Rotary and Rotaract members, and volunteers

All Rotary and Rotaract members, and volunteers, where appropriate to their roles, will:

• participate in child safety and wellbeing induction and training provided by the district and/or the Rotary International, and always follow child safety and wellbeing policies and procedures.
• act in accordance with our Code of Conduct.
• identify and raise concerns about child safety issues in accordance with our Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures.
• ensure children and young peoples’ views are taken seriously and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives.
• implement inclusive practices that respond to the diverse needs of children and young people.

Club Protection Officer will be the Child safety champions

Rotary clubs within the district have nominated a Club Protection Officer and it will be their responsibility to be the child safety champion. In many Clubs this will be the club’s youth services chair, and it is their role to support the district protection officer to implement our child safety policies and practices, including Rotary member and volunteer training.

Club Protection Officers are the first points of contact for child safety concerns or queries and for coordinating responses to child safety incidents within their club.

• The Club Protection Officer is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy in their clubs.
• The district protection officer is responsible for informing the district about this policy and making it publicly available.
• Other specific roles and responsibilities are named in other child safety policies and procedures, including the Child Safety Code of Conduct, Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations (including Mandatory Reporting) Policy and Procedures, and Child Safety Risk Register.

Club Protection Officers work with their club’s board, Rotary members, children and young people, volunteers, and the district protection officer to create a child safe environment in their club by taking the flowing actions:

• Promote child safety culture
  • Promote child safety and wellbeing. For example, at club meetings and through newsletters.
  • Promote a culture of listening to children, young people and families and acting on their child safety concerns.
  • Rotary members and volunteers to focus on the child safety needs of vulnerable students.
• Provide support and guidance
  • Be a point of contact for child safety concerns for Rotary members, volunteers, and children and young people in the club.
  • Provide guidance to and children and young people, Rotary members and volunteers on child safety policies and procedures.
  • Work with the district protection officer to respond to child safety incidents.
• Monitor, review, and report
  • Record child safety complaints and concerns, and analyse trends as needed.
  • Coordinate reviews following significant safety incidents and recommend improvements.
  • Maintain the any club specific child safety risk register for club-specific youth programs with the club’s board.
  • Maintain detailed, accurate, secure written records of concerns and referrals.

Code of Conduct

Our Code of Conduct sets the boundaries and expectations for appropriate behaviours, including between adults, and children and young people. It also clarifies behaviours that are not acceptable in our physical and online environments.

We ensure that children and young people also know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable so that they can be clear and confident about what to expect from adults in the district.

The Code of Conduct also includes processes to report inappropriate behaviour.

Managing risks to child safety and wellbeing

We identify, assess, and manage risks to child safety and wellbeing in our physical and online environments. These risks are managed through our child safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, and practices.

Our district’s Child Safety Risk Register is used to record any identified risks related to child abuse alongside actions in place to manage those risks. Our district youth services committees will meet, at least annually, to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions in the Child Safety Risk Register. They shall submit that risk register to the district board for consultation and formal approval.

Where individual clubs organise their own program(s) for children and young people, they shall develop a club specific risk register for their program(s) and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions in the risk register at least annually. These risk registers shall be developed in consultation with and approved by their club board and submitted to the district protection officer.

Establishing a culturally safe environment

At Rotary, we are committed to establishing an inclusive and culturally safe environment where the strengths of Aboriginal culture, values and practices are respected.

We think about how every child and young person can have a positive experience in a safe environment. For Aboriginal children and young people, we recognise the link between Aboriginal culture, identity and safety and actively create opportunities for Aboriginal children and young people, and the Aboriginal community to have a voice and presence in our planning, policies, and activities.

We have a zero-tolerance approach to racism, discrimination and bullying in Rotary, including in our youth programs, as outlined in our Code of Conduct.

Empowerment of children and young people

To support child safety and wellbeing, we work to create an inclusive and supportive environment that encourages children and young people, and families to contribute to our child safety approach and understand their rights and their responsibilities.

Respectful relationships between children and young people are reinforced and we encourage strong friendships and peer support in our programs to ensure a sense of belonging through the four-way test, promoting our code of conduct, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and Rotary’s core values of fellowship, integrity, diversity, service, and leadership.

We inform children and young people of their rights and give them the confidence to recognise unsafe situations with adults or other children and young people, and to speak up and act on concerns relating to themselves or their peers. We ensure children and young people in our programs know who to talk to if they are worried or feeling unsafe and we encourage them to share concerns with a trusted adult at any time. Children and young people, and families can also access information on how to report concerns in our Code of Conduct and Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations (including Mandatory Reporting) Policy and Procedures.

When the district or clubs are gathering information in relation to a complaint about alleged misconduct or abuse of a child, we will listen to the complainant’s account and take them seriously, check our understanding of the complaint, support the child or young person, and keep them (and their parents and carers, as appropriate) informed about progress.

Engagement with communities

The community has an important role in monitoring and promoting children and young peoples’ safety and wellbeing and helping children and young people to raise any concerns.

To support engagement, we are committed to providing the community with accessible information about our child safe policies and practices and involving them in our approach to child safety and wellbeing.

We will create opportunities for the community to have input into the development and review of our child safety policies and practices and encourage them to raise any concerns and ideas for improvement.

We do this by:

• all our child safety policies and procedures will be available for Rotary and Rotaract members and our communities on the district’s website.
• the district newsletter will inform Rotary and Rotaract members, and clubs about any significant updates to our child safety policies or processes, and strategies or initiatives that we are taking to ensure safety of children and young people.
• child safety posters will be displayed in areas used by children and young people at our district’s residential youth programs.

Diversity equity and inclusion

As a child safe organisation, we celebrate the rich diversity of our children and young people, families and community and promote respectful environments that are free from discrimination. Our focus is on wellbeing and growth for all.

We recognise that every child and young person has unique skills, strengths, and experiences to draw on.

We pay particular attention to individuals and groups of children and young people in our community with additional and specific needs. This includes tailoring our child safety strategies and supports to the needs of:

• Aboriginal children and young people.
• children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• children and young people with disability.
• children unable to live at home or impacted by family violence.
• international students.
• children and young people who identify as LGBTIQA+.

The diversity, equity an inclusion page on the Rotary International website provides more information about the measures we have in place to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organisation.

Suitability and training

We apply robust child safe induction, training, and supervision practices to ensure that all Rotary and Rotaract members, contractors, and volunteers are suitable to work with children.

Depending on the level of risk associated with child connected work, Rotary members and other volunteers are required to have a valid (verified with Service Victoria or Service NSW annually by the club) Working With Children Clearance (WWCC), complete training and have suitability checks undertaken prior to working with children. The table below describes the actions that must be taken, and the district protection officer can answer any questions.

Examples of low-risk activities include, but are not limited to:

• transporting a child in a car with multiple adults present
• supporting a child at a club meeting
• presenting an award at a school
• participating in a working bee or market alongside children with other adults present

Examples of high-risk activities include, but are not limited to:

• RYPEN and other residential program supporters
• sport coaching
• chaperoning at an overnight event
• managing confidential records of young people
• other direct caring / loco parentis responsibility

If you are unsure of the risk level of an activity you are undertaking, you should contact the district protection officer for further advice.

It is the responsibility of each Rotary Club in the district to ensure the required suitability checks and training is completed, except where the contractors and/or volunteers are directly engaged by a district committee, in which case it is the responsibility of the committee’s chair or their delegate.

Where high risk activities are undertaken, the following documentation must be supplied to the district protection officer (or their delegate):

• Training completion certificate (downloadable from the Rotary Learning Centre following completion of the online module) - annual requirement
• Completed Rotary Youth Program Volunteer Information and Declaration (screening questions) - required once
• Evidence of the validity of the WWCC (report, screenshot or confirmation email from Service Victoria or Service NSW) - annual requirement

Any person who does not have a current satisfactory WWCC or a valid exemption, where required under this policy, will be removed from their duties until such time as they provide satisfactory evidence of their clearance.

Ongoing supervision and management

All people engaged in child-connected work will be supervised appropriately to ensure that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate.

Inappropriate behaviour towards children and young people will be managed swiftly and in accordance with our policies and our legal obligations. Child safety and wellbeing will be paramount.

Complaints and reporting processes

Anyone in our community should approach the club’s Club Protection Officer or the district protection officer if they have any concerns about compliance with the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy.

Our district fosters a culture that encourages members, volunteers, children and young people, families, and the community to raise concerns and complaints. This makes it more difficult for breaches of the code of conduct, misconduct, or abuse to occur and remain hidden.

We have clear pathways for raising complaints and concerns and responding and this is documented in our Complaint Policy. The Complaints Policy can be found on the district’s website.

If there is an incident, disclosure, allegation or suspicion of child abuse, all Rotary and Rotaract members, and volunteers (including youth exchange host families) must follow our Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures, including completion of Rotary Incident Report. Our policy and procedures address complaints and concerns of child abuse made by or in relation to a child or young person, Rotary member, volunteers, contractors, service providers or any other person while connected to a Rotary club or program.

Communication

Our district is committed to communicating our child safety strategies to the community through:

• ensuring that key child safety and wellbeing policies are available on our website including the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy (this document), Child Safety Code of Conduct, and the Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations (including Mandatory Reporting) Policy and Procedure
• displaying child safety posters at Rotary residential programs that involve children and young people
• updates in our district newsletter
• ensuring that child safety is a regular agenda item at youth program meetings.

Privacy and information sharing

The district and clubs collect, use, and disclose information about children and their families in accordance with privacy laws, and other relevant laws. For information on how we collect, use, and disclose information refer to our privacy policy.

Review of child safety practices

We have established processes for the review and ongoing improvement of our child safe policies, procedures, and practices.

We will:

• review and improve our policy every 2 years or after any significant child safety incident.
• analyse any complaints, concerns, and safety incidents to improve policy and practice.
• act with transparency and share pertinent learnings and review outcomes with our clubs.

Related policies and procedures

This Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy is to be read in conjunction with other related policies, procedures, and codes. These include:

• Rotary International’s Youth Protection guides and resources
• Child Safety Responding and Reporting policies and procedures
• Code of Conduct
• Complaints Policy
• Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Privacy policy
• Rotary International’s governance documents, including but not limited to the Rotary Code of Policies, Manual of Procedure and Rotary’s constitutional documents.

Policy status and review

The district protection officer is responsible for reviewing and updating the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy at least every two years. The review will include input from children and young people, families, and the community.

Policy review and approval