Child Safety

Our commitment:

• Royal Life Saving Society - Australia is committed to child safety.
• We want children to be safe, happy and empowered.
• We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.
• We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.
• We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.
• We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
• We are committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
• We have robust human resources and recruitment practices to reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing board members, staff and volunteers.
• We are committed to regularly training and educating our board members, staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
• We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
• We endorse and support the 10 National Child Safe Principles (and 11th Victorian Principle) for child safety.
• All members, volunteers, staff, suppliers and contractors are expected to abide by the above and below principles and maintain compliance against all regulatory requirements.
• We encourage owners and operators of aquatic locations to ensure the same.

The 10 National Child Safe Principles

1. Child safety and well-being is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture
2. Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
3. Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and well-being
4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice
5. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and well-being values and practice
6. Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused
7. Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people say through ongoing education and training
8. Physical and online environments promote safety and well-being while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed
9. Implementation of the national ChildSafe principles is regularly reviewed and improved
10. Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people

Our Code of Conduct for Child Safety

Royal Life Saving Society - Australia members, staff, volunteers, suppliers and contractors are expected to comply with the following code of conduct:

We will always:

• Abide by the organisations’ commitment and obligation to be a child safe organisation
• Support and monitor the safeguarding of children and young people
• Uphold the rights of a children and young people
• Provide an inclusive and safe environment that:
  • supports and values the ideas and opinions of; children and young people and;
  • treats them with respect regardless of their race, colour, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, culture, property, disability or other status.
  • Understands children and young people’s diverse circumstances, and provides support and responds to those who are vulnerable
• Establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children are respected and valued
• Enforce zero tolerance of racism and expectation that all staff and volunteers will act on incidents of racism – that children will be supported to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights
• Respect the privacy of children and young people and their families and only disclosing information to people on a “need-to-know” basis and in accordance with privacy legislation for that jurisdiction.
• Always observe professional boundaries with children and young people.
• Be easily identifiable when providing direct care to a child or young person. (i.e., wearing a uniform or visible identification such as a name badge).
• Empower children and young people by providing an environment where they can actively participate and “have a say”, especially on issues that are important to them
• Listen and respond to the views and concerns of children and young people, including where it relates to concerns that they feel unsafe
• Use language that is inclusive and accepting to all those in the workplace including children and young people
• Use communication appropriate for the age of a child or young person which embraces professional boundaries yet still provide a safe and caring environment for children and young people.
• Identify and mitigate risks to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people
• Take all reasonable steps to protect children and young people from risk, abuse or neglect
• Challenge unacceptable behaviour and reporting all allegations or suspicions of risk, abuse or neglect
• Report any concerns, allegations, disclosures or observations of child abuse and / or neglect in line with the facility’s policies and processes, mandatory reporting and reportable conduct reporting requirements to a relevant person. (Such as Failure to report or Failure to disclose. If applicable to the jurisdiction.)
• Disclose any information of charges, convictions of abuse and all other offence history.

We will never:

• Condone or participate in behaviour that is illegal, unsafe or abusive to children and young people.
• Discriminate against children and young people on the basis of their age, gender identity, sex, race, cultural or sexual orientation.
• Place children and young people at risk of abuse or neglect (i.e., by allowing unnecessary one-adult / one-child encounters to occur).
• Use or being part of inappropriate, offensive, harassing, abusive, sexually provocative, demeaning, culturally inappropriate or discriminatory language when speaking with, or in the presence of, a child or young person
• Discriminate against any child or young person, including because of age, gender, race, culture, vulnerability, sexuality, ethnicity or disability.
• Provide gifts to children, unless as part of planned and approved activity
• Offer transport to children, unless as part of grouped, planned, supervised and approved activity.
• Offer or provide private services to children or their families for services such as babysitting.
• Develop inappropriate relationships with children or young people, including relationships that show favouritism.
• Display violent or inappropriate behaviour towards a child or young person.
• Initiate unnecessary physical contact or exhibiting behaviours with children and young people which may be construed as inappropriate.
• Conduct a sexual relationship or indulging in any form of sexual contact with a child or young person.
• Engage in open discussions of a mature nature in the presence of children and young people.
• Use any computer, mobile phone, or video and digital camera to exploit, harass, expose children and young people to offensive or sexualised content.
• Exchange personal contact details with a child or young person such as phone number, social networking sites or email address, unless necessary (i.e, for an emergency situation).
• Have unauthorised contact with a child or young person client or their family outside of the department, including online, on social media or by phone.
• Ignore or disregard any concerns, suspicions or disclosures of child abuse or neglect.
• Exaggerate or trivialise allegations or issues relating to child abuse, neglect or safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

References

• Child Safe Organisations: Example Code of Conduct. Child Safe Organisations National Principles. Accessed May 2022,
• Child Safe Code of Conduct. (2022) Victoria State Government, Justice and Community Safety,
• Child Safe standards. (2022) Health and Human Services,
• National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (2018) Child Safe Organisations National Principles,
• Child Safe Code of Conduct, (2020). Royal Life Saving Society – Western Australia, Perth.
• Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations - Child Safety  (2023. Royal Life Saving Society - Australia
• Short Guide to the Child Safe Standards, Commission for Children and Young People (Victoria),

State and Territory Frameworks

The legislative framework for child safety in each State and Territory do differ, with the following links detailing each State and Territories laws.

https://aifs.gov.au/resources/resource-sheets/australian-child-protection-legislation

Each state and territory have a government department or independent authority who have responsibility for the guiding and supporting of organisations that provide services for children, and can be contacted for specific advice regarding the requirements and expectations for child safety in that state or territory: