What exactly are your child safeguarding responsibilities?
You’ve heard about the Child Safeguarding Policy, one of the six policies in the National Integrity Framework. But what other obligations do you have?
We’ve prepared a summary of each State and Territory’s requirements as they apply to Clubs and Discover Sailing Centres. Click here to read more.
Working with Children Checks
Every State and Territory requires people working with children to undergo some form of pre-screening, though it has a few different names. Sometimes referred to as a “Working with Children Check” (Vic, NSW, SA, WA), “Blue Card” (Qld), “Ochre Card” (NT), or “Working with Vulnerable People Registration” (ACT, Tas), these checks are a crucial first step when screening new volunteers or employees.
If a person will be working with children (either as a volunteer or paid staff), both the person and their employer are responsible for ensuring that the person has a valid WWCC. In addition, most states require organisations to keep records of their employees’ and volunteers’ Working with Children Checks.
While WWCCs are a useful tool, it’s important to recognise their limitations. A WWCC will only show whether a person has been convicted of an offence which affects their suitability to work with children. This means that it’s only a reactive tool and can’t be your only screening step. That’s why it’s so important to follow the recruitment and screening steps in the Child Safeguarding Policy.
Principles for Child Safe Organisations
Some states have implemented the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. These Principles aim to improve, modernise, and standardise the way organisations look after children. Importantly, the Principles are not a set of rules to be ticked off then forgotten about; rather, they are guides to shape your Club’s approach to child safety. Click here to learn more about the Principles.
Mandatory Reporting
Each State and Territory except Western Australia has laws requiring all adults to report suspected child abuse. The nature of these laws varies slightly, but in general, any adult who suspects that a child has been sexually abused must report it to the police as soon as possible.
In some States, Club members in a “position of authority” have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent child abuse. Again, the law differs across the country, but a summary is available from the Integrity Hub.
Learn More
Sport Integrity Australia provides some excellent, and brief, eLearning courses (login required):
For more information contact Michael Arnold, National Integrity Officer (email michael.arnold@sailing.org.au) or your local Club Support Officer.
