Safety and wellbeing of children and young people policy

PURPOSE  

BCH is committed to providing an environment where children and young people are safe and feel safe and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives as outlined in our Statement of Commitment to Children and Young People’s Safety and Wellbeing  

 The purpose of this policy is to set out BCH’s approach to ensuring that children using our services are safe and feel safe and to provide the policy framework for BCH’s approach to the Child Safe Standards. 

SCOPE 

This policy is applicable to all Ballarat Community Health Board members, staff, contractors, volunteers and students whether or not they work in direct contact with children. 

POLICY STATEMENT 

BCH is committed to maintaining: 

A culture of openness that supports all persons to safely disclose risks of harm to children 

Clear and effective mechanisms for the reporting of concerns, suspicions or allegations of past, present or future abuse of children.  

Robust human resources policies and procedures including recruitment practices, staff and volunteer supervision and professional development systems that uphold the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. 

A Code of Conduct that includes specific responsibilities in relation to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people to which Board members, staff, contractors, volunteers and students are held. 

Risk assessments and management strategies that appropriately mitigate risks in physical and online environments, taking into account any specific vulnerabilities of the children in the context of our programs and services.  

Services that:  

• Support the physical and emotional needs and safety of children and young   
• Value and empower children to participate in decisions which affect their lives and to evaluate and comment on their experience of the service. 
• Value the input of and communicate regularly with families and caregivers. 
• Recognise the increased vulnerabilities of particular groups of children, with particular attention to: 
  • the cultural safety of Aboriginal children
  • the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds 
  • the safety of children with a disability 
  • the safety of children who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/or intersex 
  • the safety of children in out of home care and youth justice.