This policy was written to demonstrate the strong commitment of Tiger Tennis to child safety and establishing and maintaining child safe and child friendly environments.
This policy reflects our commitment to provide a safe environment where every person has the right to be treated with respect and is safe and protected from harm.
It complies with our obligations under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017. It also complies with the Child Safety (prohibited Persons) Act 2016 and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
This policy, from the date of endorsement, applies to all people involved in the organisation, including:
· Coaches
· Volunteers
· Sub Contractors
All children who come to Tiger Tennis have a right to feel and be safe. We are committed to the safety and well-being of all children and young people accessing our services and their welfare will always be our first priority. We aim to create a child safe and child friendly environment where all children are valued and feel safe.
Tiger Tennis has appointed Dane Bennett as a first point of contact to provide advice and support to children, parents, members and volunteers regarding the safety and well-being of children in our organisation.
Tiger Tennis encourages and respects the views of children and young people who access our services. We listen to and act upon any concerns that children, young people or their families raise with us.
We ensure that children, young people and their families know their rights and how to access the complaints procedures available to them.
We value diversity and do not tolerate any discriminatory practices.
Tiger Tennis takes all reasonable steps to ensure that it engages the most suitable and appropriate people to work and volunteer with children and young people by having:
· clear position descriptions with a commitment to child safety and wellbeing
· face-to-face interviews that include behavioural questions in relation to child safeguarding
· at least two referee checks
We conduct a Working With Children Check (WWCC) for people working with children, as set out in the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016. Working With Children Checks are required for anyone within our organisation that:
has contact with children and young people
coaches in schools or holiday clinics
Some organisations, persons and positions are exempt from the requirement for a Working With Children Check under the provisions of the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 (SA).
Tiger Tennis will verify the accuracy of the Working With Children Check before employing people, and for existing employees will verify they renew their WWCC every five years and their status remains as not prohibited. Verification will be done online through the Organisation Portal via the DHS Screening Unit.
Tiger Tennis will inform the Screening Unit when the organisation becomes aware of certain information regarding any person involved with the organisation, including any serious offence, child protection information, or disciplinary or misconduct information.
All coaches are made aware of, and must abide by, our Code of Conduct, which contains a specific section “Creating and maintaining a child safe environment”.
Children, young people and their families can report a breach of the Code of Conduct to
Contact: Dane Bennett
Phone: 1300 974 934
Email: info@tigertennis.com.au
Breaches of this Code of Conduct may result in review of the person’s duties, training and supervision, disciplinary action and/or termination of employment with Tiger Tennis.
Tiger Tennis seeks to attract and retain the best tennis coaches. We provide support so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated. We ensure that coaches/volunteers who work with children have ongoing support so that their capacity is developed and enhanced to promote the establishment and maintenance of a child safe environment.
Strategies we have implemented include:
· All new coaches and volunteers receive a copy of our child safe policy and code of conduct.
· A child safety officer (Dane Bennett) has been appointed as a first point of contact for all child protection matters.
Tiger Tennis will not tolerate incidents of child harm.
Any coaches within Tiger Tennis conducting programs for children and young people have obligations as mandatory notifiers. Tiger Tennis will ensure that all mandated notifiers undertake training in Safe Environments – Through their Eyes on commencement and refresher training every 3 years thereafter.
All mandatory notifiers understand their legal obligation to notify the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on 13 14 78 as soon as practicable if they have a reasonable suspicion that a child has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed, and contact SA Police on 000 if a child is at immediate risk. In cases involving Aboriginal children and young people, support is provided by Yaitya Tirramangkotti, an aboriginal team, via the CARL number.
Non mandated notifiers are encouraged to make voluntary reports about harm or risk of harm to a child or young person.
The person who identifies the harm or risk of harm is the person who makes the report to CARL/SAPOL , and this is not reported internally for another staff member to determine it is a reportable matter.
Tiger Tennis will be guided by the relevant authority (CARL or SAPOL) about whether an internal investigation is appropriate.
In addition, all coaches and volunteers of Tiger Tennis have a legal obligation to report child sexual abuse to the police and to protect a child from sexual abuse. Failure to meet these obligations may be considered a criminal offence (Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (s.64A & s.65)
We also ensure that coaches have access to relevant information resources such as:
· CSE Mandatory Notification Information
· Department for Child Protection ‘reporting suspected harm of children or young people’ website: https://www.childprotection.sa.gov.au/reporting-child-abuse
We ensure that support is also available for coaches making the report, particularly where an ongoing service is provided to the child, young person and their family.
Child Protection is everyone’s responsibility. Tiger Tennis recognises that even where a report is made, we may still have a role in supporting the child or young person. This support may include:
· Referring the child, young person or their family to other appropriate services
· Displaying information about services that can assist children and their families (such as the Kids Helpline and Youth Healthline on 1800 55 1800) in areas accessed by children and their families.
In addition to making a report to the Child Abuse Report Line, coaches and volunteers must also report to Tiger Tennis if suspicion is formed that a child has been harmed or is at risk of harm by a member, volunteer or employee.
In response to any report concerning a coach or volunteer of this organisation, Tiger Tennis may determine to take disciplinary action such as removing an coach/volunteer from working with children and young people and/or termination of employment/contract.
Other protective actions may also be introduced to ensure the safety of children and young people within our organization
In addition to those risk minimisation strategies detailed within other sections of this Child Safe policy, Tiger Tennis undertakes the strategies listed below to minimize the identified risks:
Identified risk: Physical contact
· any physical contact must be appropriate to the delivery of services being provided
· where physical contact is required, this is undertaken in a safe way by explaining why contact is required and what will happen, and asking the child/young person for their permission (or their family if this is more appropriate) before proceeding
· unnecessary physical contact is not allowed
Identified risk: Taking images of children and young people
· consent of the child/young person and their parent/guardian is required
· disclosure will be made as to how the image is to be used and consent must be provided by the child, young person and parent/guardian
· images must be presented in a way that de-identifies the child or young person.
Identified risk: Online communications
· any online communication with children or young people must be directed through the parents or guardians.
· if it is intended to publish a photograph of children or young people permission will first be obtained from parents or guardians, and care taken to not provide any identifying information.
Identified risk: Transporting of children and young people
· transporting of children and young people will be the responsibility of parents or guardians, and children or young people will not be transported by coaches.
Identified risk: Supervision
· if a child or young person is not collected by parent/guardian at end of class/training, two adults are to stay with child/young person until they are collected
· when providing one to one consultation with a child or young person, it will be in line of sight of another adult
Identified risk: Physical environment
· risk assessments are conducted for all activities
· all equipment is checked regularly to ensure it is in good working order
Identified risk: Privacy and confidentiality
· digital files containing confidential information shall be protected electronically by restricting the access to only those requiring it to perform their duties
· Tiger Tennis Coaches must not disclose information regarding any child or young person without written consent of the child/young person and their parent/guardian
Evaluation of these strategies and the development of additional strategies to minimise and control risks to children and young people occur as part of our ongoing risk management process.
Tiger Tennis opposes all forms of harassment, discrimination and bullying. We take this issue seriously and encourage anyone who believes that they, or another person, has been harassed, discriminated against or bullied to raise this issue with the Child Safety Officer.
Tiger Tennis will post its Child Safe Policy on their website.
and will provide a copy of this policy upon request, and ensure that everyone to whom this policy applies is aware of and has had an opportunity to read the policy.
This policy will be reviewed biennially to ensure it remains relevant to Tiger Tennis operations and reflects both community expectations and legal requirements. Tiger Tennis will lodge a new child safe environments compliance statement with the Department of Human Services each time we review and update our policy.
CONTACT: Dane Bennett
PHONE: 1300 974 934
EMAIL: info@tigertennis.com.au