Last Updated: 07/03/2021
Lisa’s Staffing Solutions takes child safety very seriously and we are pro child safety for every single child. We incorporate child safety into our organisation by our strict recruitment guidelines, yearly police checks for each nanny, monthly status check for nanny’s WWCC and educating our team members about child safety.
Our organisation is committed to child safety.
We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our team members.
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.
Our organisation is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early,and removing and reducing these risks.
Our organisation has robust human resources and recruitment practices for all team members.
Our organisation is committed to training and educating our staff on child abuse risks.
We support and respect all children, as well as our team members. 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 have specific policies, procedures and training in place that supports our team members to achieve these commitments.
If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.
This policy is intended to empower children who are vital participants in our organisation.
We promote diversity and tolerance in our organisation, and people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds are welcome. In particular we:
This policy guides our team members on how to behave with children in our organisation.
All of our team members must agree to abide by our code of conduct, which specifies the standards of conduct required when working with children. All team members, as well as children and their families, are given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the code of conduct.
Training and education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Our organisational culture aims for all team members (in addition to parents/carers and children) to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns. We train our team members to identify, assess, and minimise risks of child abuse and to detect potential signs of child abuse.
We also support our staff through ongoing supervision to: develop their skills to protect children from abuse; and promote the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from linguistically and/or diverse backgrounds, and the safety of children with a disability.
New team members will be assessed to ensure they understand our organisation’s commitment to child safety and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as feedback from clients regarding team members behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate (please refer to this organisation’s code of conduct to understand appropriate behaviour further). Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the Department of Health and Human Services and Victoria Police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.
We take all reasonable steps to recruit skilled people to work with children. We develop selection criteria and advertisements, which clearly demonstrate our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities. Our organisation understands that when recruiting team members we have ethical as well as legislative obligations.
All people engaged in child-related work, are required to hold a Working with Children Check and to provide evidence of this Check. These checks are verified by our organisation monthly as well as when team members are recruited to ensure they remain clear. Please see the Working with Children Check website for further information.
We carry out reference checks and police record checks to ensure that we are recruiting the right people. Police record checks are used for the purposes of recruitment and continuing safety, we ensure they are updated every 12 months.
If during the recruitment process a person’s records indicate a criminal history then the person will be given the opportunity to provide further information and context. Our organisation will then decide if this criminal record impacts the safety of our clients, their children, their homes and their property.
The safety and wellbeing of children is our primary concern. We are also fair and just to personnel. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and based on evidence.
We record all allegations of abuse and safety concerns using our incident reporting form, including investigation updates. All records are securely stored.
If an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised, we provide updates to children and families on progress and any actions we as an organisation take.
All personal information considered or recorded will respect the privacy of the individuals involved, whether they be team members, parents or children, unless there is a risk to someone’s safety. We have safeguards and practices in place to ensure any personal information is protected. Everyone is entitled to know how this information is recorded, what will be done with it, and who will have access to it.
Our organisation takes our legal responsibilities seriously, including:
In Victoria, organisations are required to protect children when a risk is identified (see information about failure to protect above). In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children. Although as a nanny agency, we are not in a position to control the environment that the nanny works in or who else has contact with the children whom the children’s parents approve of. However, what we can control as an agency is our monthly verification of carers’ Working With Children Checks, in addition to our screening and recruitment process for each nanny on our team.
This policy will be reviewed every two years and following significant incidents if they occur. We will ensure that families and children have the opportunity to contribute. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities, culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.
Our organisation takes all allegations seriously and has practices in place to investigate thoroughly and quickly. Our team members are trained to deal appropriately with allegations.
We work to ensure all team members know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse or are a victim, and if they notice inappropriate behaviour.
We all have a responsibility to report an allegation of abuse if we have a reasonable belief that an incident took place (see information about failure to disclose above).
If an adult has a reasonable belief that an incident has occurred then they must report the incident. Factors contributing to reasonable belief may be:
For example behaviour, please see An Overview of the Victorian child safe standards: https://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/_data/assets/word_doc/0005/955598/Child-safe-standards_overview.doc
All team members and board members of Lisa’s Staffing Solutions are required to observe child safe principles and expectations for appropriate behaviour towards and in the company of children, as noted below.
All personnel of Lisa’s Staffing Solutions are responsible for supporting the safety, wellbeing and empowerment of children by:
Team members must not:
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