A vital part of this provision of service is that children and young people are cared for in an environment where they are safe from abuse and neglect.
We are currently working towards achieving national accreditation to the Safeguarding Children and Young People program, run by the Australian Childhood Foundation.
The program – the only one of its kind in Australia – supports organisations to build an effective child safe culture by providing a formal framework (policies, procedures and training) and an accreditation scheme.
The program consists of 7 standards – or guidelines – to keep children and young people safe from abuse and exploitation by employees, volunteers or other individuals working for, or on behalf, of our organisation.
Accreditation is based on the following 7 standards:
- A commitment to safeguarding children
- Staff roles and conduct
- Recruitment and screening practices
- Staff induction and training
- Involving children and parents
- Child abuse reports and allegations
- Supporting a child-safe culture
Support staff and supervisors, responsible for providing services to children and young people, are completing the ACF’s Safeguarding Children and Young People training. We are also reviewing and revising all policies and procedures to ensure they meet the accreditation standards.
We aim to achieve Safeguarding Children and Young People accreditation later in 2017. We have also recently achieved reaccreditation to the ISO 9001:2008 standards for our businesses – Walkabout Industries, Oakdale Industries and Tahune Fields. Later this year will undergo the annual audit of our client services to retain accreditation to the Attendant Care Industry Association (ACIA) standards.