Aktive is committed to helping people and communities across Auckland to achieve sporting habits for life. As both Sport NZ and Auckland Council’s strategic partner in Auckland, this means investing in organisations and projects that will get more people recreating and playing sport, as well as creating more opportunities for coaches.
This policy applies to all Aktive staff, including volunteers and part-time or temporary roles and contractors. It is intended to protect all children that staff may encounter, including siblings, the children of adults accessing services and any other children encountered by staff as they provide their services. For the purposes of this policy and associated procedures, a child is recognised as someone up to the age of 18.
Aktive is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of children by identifying and responding to vulnerability, child abuse and neglect in an effective and efficient manner.
We recognise the responsibility to promote safe practice and to protect children from harm and to ensure that staff are trained and skilled to know the signs of abuse, apply our policies and procedures and act appropriately and effectively in response to a concern or incident.
Staff and volunteers will work together to demonstrate a strong organisational child protection culture to ensure that the rights of children are respected.
This policy is based on the following principles:
The aim of this policy is to promote good practice through:
Aktive will nominate two Child Protection Officers who will be responsible for:
Board/Senior Leadership Team will ensure:
All employees must:
Aktive is committed to ensuring that all staff are familiar with our organisations’ culture of child protection. This is important to enable staff and volunteers to:
Consideration will be given to the level of proficiency required by each employee.
This policy should be considered in line with other Aktive policies and safer working practice guidelines including:
Aktive will review this Policy and these Procedures on a rotation basis along with other policies in the Aktive policy suite and in addition:
Once this Policy has been adopted by the Aktive Board, this review will be undertaken by the Child Protection Officer and ratified by the Aktive Audit and Risk Committee (AARC).
What is Child Abuse?
“… the harming (whether physically, emotionally, sexually) ill-treatment, abuse, neglect or deprivation of any child or young person”. (The Oranga Tamariki Act 1989)
The following definitions and indicators are provided for guidance but should not be seen as an exhaustive list and are further expanded upon in Appendix B.
Procedures
Whether abuse or neglect is suspected or disclosed, or allegations are made against a staff member, the welfare and interests of the child or young person are the first and paramount considerations.
Staff must not investigate matters or make any decisions alone. The procedures outlined must be followed, however, any staff member may contact Oranga Tamariki (OT) or the Police for advice at any time if they feel that the procedures are not effective or there remain concerns for a child.
The immediate risk to the child must be ascertained. If the child is not considered to be in immediate danger contact the Child Protection Officer (CPO) in the first instance.
The CPO will be responsible for activating the child protection procedures as outlined on page 6 and the CPO will escalate any matters involving allegations against staff to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) who will activate the relevant employment procedures in relation to the employee.
We are committed to sharing information as appropriate, if there is a concern about a child and will seek advice from Oranga Tamariki (OT) and/or the Police before identifying information about an allegation is shared with anyone, other than the child protection officer or designated senior manager.
In addition to seeking advice from OT and the Police, we will refer to the privacy commission guidelines on sharing information about vulnerable children, to guide decisions on when to share information and talk to parents/whanau/caregivers, please visit here.
The child protection officer will be responsible for ensuring that any information relating to a child protection matter is stored securely online, within a restricted access area. The child protection officer will also be responsible for the secure and confidential sharing of relevant information when required.
Under the Privacy Act 2020 and the Children and Young People’s Well-being Act 1989, staff may disclose information when there is a good reason to do so. Under sections 15 and 16 of the Children and Young People’s Well-being Act 1989, any person who has a concern that a child has been or is likely to be harmed may report the matter to Oranga Tamariki or the Police and provided the report is made in good faith, no civil, criminal or disciplinary procedures will be brought against them.
When collecting personal information about individuals, it is important to be aware of the requirements of the privacy principles – i.e. the need to collect the information directly from the individual concerned and when doing so to be transparent about: the purposes for collecting the information and how it will be used; who can see the information; where it is held; what is compulsory/voluntary information; and that people have a right to request access to and correction of their information.
The Privacy Act 2020
The Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 / The Children and Young People’s Well-being Act 1989
Children’s Act 2014
Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015
Health and Safety Act 2015
Employment Relations Act 2000
Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015
Aktive would like to acknowledge and reference the following documentation for having contributed to the development of the Child Protection Policy:
Please click here to download the Word document template.
Vulnerability
A vulnerable child is one who is unable to keep themselves safe from harm or who is at risk of not reaching their full potential and achieving their outcomes without services or additional support. Vulnerable children are at risk of significant harm to their well-being now and into the future as a consequence of the environment in which they are being raised, and in some cases, due to their own complex needs
Physical Abuse
A non-accidental act on a child/young person that results in physical harm. Maybe inflicted intentionally or by the inadvertent result of physical punishment, or the aggressive treatment of a child. May involve (but is not limited to) shoving, slapping, hitting, punching, kicking, beating, shaking, throwing, burning, scalding, drowning, suffocating, biting, poisoning or otherwise causing physical harm to a child/young person.
Physical abuse may also involve fabricating the symptoms of illness or deliberately inducing illness in a child/young person.
Emotional abuse
Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment, though it may occur alone. Sometimes referred to as psychological abuse, Emotional abuse is often persistent and a pattern of behaviour where the child/young person is often rejected and/or threatened, as to cause severe and adverse effects on their emotional wellbeing and/or physical and/or intellectual development.
It may involve:
Sexual abuse
Any act where a child/young person is coerced, forced or enticed to take part in sexual activities (not necessarily involving a high level of violence), whether or not the child/young person is aware of what is happening, and may be consensual or not. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males; women and other children/young people (peer-peer) can also commit acts of sexual abuse. It is where a person with power or authority over a child uses the child for sexual gratification.
Most sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child and can happen within or outside of the child’s family. It often begins with some form of grooming, which is when the person prepares the child for sexual activity by lowering their inhibitions and gaining their trust. Sexual abuse spans a range of contact and non-contact behaviours. It may also involve children in and/or exposing them to pornographic material/sites, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways or sexual conversations.
Grooming
A term used to describe what happens when an abuser builds up a relationship with a child with a view to abusing them at some stage. There is no set pattern for the grooming of children. For some abusers there will be a lengthy period of time before the abuse begins. The child may be given special attention and, what starts as an apparently normal display of affection, such as cuddling, can develop into sexual touching or masturbation and then into more serious sexual behaviour. Other abusers may draw a child in and abuse them relatively quickly.
Some abusers don’t groom children but abuse them without forming a relationship at all. Grooming can take place in any setting where a relationship is formed, such as leisure, music, sports and religious activities. It may also take place in virtual settings e.g. via the internet (social media, etc.); interactive electronic devices e.g. games, phones, etc.
Grooming covers 6 stages:
1. Targeting the victim
2. Gaining the victims' trust
3. Filling a need
4. Isolating the child/young person
5. Sexualising relationship
6. Maintaining control.
Child Sexual Exploitation
The sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 is a type of sexual abuse. It involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive ‘something’ (e.g. accommodation, drugs/alcohol, affection, gifts, money) as a result of performing sexual activities or others performing sexual activities on them.
The abusive relationship between victim and perpetrator(s) involves an imbalance of power, limiting the victim’s options. A form of abuse often misunderstood by victims and outsiders as consensual; children/young people often trust their abuser(s) and don’t understand they are being abused. They may be tricked and/or groomed into believing they are in a loving consensual relationship.
Sexual exploitation doesn't always involve physical contact and can happen online and/or to young people in gangs. E.g. young people persuaded or forced into:
Within gangs sexual exploitation may be used to:
Neglect
The persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, causing long term serious harm to the child's heath or development. It may also include neglect of a child's basic or emotional needs. Neglect is a lack: of action, emotion or basic needs.
It is any act or omission resulting in impaired physical functioning, injury, health and/or development of a child/young person. Neglect may also occur in pregnancy e.g. via parental substance misuse, family violence.
Neglect can consist of:
Intimate Partner Violence or Family Violence
It may be a single act of violence, or a number of acts that form a pattern of abuse. In addition to physical violence, most commonly Family Violence relates to specific forms of emotional abuse enabling power and control over victims. Exposure to and/or witnessing Family Violence is also recognised as a form of emotional abuse.
Family violence can be carried out by anyone in a domestic or close relationship. This includes a partner or ex-partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, carer, parent, older child, sibling, friend, flatmate or family member. They don't have to be living with the person(s) being affected.
Domestic violence can involve:
Whilst anyone may be a victim of and/or perpetrate Family Violence, research shows women and children as being the most likely victims. Children are always affected, even if they are not being physically harmed themselves, they will be emotionally harmed.
Bullying
Bullying relates to inappropriate use of a real or perceived power by one or more persons over another person or a group regarded as less powerful. Acts of bullying are generally repeated or have the potential to be repeated, over time.
Bullying relates to hurting someone else (physically and/or emotionally) and may take many forms that are often interrelated and include:
Concerns relating to bullying encompass both those perpetrating these acts and those suffering as a result.
Bullying that happens online, using social networks, games and mobile phones, is often called cyberbullying. A child can feel like there’s no escape because it can happen wherever they are, at any time of day or night.
Cyber Bullying
This is usually perpetrated using social media networks, games and mobile phones. This can include spreading rumours, posting nasty or embarrassing messages, images and/or videos. Those suffering from Cyberbullying may know who is bullying them or they may be targeted by someone using a fake or anonymous account, with anonymity often increasing the likelihood of others engaging in bullying behaviour. Often due to being challenging to stop, remove and by being constant (wherever they are, any time of day or night) children/young people can feel like there’s no escape.
Cumulative Harm
The effects of patterns of circumstances and events in a child’s life, which diminish a child’s sense of safety, stability and wellbeing. Cumulative harm is the existence of compounded experiences of multiple episodes of abuse or ‘layers’ of neglect. The unremitting daily impact on the child can be profound and exponential, covering multiple dimensions of the child’s life.
Further information on how to identify child abuse and neglect can be found by reading the book ‘How can I tell – Recognising child abuse’ published by Child Matters. See www.childmatters.org.nz