Our committment
All children and young people have a right to feel safe, and to be safe at all times.
YWCA Australia is committed to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations: to creating environments where the safety and wellbeing of children and young people is is embedded in practice, in policy and in procedure across all programs and services delivered by YWCA. We are building an organisational culture where children and young people, families, communities and everyone who works with us feels safe and confident to have a say and raise any concerns.
We respect and value the rights of all children and young people, and support them to reach their full potential. We recognise that particular consideration needs to be paid to the cultural safety of First Nations children and young people. We also acknowledge the particular needs of children and young people arising from their cultural and linguistic background, sexuality, gender diversity, disability, or as a result of domestic and family violence or other trauma.
Safeguarding children and young people is the responsibility of all YWCA Australia team members, including the Board, Executive, leaders, staff, contractors, students and volunteers across the whole organisation.
YWCA Australia will:
- Drive a culture of child safety at all levels of the organisation.
- Take all allegations or disclosures of abuse or neglect seriously, respond appropriately, report concerns to the relevant authorities, and uphold our values of Inclusion and Integrity at all times. The safety of the child/young person will be our primary consideration and no YWCA Australia person will obstruct any investigation or collude to protect any person or organisation.
- Empower children, young people, families and communities to participate in decisions which affect their lives.
- Value diversity and promote inclusive practices.
- Employ and engage only people who are suitable to work with children and young people and provide high quality supervision and support.
- Ensure children and young people who feel unsafe, or wish to raise a concern know who to talk with and feel comfortable to do so.
- Ensure staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe.
- Maintain the safety, suitability and security of our physical and online environments which children and young people access.
- Embed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations within our quality assurance practices.
- Undertake regular review of policy and procedures that document how our organisation is child safe.
The above responsibilities are detailed within our Code of Conduct , Child and Young Person Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Speak Up & Speak Out Policy.
We are committed to a ‘Speak Up & Speak Out’ culture. If you are not satisfied with how we handled a concern or complaint you can read our Speak Up & Speak Out policy which outlines how you can report serious matters such as concerns about unethical, illegal, fraudulent or undesirable conduct involving YWCA Australia.
