Purpose

This policy was written to demonstrate the strong commitment of the Narre South Lions Junior Football Club to child safety and to provide an outline of the policies and practices the Club has developed to keep everyone safe from any harm, including abuse.

Commitment to Child Safety

All children who are a part of the Association have a right to feel and be safe. The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and the Club has a zero-tolerance to child abuse. The Club aims to create a child safe and child friendly environment where children feel safe and have fun and the Club’s activities are always carried out in the best interests of the children.

The Narre South Lions Junior Football Club has implemented a series of policies designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people within the competition. This policy aims to address the requirements of the Victorian State Legislation on Child Safe Standards as defined by VICSPORT.

All Narre South Lions Junior Football Club personnel are expected to be aware of these policies and in specific cases meet and acknowledged their compliance with the Code of Conduct.

The policy aims to protect children and reduce any opportunities for abuse or harm to occur. It also helps staff and volunteers by providing them with guidance on how to best support children and how to avoid or better manage difficult situations. This policy applies to all people involved in the Association  activities, including coaches, officials, volunteers and parents.

Application of this Policy

This policy was developed by the Association and in collaboration with Cricket Victoria and VICSPORT policies and recommendations.
This policy applies to all individuals involved in our organisation (paid and volunteer) including, but not limited to:
 Administrators

NARRE SOUTH LIONS FOOTBALL & NETBALL CLUB INC.
Strathaird Reserve, Community Parade, Narre Warren South PO BOX 4029, Casey Central Shopping Centre, Narre Warren South VIC 3805
ABN 82 006 009 237 Reg No. A0047426T
www.narresouthlions.com.au

 Coaches
 Officials
 Participants
 Parents
 Spectators.

All of the people to which this policy applies have a role and responsibility in relation to child protection. They must all:
 understand the indicators and risks of child abuse;
 appropriately act on any concerns raised by children; and
 understand and follow all applicable laws in relation to the protection of children and reporting or management of child safety concerns.

Child Abuse

Child abuse can take a broad range of forms including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse and neglect. People to whom this policy applies need to be aware that child abuse can occur whenever there is actual or potential harm to a child, and these are circumstances that the Club is committed to reducing the risk of occurrence

NARRE SOUTH LIONS FOOTBALL & NETBALL CLUB INC.
Strathaird Reserve, Community Parade, Narre Warren South PO BOX 4029, Casey Central Shopping Centre, Narre Warren South VIC 3805
ABN 82 006 009 237 Reg No. A0047426T
www.narresouthlions.com.au

Children’s Rights to Safety and Participation

The Narre South Lions Junior Football Club encourages children to express their views about their safety. We listen to their suggestions, especially on matters that directly affect them. We actively encourage all children who use our services to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them.

We teach children about what they can do if they feel unsafe. We listen to and act on any concerns children, or their parents, raise with us.

Valuing Diversity

We value diversity and do not tolerate any discriminatory practices. To achieve this, we:
 promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children and their families;
 promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families;
 welcome children with a disability and their families and act to promote their participation; and
 seek appropriate staff from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Recruiting staff and volunteers
The Club takes the following steps to ensure best practice standards in the recruitment
and screening of staff and volunteers:
 Interview and conduct referee checks on all staff and volunteers
 Require police checks and Working with Children Checks for relevant positions
 Our commitment to Child Safety and our screening requirements are included in
all advertisements and as part of the induction process for new staff or
volunteers.

Supporting staff and volunteers

The Club seeks to attract and retain the best staff and volunteers. We provide support and supervision so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated. We have developed a Code of Conduct to provide guidance to our staff and volunteers, all of whom receive training on the requirements of the Code.

NARRE SOUTH LIONS FOOTBALL & NETBALL CLUB INC.
Strathaird Reserve, Community Parade, Narre Warren South PO BOX 4029, Casey Central Shopping Centre,

Narre Warren South VIC 3805
ABN 82 006 009 237 Reg No. A0047426T
www.narresouthlions.com.au

Reporting a child safety concern or complaint

The Club has appointed a Child Safety Person(s) with the specific responsibility for responding to any complaints made by staff, volunteers, parents or children. Contact details and our complaints process is outlined in our Member Protection Policy.

Risk Management

We recognise the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the
potential for child abuse or harm to occur and use this to inform our policy, procedures and activity planning. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children. To reduce the risk of child abuse occurring, adults to whom this policy applies should avoid direct, unsupervised contact with children. For example, this should be a consideration when:

 using change room facilities;
 using the accommodation or overnight stays;
 travel; or
 physical contact when coaching or managing children.

Reviewing this policy

This policy will be reviewed every two years and we undertake to seek views, comments and suggestions from children, parents, carers, staff and volunteers involved in the Club.

References

Further references to the Child Safe Standards can be seen at the AFL Victoria website https://www.aflsoutheast.com.au/policies/

Non Compliance

Matters of non-compliance will be addressed by the Executive Committee who shall determine any appropriate actions or penalties.

Standards

The seven standards are:
1 Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements
2 A child safe policy or statement of commitment to child safety
3 A code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children

NARRE SOUTH LIONS FOOTBALL & NETBALL CLUB INC.
Strathaird Reserve, Community Parade, Narre Warren South PO BOX 4029, Casey Central Shopping Centre,

Narre Warren South VIC 3805
ABN 82 006 009 237 Reg No. A0047426T
www.narresouthlions.com.au

4 Screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel
5 Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
6 Strategies to identify and reduce or remove risks of child abuse
7 Strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children

Code of Conduct

The following code of conduct documents form part of this policy.

 Child Safe Code of Conduct
 Child Safe Communications
 Child Safe Junior Coach Code of Conduct
 Child Safe Spectator Code of Conduct
 Child Safe Picking up and Dropping off Children