Guidance for Child Safety in Western Australia

For the purpose of this Guidance:

“We” means the inclusion of both Workers (members of the Ministry) and Friends (members of the fellowship) who are part of this voluntary fellowship.

“Child” or “Children” refers to any person or persons under the age of eighteen (18) years.

“Parent” or “parental” are meant to be inclusive of both the parents as well as legal or appointed guardians of any children.

“Abuse” means any sexual contact of any kind with a child under the age of eighteen (18) years, without the child’s consent, or with consent where the law states that consent is not relevant.

“Victim” means a male or female person who, whilst a child, has been subject to alleged or actual sexual abuse.

Statement

As a voluntary fellowship we are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children.

All children have a right to feel and be safe. We are committed to the safety and well-being of all children. Should abuse or suspicion of abuse occur, we would support a caring and appropriate response.

The testimony of our voluntary fellowship is supported and maintained by openness and transparency. This guidance has been written with a focus on the safety of children who come into contact with or are part of this voluntary fellowship.

Purpose and Intent

The purpose of this guidance document is to impress the importance that we as a voluntary fellowship believe that the safety, welfare and well-being of children is paramount and believe that children should never experience abuse of any kind.

• We are committed to conduct ourselves in a way that protects and safeguards children from any possible harm.
• We are committed to support and respect the healing of survivors of abuse within or who were once part of this voluntary fellowship.
• We have zero tolerance to abuse.
• We will encourage a presumed victim or his or her parent/guardian to report alleged or reasonably suspected abuse to the police.
• There will never be any attempt to manage the legal implications of abuse within this voluntary fellowship.

We encourage parental responsibility for providing education and boundaries to maintain child safety. We will respect any boundaries parents have in place. We encourage open conversation and education in families around child safety.

This guidance is to be made available and shared freely by all who are partakers in this voluntary fellowship.

Any person known to be under investigation or convicted of an offence against children will not be permitted to participate in activities that may provide an opportunity for that person to offend against any child.

Workers

This guidance document will be made available to all current and any future Workers who are or become part of the group of Western Australian Workers. All Workers commencing and continuing in the Gospel Work in Western Australia will complete and maintain a current Working with Children Check while they are working in Western Australia. They will ensure that they are respectful and acknowledge the rights of children at all times.

We commit to having an informal discussion between Workers at least once a year to promote and discuss on-going awareness of the issues involved in these documents and as well as identifying any changes that may be required to be made to them.

This document updated 25^th April 2021.