Communities at Work

Communities at Work acknowledges its responsibility to uphold and promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, and to respect and listen to the opinions of the children and young people in our care.

Communities at Work recognises the importance of developing and implementing systems, which protect children and young people from risk of harm and fostering a culture of safeguarding children and young people. We are committed to ensuring employees, Board members, volunteers and contractors, understand that child safety is everyone’s responsibility.

As such, Communities at Work commits to the following principles:

1. Safety: We will ensure that children and young people feel safe and comfortable in our care. All persons in our organisation will be supported to safely disclose risks of harm to children or young people. We have zero tolerance for child abuse and will take seriously, and act immediately in relation to, any reports of child abuse.
2. Inform and Include: We will ensure that children and young people are informed of their physical, emotional and online rights and what actions to take if they feel unsafe. We will seek input and feedback from children and young people and empower them to participate in decisions affecting their lives, education or care.
3. Family and community: We work collaboratively with families, communities, and other organisations to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. Where it is safe to do so, we will involve families and communities in our approach to child safety and wellbeing.
4. Respect and Equity: We will treat everyone equally, regardless of who they are, their cultural background, ethnicity, sex, gender, social, economic, religion, ability or their age. We will ensure that everyone feels safe, welcome and respected.
5. Employees and volunteers: We will ensure that all workers whom we engage have been appropriately screened, equipped and trained to work positively with children and young people.
6. Give voice: We will help children and young people via developmentally appropriate methods to voice their concerns and complaints about the organisation, and we will take their input seriously.
7. Ongoing education and Training: We will commit to regular training, critical reflection and review of the knowledge, skills and awareness of staff, volunteers and contractors to keep children and young people safe.
8. Safe environment: We will ensure that our physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing.
9. Continuous Improvement: We will embed continuous improvement in everyday practice to consistently improve our implementation of child safety and wellbeing actions and initiatives.
10. Policies and procedures: We will document, regularly review and continuously improve our policies and procedures to promote and uphold child safety and wellbeing.