The principle activity of any childcare service is to provide care, education and a safe environment for children. Child abuse is a problem that has no cultural or socioeconomic boundaries. It occurs throughout our society. UNSW has a responsibility to both the children placed in its care and the families of those children to ensure that we provide the best care possible so that they are protected from the chance of child abuse.

Under relevant legislation including both the Child & Young Persons (Care & Protection) Act 1998 and the Ombudsman Amendment (Child Protection and Community Services) Act 1998, child care centres are required to ensure allegations of child abuse concerning children in their care are appropriately addressed. Under the Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998, and the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 numerous procedures are in place to identify and exclude, if necessary, all inappropriate persons from having contact with the children in care or from being employed in child care services.

These procedures apply to Tigger's Place and were developed to provide a framework for the protection of the child and to clarify procedures for staff who may be required to report on allegations and child abuse.

As appropriate, these procedures will apply to all families, staff, volunteers, students, and family members acting as primary contact staff of Tigger's Place Child care Centre, UNSW. These procedures are viewed as complementing UNSW Child Protection Policy and Tigger's Place Child Protection Policy.

The legislation relevant to these procedures are the:

The Child & Young Persons (Care & Protection) Act 1998 is an Act that defines what constitutes a child at risk of harm and sets out the manner in which staff and management in child care services must respond when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is at risk of harm. The legislation also identifies the agencies (NSW Department of Community Services and NSW Police) who have the responsibility to investigate such concerns.

The Ombudsman Amendment (Child Protection and Community Services) Act 1998, compels the "Head of agency" (or licensee) of any child care service to notify the Ombudsman of any allegation of child abuse made against any employee (including paid or unpaid, full time or part time, casual or permanent, contractor, volunteer, work experience participant, student, visiting specialist etc.) in regard to alleged child abuse. The definition of child abuse is broad and does not allow for any discretion on the part of the licensee in ignoring vexatious, unproven, unsubstantiated or inconsequential allegations. The Agency is required to notify the Ombudsman of the allegation, to investigate the allegation and report to the Ombudsman the result of the investigation.

The Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 sets out the responsibility of the Commissioner to keep ongoing records of employment of all those working with children, and the screening of all those who propose to work with children. Employers are required to notify the Commission of any disciplinary matter relating to any employee in regard to child abuse. The Commission will also supply information to prospective employers regarding matters arising from previous employment of any person working with children.

The Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998, seeks to stop any "prohibited" person from working with children. Prohibited persons are those who have been convicted of any child pornography offence or any sexual or indecency offence punishable by 12 months or more imprisonment and any other person deemed to be prohibited by the Commission. It is an offence for a prohibited person to seek work with children or for any employer to employ a prohibited person to work with children.

"Child" A person under the age of 18 years.

"Child Abuse" refers to a child "at risk of harm." This includes one or more of the following circumstances;

"Child Abuse Conviction" Any conviction of a person, in the State of New South Wales or elsewhere, of an offence involving child abuse, and includes a finding by the court that a charge for such an offence is proven even though the Court does not proceed to a conviction. The term "allegation" must refer to a description of behaviour that may constitute child abuse and also refers to "conviction" for the purpose of this policy.

"Prohibited person" Any person convicted of a serious sex offence will not be permitted to work or seek work in employment which primarily involves direct contact with children where that contact is un-supervised (in either a paid or unpaid role).

"Vexatious complaint" Any allegation of child abuse against a staff member that is unfounded.

Background

1. An allegation of child abuse can be made against a staff member by another employee, a child's parents, or other caregiver, or may arise from advice received by an investigative agency including DoCS, the Police Service and/or the Ombudsman.

2. Allegations of child abuse may be made against a staff member or a person 'engaged' by Tigger's Place Child Care Centre to provide services to children, including students, volunteers and visitors. The person who is the subject of the allegation must identifiable. This does not mean identified by name, as a person may be identifiable by their description.

3. The Ombudsman Act does not define the term "allegation". However an allegation should have the following elements:

4. When an allegation does not have these elements the Director, Tigger's Place Child Care Centre, in consultation with the Director, Human Resources, UNSW will determine whether the matter should be treated as an allegation. The University Solicitor may also be involved.

5. The Ombudsman and DoCS must be notified of any allegation against a person employed or engaged in the Centre, whether or not there are reasonable grounds to believe that abuse has taken place. It does not matter where the abuse is said to have taken place, eg. at the Centre, in the home or at another location.

Responsibilities of The University of New South Wales

1. Under the guidelines of "Working with Children Check" (The Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998) Tigger's Place must register with the Department of Community Services and current employees must declare whether they are a prohibited person or not.

2. All advertised positions at Tigger's Place must contain information advising that prohibited persons are not permitted to apply and that a Working with Children Check will be undertaken on preferred applicants. All applicants must complete a Prohibited Person's Declaration and consent to a Working with Children Check. Further, the selected applicant will have their name and other details submitted to DoCS for a detailed referee check that may include Police carrying out a national criminal check. DoCS will advise the University of the result of its screening activities. The University will then make a final decision about offering employment based on the information provided by DoCS. If the University chooses not to employ the applicant based on findings, they must notify the Commission for Children and Young People

3. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) or successor position will be identified as the Head of Agency within UNSW, for the purpose of the legislation and procedures within this process.

Director, Tigger's Place Responsibilities

It will be the Director of Tigger's Place responsibility to ensure:

1. that all staff undergo training in all aspects of child protection and current legislation and its implications for their work.

2. that parents of children in the Centre with information about relevant legislation and policy.

3. that all staff appreciate the importance of responding as set out in the policy and legislation.

4. raise with Director, Human Resources any allegation of child abuse made against any staff member.

5. that evaluation and changes to child protection legislation and practices are reported to UNSW.

6. any situation regarding an allegation of child abuse or any concern for any child as being at risk of harm is treated with the utmost discretion and regard for the privacy and confidentiality of the persons concerned, however recognising that the rights of children to be free from abuse must be held paramount.

7. that the management of staff will be organised so as to maximise protection of children from abuse and minimise opportunities for abuse, as well as minimise opportunities for vexatious allegations against staff.

8. that all staff sign an acknowledgment that they have read, understood and are prepared to abide by the University's Child Protection Policy, and the Tigger's Place Child Protection Policy and Procedures.

Step 1

When a staff member receives a child abuse allegation against another staff member, verbally or in writing, they must notify the Director, Tigger's Place, who then informs the Director of Human Resources, UNSW. The Director, after liaising with the Director of Human Resources will notify the Ombudsman to request whether the University should conduct an investigation and report to the Ombudsman, or whether the University should conduct an investigation with Ombudsman support, or whether the Ombudsman will undertake the investigation.

Note: Because Tigger's Place is licensed by DoCS, the Ombudsman's Office must be informed of any allegation or conviction. In these cases the Child Protection Notification Form (Child protection: Your new responsibilities, NSW Ombudsman) is completed by the Director, Tigger's Place in conjunction with the Director of Human Resources, UNSW. The staff member is informed of the substance of any adverse comment included in the report, but is not given a copy of the report, but is invited to make a submission on their own behalf for inclusion. The form and supporting material must be sent to the NSW Ombudsman Office within 30 days of the Director, Human Resources becoming aware of the allegation.

At the end of the investigation, a final report is sent to the Ombudsman containing details of the investigation and outcome. The staff member can make a verbal or written reply when the final finding is made to the Ombudsman.

If an allegation of child abuse is made against a staff member of UNSW while she/he is working at a non-UNSW service, it is the responsibility of that service to notify the Ombudsman's Office by completing the appropriate forms. UNSW will request involvement in a joint investigation that includes DoCS, the service involved and UNSW. UNSW and Tigger's Place Child Care Centre do not endorse any babysitting/childcare arrangements made between staff members and parents of children in the Centre. This is considered to be a private matter and no implied guarantee of quality is given.

If there are reasonable grounds for believing child abuse has occurred the Director of Tigger's Place after conferring with the Director Human Resources will, apart from contacting the Ombudsman, inform DoCS of the allegation and requests guidance from DoCS regarding the following issues:

(a) whether the Police need to be informed and if so who will inform them
(b) when and how the child's parents are to be informed
(c) when and how the staff member will be informed
(d) how the investigation will be conducted.

DoCS or the Police Department may decide to take responsibility for the investigation in serious cases.

Under the Ombudsman's guidelines, the staff member has a right to know that an allegation has been made against them, the outcome of any initial risk assessment and the substance of the allegation. However the staff member does not have the right to know the identity of the person making the allegation or access to other material provided by witnesses (for further detail see Child Protection: Your New Responsibilities; NSW Ombudsman, 2000).

Step 2

In consultation with the Director, Tigger's Place the staff member who received the allegation against the staff member must complete the appropriate form.

The immediate employment status of the staff member against whom the allegation has been made should be determined by the Director, Tigger's Place in consultation with Director of Human Resources, UNSW. In the event of a serious allegation the staff member may be placed on suspension. If the staff member is to be suspended, the Director, Human Resources, will advise the Director, Tigger's Place if the staff member will be suspended with or without pay. Substantiated allegations which constitute serious and wilful misconduct will result in dismissal.

The staff member against whom the allegations have been made, will be informed by the Director Tigger's Place as to the substance of the allegation within a reasonable time frame, bearing in mind the need to ensure that the initial investigation either by the Director, the Police, or DoCS is not compromised.

Step 3

Where the Director is required to undertake an investigation, an investigation plan should be developed in consultation with DoCS and the Ombudsman's Office, to address the following issues:

1. What the staff member's employment situation will be during the investigation, ie. suspended with or without pay or performs alternate duties.

2. What information will be offered to the family, staff member involved, and other staff.

3. Identification of possible strategies to support the child and family, staff member involved, and/or other staff, for example, counselling, alternative care arrangements, staff leave or alternate duties, as prescribed in the Tigger's Place Child Protection Policy.

4. How, when, where and by whom interviews with the child, staff member involved and witnesses, will be conducted.

5. How information will be provided to UNSW management, the family and the staff member at the conclusion of the investigation conducted by DoCS and the University.

6. An estimated time frame for the investigation.

7. Debriefing/counselling arrangements that will be available to other staff members in the Centre.

The investigation should proceed in accordance with the investigation plan, recognising that alterations to the plan may be necessary as the investigation progresses.

Records of the investigation must be kept by the Director Tigger's Place. At the conclusion of the investigation the records should be sent to Human Resources for placement on the staff member's personal file, including the Child Protection Notification Form, any supporting material such as statements, records of interviews, the outcome of the investigation and any record of any disciplinary action. All records are to be kept in a confidential manner and accessible only to appropriate senior officers of the University.

If after notification to the Ombudsman and subsequent investigation, a matter is found to be vexatious, the matter will be dealt with by the Director, Human Resources. Vexatious complaints made by users of Tigger's Place Child Care Centre may result in exclusion of the family from the service. This will be determined by the Director, in consultation with the Management Committee/Director, Human Resources.

Step 4

A final decision will be made regarding the case by the Head of Agency, after consultation with DoCS, the Ombudsman's Office and relevant groups.

Any disciplinary action necessary as a result of the investigation will be in accordance with the appropriate UNSW disciplinary provisions. Any investigation which results in disciplinary action against an employee must be reported to the Commission for Children and Young People.

If the employee and/or parent is dissatisfied with the process of the outcome of the investigation, a complaint can be lodged with the Head of Agency and/or the Ombudsman.

In any case, UNSW will:

Step 5

Problems identified with these procedures will be recorded and referred to the Head of Agency for review. If no problems are evident, these procedures shall be reviewed at least every 2 years by the Director Tigger's Place and the Director Human Resources. This review should take into account the effectiveness of the procedures, any changes to government policy and legislation, update guidelines from relevant agencies or any other pertinent issues.

Acknowledgement:

I _____________________________ (staff member/parent) have read, understood and am prepared to abide by the Child Protection Procedures for Tigger's Place.

Staff Member/Parent: ___________________________

Witness: ________________________________