Safeguarding Children & Young People

At YMCA Bundaberg we are committed to providing a safe environment for all children and young people. We have a strong commitment to our Safeguarding Children and Young People framework, and work hard to ensure that our policies, procedures and practices enable us to provide the safest environment possible for children and young people. Our commitment also extends to providing developmentally appropriate and meaningful programs to the community, and working with children and their parents to help everyone become healthy and happy.

We recruit, train and support our staff and volunteers to care for the children and young people in our programs and services. We ensure that our staff and volunteers always act in the best interests of children and young people, take all reasonable steps to keep them safe, and to promptly respond to any concern regarding the safety or development of children in our care.

Our Safeguarding Children and Young People (SCYP) Policy ​applies to every staff member and volunteer at the Y, and includes the following key elements:

 

  • Y Bundaberg has a designated board sponsor who liases with our Safeguarding Lead and Leadership Team on all Safeguarding matters.
  • All employees and volunteers must maintain a valid Working With Children Check.
  • We do not appoint employees or volunteers until a satisfactory police check has been completed.
  • Our Y personnel must comply with the YMCA Code of Conduct, which provides guidelines for appropriate behaviour when working with children and young people.
  • All personnel and Board must complete the online Y Safeguarding and internal Safe Behaviour training courses.
  • Our Y personnel must comply with mandatory reporting requirements, and with our Incident Management and Reporting Procedures.
  • Each of our centres and services participates in auditing and monitoring processes, to ensure compliance is maintained.

Importantly, we know that it takes more than just great policies and procedures to keep children safe. We are independently reviewed to continually improve our child protection processes, systems and monitoring programs, using YMCANSU Safeguarding License Standard’s.

Safeguarding children and Young People resources:

For more information about the YMCA commitment to Safeguarding Children and Young people, or to raise a concern; please contact us at:

admin.bundaberg@ymcabundaberg.org.au

Phone: 07 4132 8222