Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

( For the purposes of this policy, "CASS" refers to the CASS Group, which includes the Chinese Australian Services Society Limited, CASS CARE Ltd and all of their subsidiaries )

At CASS every child has the right to be safe and feel safe. We commit to the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care.

To keep children safe, we commit to : 

• implementing the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
  

1. Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.

2. Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

3. Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.

4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

5. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.

6. Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.

7. Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and mandatory training.

8. Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.

9. Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved.

10. Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people

• providing a safe and supportive environment for all children
  

• making sure that children are not exposed to any form of harmful conduct or abuse
  

• empowering children to participate in decisions that affect them and share any concerns they may have
  

• making sure children know who to approach if they feel unsafe or have any child safety concerns
  

As a child safe organisation, we commit to :

 

• educating everyone involved in our organisation about what it means to be a child safe organisation, so that we can prevent, detect and effectively respond to child abuse
  

• making sure everyone involved in our organisation knows how to appropriately respond to complaints, concerns, allegations, disclosures and breaches of our Child Safe Code of Conduct
  

• welcoming feedback to continuously improve our child safe policies, procedures and practices
  

• making sure that when family and community members interact with our organisation, they are aware that child safety is everyone’s responsibility, and their behaviour aligns with our child safe practices