Child Safety at ECMS

20 July 2016

In line with the new Child Safety Standards that were introduced in January, ECMS is reviewing all Organisational Policies and Procedures to ensure these new standards are embedded and to strengthen our child safety practices.

The first of these seven new standards stipulates that every organisation working with children must develop a Child Safety Statement. 

ECMS’s Child Safety Statement 

ECMS holds children's safety and wellbeing central to all its work in practice, recruitment, professional development, advocacy and policy work.

In line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ECMS fully endorses the rights of all children to participate, have purpose, be protected and ensure that prevention from risk and harm is paramount in all we do. 

ECMS has a duty of care to ensure children in our services are happy, safe and well and are empowered to have a voice. 

ECMS is committed to the wellbeing of all children, families, staff, volunteers and partners in its delivery of high quality early childhood education and care.  

We fully acknowledge our social, moral and legal obligations to ensure that all children, families and staff are protected and have opportunities to flourish in-line with our vision, mission and values. 

We are committed to:

  • Empowering children: ECMS recognises that children have a voice and are vital and active participants in our organisation. We involve them when making decisions, especially about matters that directly affect them. We listen to their views and respect what they have to say.
  • Ensuring that the health, safety and wellbeing of children in our care is protected at all times in the pursuit of promoting their learning, development and wellbeing.
  • Upholding the rights of all children to feel safe, and be safe, at all times 
  • Promoting a culture of inclusion as a principle for all children including Aboriginal children, children at-risk, children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and children with additional needs.
  • Encouraging active partnerships with parents/guardians and families and ensuring that best practice is based on a family-centred approach with shared outcomes for children’s learning, health, safety, wellbeing and development.
  • Fulfilling our duty-of-care obligations under the law by protecting children from any reasonable or foreseeable risk of injury or harm.
  • Ensuring that people caring for children in our organisation act in the best interests of the child and take all reasonable steps to ensure the child’s safety and wellbeing at all times.
  • Promoting prevention of child abuse by identifying potential risks early in the pathway of emerging risk and acting.
  • Taking all concerns, allegations and indications seriously by responding robustly and consistently in-line with ECMS’s Organisational Policies and Procedures. 
  • Notifying DHHS regarding any concerns on the safety and wellbeing of a child.
  • Reviewing and monitoring all ECMS systems and processes annually to ensure they meet requirements to uphold child safety.
  • Implementing a robust child safe recruitment process in-line with the child safe organisation indicators when employing staff and volunteers.
  • Ensuring that the Child Safety Standards are mandatory professional development requirements for ALL ECMS staff.
 
ECMS has recently dedicated 10 staff across the organisation to undertake a three day training workshop in Child Safety Train the Trainer professional development. This training builds on our commitment to child safety and provides the organisation with the in-house expertise and flexibility to tailor training for our educators at a service level.

If you would like a copy of our Child Safety Policy and Procedure or further information about our plans to ensure we continue to provide high quality and safe services, please contact Kalie Littlewood, Coordinator, Business Systems and Quality Assurance at klittlewwood@ecms.org.au or call 8481 1100.