At MacKillop, we are committed to child safety. We value every child in our care and every decision we take is governed by our belief in their fundamental right to be protected from all forms of harm.
We believe all children should be supported to express their views and have their views taken seriously. We commit to providing children and young people with opportunities to actively participate in decisions that affect their lives, and we support them to do so.
MacKillop promotes cultural safety for Aboriginal children and those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and provides all of the children and young people we support with the opportunity to connect with their culture and strengthen their sense of belonging and identity.
We support the rights of children and families living with disability and commit to providing opportunities for children with a disability to safely participate in their community. We commit to developing LGBTIQA+ inclusive practices across all our services and creating welcoming and inclusive environments for children, young people and their families.
We are committed to the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. These are:
- Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture
- Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
- Families and communities are informed and involved
- Equity is upheld and diverse needs are taken into account
- People working with children are suitable and supported
- Processes to respond to complaints of child abuse are child focused
- Staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe
- Physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur
- Implementation of Child Safe policies and procedures is continuously reviewed and improved
- Policies and procedures document how the institution is child safe
Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility and we encourage all people to raise concerns should they suspect the safety of a child is at risk. MacKillop has clear and detailed policies and procedures about how to respond to complaints and allegations of abuse.
Across all our services and activities, we seek to create conditions that reduce the likelihood of harm to children. All staff and volunteers commit to the child safe principles and expectations outlined in our Code of Conduct and receive regular training on our child safe strategies and practices. We actively commit to reviewing these strategies and working across the sector and with universities to continually strengthen our approaches and improve outcomes for children and young people.