Commitment to Child Safety Statement

Canine Comprehension has zero tolerance for child abuse. Every employee at Canine Comprehension (including staff, casuals and volunteers) is responsible for understanding their role to ensure the well-being and safety of all children and young people whom we work or have contact with.  Canine Comprehension is committed to providing a child-safe environment where children and young people feel safe and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Particular attention will be paid to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and the safety of children with a disability.

The canine Comprehensions recruitment process is a comprehensive screening process that includes the:

• Interviewing the applicant to ensure that they are suitable for child-connected work
• Testing their therapy dog to make sure it adheres to current industry obedience expectations
• Obtaining and verifying the currency of either VIT registration and a Victorian Working With Children Check
• Verifying the applicant’s identification
• Verifying through at least two reference checks suitability for child-connected work
• Proof of current Covid vaccination status

Each Canine Comprehension employee must read and sign that they understand the Canine Comprehension Code of Conduct.

As Canine Comprehension employees work in schools and other environments where there will be an organisational child-safe policy, child-safe code of conduct and reporting process.
Be aware of the organisation’s child-safe practices. The Code of Conduct includes that the employee will read, understand and follow the organisation's specific Child safe practices before commencing work.

If there is an instance where the organisation’s child safe practices are not consistent with our practice, upon consideration and consultation with the other agency, the practice which best ensures the risk of child abuse is appropriately managed will be followed and communicated to all involved.

Child Safe Reporting Process

Canine Comprehension has zero tolerance for child abuse.

Every employee at Canine Comprehension (including staff, casuals and volunteers) is responsible for understanding their role to ensure the well-being and safety of all children and young people we work or have contact with.

All CC staff have been trained in the Protect Identifying and Responding to All Forms of Abuse in Victorian Schools Policy to ensure that they understand:

The reporting obligations include:

• Mandatory reporting
• Failure to disclose
• Failure to protect
• Identifying signs of child abuse
• Four critical actions for schools
• Responding to other concerns about the well-being of a child

Safety and Wellbeing Code of Conduct

Canine Comprehension is committed to the safety and well-being of children and young people. Our staff (including casuals and volunteers) recognise the importance of, and responsibility for, ensuring any environment we work within is a safe, supportive and enriching environment that respects and fosters the dignity and self-esteem of children and young people and enables them to thrive in their learning and development.

This Code of Conduct aims to protect children and reduce any opportunities for child abuse or harm to occur. It also assists in understanding how to avoid or better manage risky behaviours and situations. It is intended to complement child protection legislation and the policies, procedures and professional standards, codes or ethics of the organisations we work.

All CC staff involved in child-related work must comply with the Code of Conduct by observing the expectations for appropriate behaviour below. The Code of Conduct applies in all situations, involving child-connected work at any school, library or any other location used for child-connected work and in the use of digital technology and social media.

CC staff involved in child-related work are responsible for supporting and promoting the safety of children by:

• upholding Canine Comprehension's statement of commitment to child safety at all times.
• Reading, understanding and following the Child safe practices of every organisation we work with.
• Treat students and families with respect.
• listening and responding to the views and concerns of students, particularly if they are telling you that they or another child has been abused or that they are worried about their safety/the safety of another child
• promoting the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
• promoting the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of students with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• ensuring as far as practicable that adults are not left alone with a child
• promoting the safety, participation and empowerment of students with a disability
• reporting any allegations of child abuse or other child safety concerns to the organisation's leadership (following the organisation's specific reporting process).
• understanding and complying with all reporting or disclosure obligations (including mandatory reporting) related to protecting children from harm or abuse.
• if child abuse is suspected, ensure that the student(s) are safe and protected from harm as quickly as possible.

Unacceptable behaviours - Canine Comprehension staff involved in child-related work must not:

• ignore or disregard any concerns, suspicions or disclosures of child abuse
• develop a relationship with any student that could be seen as favouritism or amount to ‘grooming’ behaviour (for example, offering gifts)
• transport a student in the staff member's car without another adult in the car call written permission from the admin office
• exhibit behaviours or engage in activities with students which may be interpreted as abusive and not justified by the educational, therapeutic, or service delivery context
• as far as practicable, be left alone with a child
• not make any inappropriate physical contact with a student (professional boundaries must be observed)
• ignore behaviours by other adults towards students when they appear to be overly familiar or inappropriate
• discuss the content of an intimate nature or use sexual innuendo with students, except where it occurs relevantly in the context of parental guidance, delivering the education curriculum or a therapeutic setting
• treat a child unfavourably because of their disability, age, gender, race, culture, vulnerability, sexuality or ethnicity.
• communicate directly with a student through personal or private contact channels (including by social media, email, instant messaging, texting etc) except where that communication is reasonable in all the circumstances, related to work or extra-curricular activities or where there is a safety concern or other urgent matter
• photograph or video a child except in accordance with the organisation's policy or where required for duty of care purposes
• in the organisation’s environment or at other events where students are present, consume alcohol contrary to policy or take illicit drugs under any circumstances.