Child Protection Policy

Purpose Statement

In line with the Vulnerable Childrens Act 2014 our policy is intended to guide and support the protection, safety and wellbeing of children and young persons aged under 17 years who are receiving services from any staff member of the organisation, or are associated with adults who are receiving services from, any staff member of the organisation.

Policy scope:

This policy applies to all staff, Student teachers, Volunteers, Parent helpers and contractors and any other person, and should be used whenever abuse or neglect is suspected or identified regardless of whether the child is a client of the organisation.

Policy principles:

• The rights, welfare and safety of the child/tamariki, young person/rangatahi are our first and paramount consideration.
• Contribute to the nurturing and protection of children and advocate for them.
• Care and protection of children are built on a bicultural partnership in accordance with the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Māori children/tamariki, young person’s/rangatahi are assessed and managed within a culturally safe environment.
• Wherever possible the family/whānau and iwi participate in the making of decisions affecting that child/tamariki young person/rangatahi.
• All staff are to recognise and be sensitive to other cultures.
• Staff are competent in identification and management of actual or potential abuse and/or neglect through the organisation’s policy and procedural structures and education programme.

Our commitment to child protection:

Management will ensure:

• There are centre wide policies for the appropriate response to, and management of, child abuse and neglect.
• That the child protection policy and procedures comply with legislative requirements, the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, clinical audits and best practice standards.
• Centre-wide procedures exist to provide appropriate, adequate support for, and supervision of, staff affected by child abuse and neglect.

All employees of our centre have responsibility for the safe management of identified and suspected child abuse and neglect. Those responsibilities include:

• To be conversant with our Child Protection Policy and related policies.
• To understand the statutory referral processes and management of identified or suspected abuse and neglect.
• To attend initial training, refresher training and regular updates appropriate to their area of work.
• To seek advice when child abuse is suspected or identified.

It is the Centre Managers responsibility to:

• Review the Child Protection Policy and procedure as required.
• Coordinate a centre-wide response to child abuse and neglect.
• Develop a training plan and ensure initial refresher and advanced training of staff is available cyclically.
• Ensure documentation tools are in place and accessible to staff for the recording of care and protection concerns.
• Ensure audit and evaluation tools are in place to assess child protection policy, processes and practice.
• Ensure regular audits of child protection practice occur.
• Access and provide resources required to support the programme and make these available for staff and clients.
• Develop functional internal and external relationships with key stakeholders (government, local government and community-based organisations).
• Provide support and advice to staff regarding child abuse and neglect.

Definitions of Abuse:

Child abuse refers to the harming (whether physically, emotionally or sexually), ill treatment, abuse, neglect, or serious deprivation of any child/tamariki, young person/rangatahi. As defined by the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.

This includes actual, potential and suspected abuse:

• Physical abuse – any acts that may result in physical harm of a child or young person.
• Sexual abuse – any acts that involve forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, including child sexual exploitation, whether or not they are aware of what is happening.
• Emotional abuse – any act or omission that results in adverse or impaired psychological, social, intellectual and emotional functioning or development.
• Neglect – the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical or psychological needs, leading to adverse or impaired physical or emotional functioning or development.

• Oranga Tamariki – the agency responsible for investigating and responding to suspected abuse and neglect and for providing care and protection to children found to be in need.
• New Zealand Police – the agency responsible for responding to situations where a child is in imminent danger and for working with Oranga Tamariki in child protection work, including investigation cases of abuse or neglect where an offense may have occurred.

Identifying possible abuse or neglect

Information on identifying possible abuse or neglect is detailed in “Working together to support tamariki, rangatahi and their family/whanau An Interagency guide (Oranga tamariki April 2021) This document should be read in conjunction with this policy. Please refer to Appendix 1 .

In brief, staff need to be aware of the indictors of potential abuse and neglect. These indicators include:

• Physical signs
• Behavioural concerns
• Developmental delays
• The child talking about things that indicate abuse (sometimes called an allegation or disclosure)
• Physical neglect
• Neglectful supervision
• Medical neglect
• Abandonment

Every situation is different and it’s important to consider all available information about the child and their environment before reaching conclusions. For example, behavioural concerns may be the result of life events, such as divorce, accidental injury or the arrival of a new sibling etc.

Responding to suspected abuse or neglect

• In all cases where a member of staff has a concern about a child/tamariki/young person/rangatahi being or likely to be abused or neglected (refer to Definitions) by an adult, parent or caregiver or another child/tamariki or young person/rangatahi, they will report this to their Centre manager and make referrals/notify key staff to assist in the formulation of a plan to address the care and protection concerns.
• Should a staff member have a concern about the Centre Manager or wish to make an allegation involving the Centre manager, they will report directly to the owner/board
• A referral to Oranga Tamariki may be made at any time.
• It is mandatory for all concerns to be reported/referred to the Centre Manager within a time period which allows for effective consultation / advice to be given.
• It is also the Centre managers responsibility to make a mandatory report to teaching Council of Aotearoa New (as well as Ministry of Education) on any such matters involving staff or the centre.
• Our centre recognises that in some cases the involvement of statutory agencies would be inappropriate and potentially harmful to families/whānau. Throughout New Zealand statutory and non-statutory agencies provide a network of mutually supportive services, and it is important for our centre to work with these to respond to the needs of vulnerable children and families/whanau in a manner proportionate to the level of need and risk. Contact details for agencies and services in our community are provided as an appendix to this policy.

Responding to a child when the child discloses abuse:

Listen to the child	Disclosures by children are often subtle and need to be handled with particular care, including an awareness of the child’s cultural identity and how that affects interpretation of their behaviour and language.
Reassure the child	Let the child know that they: Are not in trouble Have done the right thing
Ask open-ended prompts e.g. “what happened next?”	Do not interview the child (in other words, do not ask questions beyond open prompts). Do not make promises that can’t be kept e.g ‘I will keep you safe now”
If the child is visibly distressed	Provide appropriate reassurance and re-engage in appropriate activities under supervision until they are able to participate in ordinary activities.
If the child is not in immediate danger	Re-involve the child in ordinary activities and explain what you are going to do next.
As soon as possible formally record the disclosure	Record: Word for word what the child said The date, time and who was present

Recording and notifying Oranga Tamariki of suspected child abuse or neglect:

Allegations or concerns about staff:

• When there are allegations, suspicions, or complaints of abuse by a staff member, the person responsible for Child Protection must immediately ensure that the suspected individual does not have any contact with the child making the allegation.
• The suspected staff member (or volunteer) will be prevented from having further unsupervised access to all children during any investigation and will be informed fully of their rights. To ensure the child and staff member are kept safe, management may take steps to remove the staff member against whom an allegation has been made from the environment while an investigation is undertaken.
• The person managing the child abuse issue will not be the same person as that managing the employment issue. If there is a need to pursue an allegation as an employer, consult with Oranga Tamariki or the Police before advising the person concerned.
• Inform the suspected person that they have a right to seek legal advice and providing them with an opportunity to respond. They should also be informed of their right to seek support from the relevant union/representative body. It is vital to follow ordinary disciplinary policies, guided by the employment contract/collective employment contract and relevant statutory obligations. If there is insufficient evidence to pursue a criminal prosecution, then a disciplinary investigation may still be undertaken if there is “reasonable cause to suspect” that abuse may have occurred.
• The allegation may represent inappropriate behaviour or poor practice by a member of staff which needs to be considered under internal disciplinary procedures – please refer to the Individual Employment agreement for this process.

We acknowledge the stress this puts upon the person expressing their concern/making the allegation, and respect their rights, also ensuring they have access to support. We also recognise the added stress to fellow staff in such situations and will ensure support is available. We commit not to use ‘settlement agreements’, where these are contrary to a strong culture of child protection. Some settlement agreements allow a member of staff to agree to resign provided that no disciplinary action is taken, and a future reference is agreed. Where the conduct at issue concerned the safety or wellbeing of a child, use of such agreements is contrary to a culture of child protection.

Under the Education Act, employers must make a mandatory report to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand in certain circumstances. Failing to make a report is an offence, which carries a fine of up to $25,000 unless there is reasonable justification.

When to make a mandatory report:

Employers must IMMEDIATELY report to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand when:

• A teacher is dismissed for any reason
• A teacher resigns from a teaching position, if within the 12 months preceding the resignation the employer advised the teacher it was dissatisfied with, or intended to investigate, any aspect of the teacher’s conduct or competence, or on the expiry of the teacher’s fixed-term contract
• A teacher ceases to be employed by the employer, and within the following 12 months the employer receives a complaint about the teacher’s conduct or competence while he or she was an employee
• The employer has reason to believe the teacher has engaged in serious misconduct
• The employer is satisfied that, despite completing competence procedures with the teacher, the teacher has not reached the required competence level.

Requests to interview a child at the centre:

Oranga Tamariki- Ministry for Children- Care and protection social workers have a legal right to interview a child while they are in the care at the centre, however the following procedures are to be followed to ensure the safety of the child is upheld at all times:

• A teacher may request to be present while the child is being interviewed, which will be granted at the discretion of the social workers.
• The centre manager will ensure a quiet area is provided for the social work team to interview the child.
• Confidentiality is to be upheld – only staff who are directly involved with the child will be privy to Oranga Tamariki involvement with the whanau.
• Staff will follow the guidance of Oranga Tamariki regarding advising the parents/caregivers of the interview.
• The Centre Manager is to lodge an incident report.

Confidentiality and information sharing:

All observations, after an investigation has been notified, shall be kept in writing but the file will be sealed from confidential reasons.

The Privacy Act 2020 and the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 allow information to be shared to keep children safe when abuse or suspected abuse is reported or investigated. Note that under sections 15 and 16 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, any person who believes that a child has been, or is likely to be harmed physically, emotional or sexually or ill-treated, abused, neglected or deprived may report the matter to Oranga Tamariki or the Police and provided the report is made in a good faith, no civil, criminal or disciplinary proceedings may be brought against them.

Recruitment and employment (safety checking):

Safety checking will be carried out in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 and Licensing Criteria GMA7a. This will include: a police vet; identity verification; references and an interview. A work history will be sought and previous employers will be contacted. If there is any suspicion that an applicant might pose a risk to a child, that applicant will not be employed.

• All employees, volunteers, students, relievers, cooks, and anyone else who has access to children will have been passed through the NZ Police Vet Process. This process will be repeated every three years.
• All staff not holding a current Teachers Council Aotearoa New Zealand Registered Teachers Practicing Certificate will have a NZ Police Check every three years these will be recorded on the annual plan.
• The Centre manager will ensure if an applicant has spent time overseas that these records are included in the safety check process.
• The Centre manager will ensure when selecting staff that they have the skills and attributes to ensure children’s safety and to promote their wellbeing.
• When employing temporary or casual staff, the applicant’s referees will be contacted prior to employment.
• Volunteers, Students on practicum, contractors, or trades people, will never be left alone with children at all for the duration of their time in the service. All visitors must comply with the visitors policy and sign in, using the tablet at the front desk.

Our service will exclude any person employed or engaged in or visiting the service from coming into contact with children if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person:

• Has physically ill-treated or abused a child or committed a crime against children; or
• In guiding or controlling a child; has subjected the child to solitary confinement, immobilisation or deprivation in food, drink, warmth, shelter or protection.

Drugs and Alcohol:

No person on the premises uses, or is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or any other substance that has a detrimental effect on their functioning or behaviour during the service’s hours of operation.

Information Technology and website:

No staff or adult at any point in time will be using any form of Information Technology to show, use, discuss any sites, apps, social media, books that involve inappropriate material, including and not limited to child or adult pornographic, inappropriate behaviour including swearing, discrimination, violence and sexual. Any staff or adult involved or engaging in any material of a R16 and above nature, maybe subject to disciplinary action

Inappropriate material:

All practicable steps are taken to protect children from exposure to inappropriate material (for example, of an explicitly sexual or violent nature including those in magazines available to the children)

Bullying:

Bullying will not be tolerated by any employee, visitor to the centre, parent and child. Bullying is defined as “use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force them to do something”. Any form of bullying needs to be brought to the attention of the Centre Manager

Collection of children:

No child will be allowed to leave the centre with any person unless that person has the role of providing day-to-day care for the child, or is authorised in writing to take the child by a person who has the role of providing day-to-day care for the child.

Notifying:

Where there is a serious injury or illness or incident involving a child while at the service that is required to be notified to a specified agency, the service provider must also notify the Ministry of Education at the same time.

‘Specified agency’ means any government agency or statutory body that an early childhood education and care service is required to notify if there is a serious (or as defined) injury, illness, incident or allegation. This may include but is not limited to: the New Zealand Police; the Ministry of Health; Child, Youth and Family; WorkSafe New Zealand; and the Teaching Council.

Exclusion:

We will exclude any person employed, engaged or visiting the service, from coming into contact with children if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person:

• Is in a state of physical or mental health that presents any risk of danger to children; or
• Has an infectious or contagious disease or condition
• In guiding or controlling a child, has subjected the child to solitary confinement, immobilisation, or deprivation of food, drink, warmth, shelter, or protection.
• Has physically ill-treated or abused a child or committed a crime against children; or

Supervision guidelines:

• Two members will be rostered on at all times. At no time will a teacher be left alone with children in the centre at the beginning or end of day
• The care of children involves physical contact, this is normal and natural. It is natural to touch children to show affection, to comfort, to reassure them and to give them praise, as well as taking care of some of their physical needs. However, it is not acceptable to force unwanted affection or touching on a child. Physical contact with children during changing or cleansing must be for the purpose of that task only and be no more than is necessary.
• When staff are changing nappies or toileting children, other staff should be made aware that they are carrying out these duties.
• Procedures for changing wet or soiled children will be displayed in the toileting area.
• A record will be kept of every child who is changed at the centre. This will include date, time and signature of the staff member changing the child. Whenever possible, children will be supported to change their own clothes.
• Students and relievers will work with children only under direct supervision and are not permitted to undertake any nappy/toileting routines.
• We also have a supervision policy that provides further details /guidelines around keeping our tamariki and Kaiako safe

Training supervision and support:

Management will support initial child protection training for all service delivery staff. All staff will have a comprehensive induction program that cover’s every aspect of this policy to ensure they have been explained, and given a copy of this policy to refer to, such training will include:

• Understanding child abuse and indicators of child abuse.
• How to reduce the risk of child abuse.
• Understanding and complying with legal obligations in regard to child abuse.
• Working with outside agencies on child abuse issues.
• Planning of environment and supervision to minimise risk.
• Dealing with child/parents/family/whānau.

It is our expectation that all staff attend a professional development session every 12 months on child protection.

Review and evaluation:

This policy shall be reviewed in full by the Centre Manager at the time of preparing the Annual Management Plan in consultation with centre staff and whanau and shall be discussed at next available centre staff meeting. After any incident or occasion in which significant elements of this policy have been implemented, this policy will be reviewed by the manager. The Centre Manager is responsible for ensuring the policy and procedures are followed at all times.

Remember you are not experts in child abuse and as such when in doubt consult a supporting agency.

Contact Numbers:

NZSTA	0800 stahelp (0800 782 4435)
Oranga Tamariki	0508 326 459
Local Police
Te Mahau (MOE)

Policy Category	46 Health and Safety
Licensing Criteria	HS 31, 32, 33
Regulations	Regulations 56 & 57
Date Adapted	April 2025
Review Dates	April 2025
Next Review Due	August 2025
Supporting Documents	Licensing Criteria Vulnerable Children Act 2014

Appendix 1

Note: The following guidelines can be used for supporting the detection of child abuse and neglect, however, they are not solely indicative of child abuse.

Guidelines for indicators of PHYSICAL abuse

Definition	Physical abuse is a non- accidental act on a child that results in physical harm. This includes, but is not limited to, beating, hitting, shaking, burning, drowning, suffocating, biting, poisoning or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical abuse also involves the fabrication or inducing of illness.
Physical indicators of possible physical abuse	Unexplained bruises, welts, cuts, abrasions (suspicious locations, shape, marks, patterns) Unexplained burns (circular burns, hot water burns, rope burns, distinct patterns) Unexplained fractures or dislocations (facial fractures, multiple fractures, bald patches)
Children’s behavior that could indicate physical abuse	Cannot recall how the injuries occurred, or offers inconsistent explanations. Is wary of adults or a particular individual, may cringe or flinch unexpectedly. May display a vacant stare or frozen watchfulness. Indicates a general sadness, may show this in drawing and play. May be extremely compliant or eager to please, aggressive or extremely withdrawn. When at play, imitates negative behaviour or language e.g. spanks or yells at doll. Is dressed inappropriately to hide bruises or other injuries e.g. long sleeved shirt or long pants in summer. Describes abusive situations. Could have a vision or hearing delay. Is violent to animals or other children.
Adult behaviour that could indicate physical abuse	May be vague about details of the cause of injury and the account of injury may change from time to time. May appear unconcerned about the child’s wellbeing. Delay in seeking medical attention for child. May state the child is prone to injuries, or blame accident on sibling, friend or relative. Is aggressive towards the child in front of others. May have little to no knowledge of child development or may have unrealistic expectations about the child.

Guidelines for indicators of EMOTIONAL abuse

Definition	Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional ill treatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effect on the child’s emotional development. This can include a pattern of rejecting, degrading, ignoring, isolating, corrupting, exploiting or terrorising a child. It may also include age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It also includes the child seeing or hearing the ill treatment of others.
Physical indicators of possible emotional abuse	Bed wetting or bed soiling that has no medical cause. Falls behind in weight, height and development with no medical reason. Has not attained significant development milestones within the child’s age range. Dressed differently from other children in the family, malnutrition.
Children’s behavior that could indicate emotional abuse	Suffers from severe developmental lags (Speech, motor, sensory) without obvious cause. Recurring physical complaints without the medical cause (E.G. abdominal pain, headaches, sore throat, nausea, etc). When at play, behaviour may model or copy negative behaviours and language used at home. Displays extreme attention seeking behaviours or displays extreme inhibition in play. Antisocial behaviours, may not cope well in social settings. Overly compliant, too well mannered, too neat and clean. Lack of self-esteem, appears generally as a ‘sad’ child. Severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, withdrawal or aggression.
Adult behaviour that could indicate emotional abuse	Constantly calls the child ‘stupid’, or “dumb’, ‘bad’, or displays degrading behaviour- labels child as inferior or publicly humiliates child. Treats the child differently from siblings or peers in a way that suggests dislike for the child. Actively refuses to help the child or acknowledges the child’s request for help. Refuses to allow interactions or relationships with peers or adults outside of the family. Constantly withholds physical and verbal affection from the child and ignores the child’s attempt to interact. Involves a child in ‘adult issues’ such as separation or disputes over child’s care. Has unrealistic expectations of child.

Guidelines for indicators of SEXUAL abuse

Definition	Sexual Abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities (penetrative and non-penetrative, for example, rape, kissing, touching, masturbation) as well as non-contact acts such as involving children in the looking at or production of sexual images, sexual activities and sexual behaviours.
Physical indicators of possible sexual abuse	Unusual or excessive itching or pain in the genital or anal area. Torn, stained or bloody underclothing. Bruises, lacerations, redness, swelling or bleeding in genital, vaginal or anal area. Blood in urine or stools, sexually transmitted disease. Pain experienced in urination or elimination.
Young children’s behavior that could indicate sexual abuse	Age inappropriate sexual play with toys, self, others e.g. demonstration of explicit sexual acts. Age-inappropriate, sexually –explicit drawings or descriptions. Bizarre, sophisticated or unusual sexual knowledge. Comments such as ‘I’ve got a secret’, or “I don’t like Uncle’. Fear of certain people or of a particular person, fear of certain places (e.g. bathroom). States that they have been abused or describes activities which are sexually abusive or hints about such activities. Regression to an earlier stage of play and development. Fire lighting in boys.
Adult behaviour that could indicate sexual abuse	May be unusually over-protective of the child. • Is jealous of the child’s relationships with peers or other adults or is controlling of the child. Misuses alcohol or drugs. Refuses to allow interactions or relationships with peers or adults outside of the family. Demonstrates physical contact or affection to the child which appears sexual in nature or has sexual overtones. May favour the victim over other children. Discourages the child from unsupervised contact with peers.

Guidelines for indicators of NEGLECT

Definition	Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/ or psychological needs, causing long term serious harm to the child’s health or development. It may also include neglect of a child’s basic or emotional needs. Neglect is the failure to provide for the child’s basic needs, such as housing, nutrition, adequate supervision, medical and psychological care and education.
Physical indicators of possible neglect	Can be dressed inappropriately for the season or the weather. This could result in recurrent colds, pneumonia, sunburn, frostbite etc. Is often extremely dirty or un-bathed (not to be confused with healthy dirtiness/ activeness) May have severe nappy rash or other persistent skin disorders or rashes resulting from improper lack of hygiene. Does not receive adequate medical or dental care and has unattended health problems. Lacks adequate shelter – lives in housing that is unsafe, inadequately heated or is unsanitary. May be left in the care of an inappropriate caregiver- e.g. one that is too young or too old to care for, or protect the child.
Young children’s behavior that could indicate neglect	Suffers from severe development lags (speech, motor, sensory) Demonstrates severe lack of attachments to parents, demonstrates indiscriminate attachment to other adults. Is very demanding of affection or attention, has poor social skills. Poor school attendance, may steal food, has no understanding of basic hygiene. Discloses that parents are absent or basic needs are not being met.
Adult behaviour that could indicate neglect	Is overwhelmed with own problems and puts own needs ahead of those of the child. Fails to provide for the basic needs of the child, such as housing, nutrition, medical and psychological care. Fails to provide for the special education needs of the child. Demonstrates little or no involvement in child’s life – does not attend recreation events, school activities etc. Leaves the child alone, unattended or fails to adequately supervise, abandons child. Drug or alcohol abuse, depressed. May have psychiatric problems.