Child protection

HS28 Child protection

Criteria

There is a written child protection policy that meets the requirements of the Children's Act 2014. The policy contains provisions for the identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect, and information about how the service will keep children safe from abuse and neglect, and how it will respond to suspected child abuse and neglect.

The policy must be reviewed every 3 years.

Documentation required

1. A written child protection policy that contains:
   1. provisions for the service’s identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect
   2. information about the practices the service employs to keep children safe from abuse and neglect and
   3. information about how the service will respond to suspected child abuse and neglect.
2. A procedure that sets out how the service will identify and respond to suspected child abuse and/or neglect.

Intent

Child protection policies support children’s workers to identify and respond to vulnerability, including possible abuse and neglect.

Amended 26 February 2016.

Guidance

Services must have a child protection policy that meets the Children's Act 2014 requirements.

The policy must:

• contain provisions on the identification and reporting of neglect and abuse, and
• be written, and
• be reviewed every 3 years.

To be helpful, the policy should contain definitions of neglect and abuse so that staff can apply these consistently when needed.

Policies should also contain provision for ensuring children are protected from harm by any person present at the home.

Services must make the policy and information about its practices available to parents (GMA2 Information provided to parents).

GMA2 Information provided to parents

We’ve published a guide to the help you navigate the child protection policy requirements set out in the Children’s Act 2014.

Documentation guidance

Safer organisations, Safer children

The Safer organisations, Safer children publication provides advice on good practice to help organisations draft high quality child protection policies and review their procedures.

The guidelines include a review tool to help services identify gaps in current policies, information about what to include in a new policy, as well as example policies including a policy used in an early childhood education setting.

Working together guide

The policy needs to be consistent with advice provided by Oranga Tamariki that can be found in the Working together guide – 'Working together to support tamariki, rangatahi and their family/whānau'.

Working together seminars – Oranga Tamariki | Ministry for Children

Educators and coordinators require guidelines and opportunities for training to further develop their knowledge and understanding of:

• the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect
• roles and responsibilities around record keeping and reporting
• responsibilities to children
• limitations of their role.

Digital child protection resource

The Ministry of Education, alongside Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand and Safeguarding Children, have developed a digital child protection resource specifically for the early learning sector. See the instructions below to access the resource:

1. Go to Education Learning Management System at
   training.education.govt.nz
2. Select 'Login with ESL'
3. Select 'Catalogue' from the top menu
4. Search for 'Child Protection'.

In order to access child protection training you are required to have an Education Sector Logon (ESL) as there is a formal acknowledgment of completion. To get an ESL account, please contact your organisation’s ESL Delegated Authoriser.

If you would like to know more about having an Education Sector Login (ESL) to access the Education Learning Management System.

Education Sector Logon (ESL) – Applications and Online Systems

If you need assistance creating an ESL account, ring the Education Service Desk on 0800 422 599 or email them on [email protected].

HS29 Inappropriate material

Criteria

All practicable steps are taken to protect children from exposure to inappropriate material (for example, of an explicitly sexual or violent nature).

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children by ensuring that pornographic or violent material (electronic games, DVDs, websites, magazines, and so on) is not available to children.

Guidance

Censor classifications can be used as a guide. However, any material should be checked for suitability before sharing it with children.

What may be regarded as not objectionable under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act may, nevertheless, be inappropriate and harmful to young children given the impact of the medium in which the publication is presented and the age of the children to whom the publication is available.

Educators need to ensure that there is no access to any inappropriate material when completing their daily hazard check (HS11).

HS11 Hazard management

Supervising children using computers or other electronic devices (tablets, iPads and so on) in the home is essential. If the home has access to the internet (either for use with the children or in another room) password protection and the use of parental locks should be considered.

Exposure to objectionable material may occur inadvertently through normal and legitimate searching activities or by unsolicited email delivery.

Educators should be aware of safe searching techniques and provide information to children on how to react and deal with unsolicited, inappropriate material.

Things to consider

• What are children able to see or hear when they are in the home setting?
• What kinds of images are children able to see in magazines and other print materials? What about posters, DVDs, electronic games, and television?
• Do children have access to the internet or other people’s files on the computer? How can educators support their learning while keeping them safe?
• If older children are present (either after school or during holidays), the educator needs to consider internet management and monitoring.

HS30 Use of alcohol and other substances by coordinators and educators

Criteria

Coordinators and educators must not use, or be under the influence of, alcohol or any other substance that has a detrimental effect on their functioning or behaviour while responsible for children attending the service.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children.

Guidance

It would be beneficial for a service provider to develop clear procedures to make expectations of coordinators and educators clear. The procedure could outline the consequences of inappropriate behaviour. It is good practice to go through this procedure with both coordinators and educators during their induction process and to share this information with parents.

The procedure should cover what action will be taken if an educator/coordinator is under the influence of alcohol or any other substance. This is a staff management issue, and appropriate procedures need to be followed such as processes for managing serious misconduct. See the guidance for GMA6 Human resource management.

GMA6 Human resource management

HS31 Use of alcohol and other substances by other people at the home

Criteria

All practicable steps are taken to ensure that children do not come into contact with any person on the premises who is under the influence of alcohol or any other substance that has a detrimental effect on their functioning or behaviour.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children by ensuring children attending the service are not exposed to the risks of persons under the influence of alcohol or other harmful substances.

Guidance

It is important for service providers and educators to have considered in advance the types of situations that might occur in a home-based service and how these would be best handled. This would be an appropriate discussion during an induction process and could include:

• What would the educator do if a parent or caregiver arrived to drop off or collect a child and they were under the influence of alcohol or any other substance?
• What to do if the educator is working in the home of the child and an adult present at the premises consumes alcohol in the presence of the educator and/or child.

HS32 Smoking

Criteria

No person on the premises smokes or vapes in any area which is available for use by children or for food preparation while children are attending the service.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children.

Guidance

Educators must never smoke or vape in the home while children are attending the service at any time including while children are asleep. In addition, they must never smoke or vape whilst on an excursion with the children.

If there is a smoker or vaper in the household, they must not smoke or vape while children are attending the service. This includes the outside area.