Commitment Statements

Safe Church Commitment Statement

Rowville Baptist Church (RBC) is committed to ministering to children, young people and adults by providing a church environment that is physically, emotionally and spiritually safe. Our church is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children, young people and adults and will endeavour to provide a safe environment through our policies and procedures, including but not limited to recruitment, training, supervision, reviews, code of conduct, duty of care, risk management, workplace health and safety, conflict resolution, zero tolerance for discrimination against inclusion in our programs, zero tolerance for abuse, and environmental best practice.

The following values reflect the culture we are committed to promoting within our church: growing, inclusive, missional, generous, caring.

Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

Rowville Baptist Church (RBC) is committed to child safety. All children and young people at RBC have the right to feel and be safe. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.

We are committed to providing a culturally safe environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability to ensure they can participate equally.

We have zero tolerance for any/all forms of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently in line with our policies and procedures. RBC is committed to preventing abuse of children and young people by identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.

We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.

Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy

Rowville Baptist Church (RBC) is committed to protecting the safety of all people within its programs, ministries and events.

All people, regardless of age, gender, race, culture, disability and family/social background have equal rights to this protection.

All people, including children, have the right to be respected and valued as well as feel emotionally, physically and spiritually safe at all times.

This policy has been developed to uphold this commitment to safeguarding and to adhere to national and state legislation.

Within this policy, the term child or children includes both children and young people under the age of 18 years.

Our child protection policy

This policy applies to all staff, Leadership Council members, volunteers and other adults and children associated with RBC. This policy also applies to all activities of RBC.

The purpose of this policy:

• To protect children and young people who participate in our programs.
• To provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

RBC believes that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe.

Our policy aims to:

• Minimise the risk of abuse, misconduct and the misuse of positional power.
• Ensure that all cases of suspected abuse and misconduct are handled thoroughly.
• Ensure that leaders and programs are safe.
• Ensure that all people are respected and valued.

Our children

This policy is intended to empower children and young people who are vital and active participants in our church. RBC encourages children and young people to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them. We encourage them to share their views and we listen to their suggestions.

We teach children and young people what they can do if they feel unsafe. We listen to and act on any concerns children, young people, or their parents raise with us.

We promote diversity and tolerance in our church and do not tolerate discrimination in relation to participation in our programs. To achieve this, we promote the cultural safety, empowerment and participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families and those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds. We welcome children and young people with a disability and their families and act to ensure a safe environment that allows for
equal participation.

Recruitment and training of staff and volunteers

RBC takes all reasonable steps to screen and recruit appropriate people for staff and volunteer roles. We interview and conduct reference checks on all staff and volunteers who will be interacting with children and young people. All people engaged in child-related work, including volunteers, are required to hold a current Working with Children Check and provide evidence of this for our records.

We provide training, support and supervision so staff and volunteers feel adequately prepared, valued and respected. We have codes of conduct for staff and volunteers which provide guidance on the standards of conduct required when working with children and young people. We train our staff and volunteers to identify, assess, and minimise risks of child abuse, and to detect potential signs of child abuse and harm.

Risk Management

In addition to general workplace health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children and young people. We recognise the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and have strategies in place to minimise risks posed by physical and online environments.

Allegations, concerns, complaints, and reporting of them

RBC takes all allegations seriously and has procedures in place to address them thoroughly and promptly. Our staff and volunteers are trained to deal appropriately with allegations, concerns and complaints and know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse, if they are a victim, if they notice inappropriate behaviour, or if a child or young person makes a disclosure to them. We are aware of our legal and moral responsibilities in reporting abuse and risk of significant
harm and have a clear process in place for all our staff and volunteers.

Regular review of policy

This policy, along with our codes of conduct, risk assessments, and other relevant policies and procedures, will be reviewed regularly and following significant incidents if they occur, to ensure they are meeting legislative responsibilities and best practice benchmarks.