Good to Know
Child Safe Environment Policy
Playing for Change: Children’s Occupational Therapy is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people accessing our service. We support the rights of the child and will act without hesitation to ensure a child safe environment is maintained at all times.
At Playing for Change, we act in ways that ensure
• that children and young people are valued, respected and encouraged to participate
and that the safety and protection of children and young people is always the first priority
• that our policies and procedures comply with the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
• that we are committed to diversity e.g. all children and young people are embraced regardless of their abilities, sex, gender, or social economic or cultural background and equity is upheld
• that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.
Our policies and procedures apply to:
• the Playing for Change Director, employees, volunteers, contractors, work experience students, children, young people and families
• Playing for Change personnel are required to read, sign off and adhere to all policies and procedures, as part of their engagement with the company, via written contracts
Our organization provides information to families with children and young people through our Welcome Pack, provided on or prior to first appointment.
Responsibilities
The Director of Playing for Change is responsible for implementation and monitoring of personnel suitability policies and procedures as per the Risk Management Policy, including verification of WWCC results via the DHS Screening Unit online portal.
As the parent or legal guardian of the child receiving services through Playing for Change : Children’s Occupational Therapy, it is expected that:
- Children must only attend therapy when well
- Parents/ caregivers/guardians must remain present throughout therapy session;
- Under some circumstances, a child may function better without Parents/ caregivers/guardians in the therapy room, in this case parent/s must be close by within earshot and easy visual reach.
-Parents must not leave venue without their child under any circumstance.
- Parents/ caregivers/guardians will supervise and manage their children’s behaviour outside of therapy session including in the car park,
- Parents/ caregivers/guardians are responsible for toileting own children, preferably prior to session;
- Parents/ caregivers/guardians are aware that occupational therapists are mandated notifiers of harm or risk of harm to children and young people and are legally bound to report suspected or actual incidents of harm or risk of harm,
- Parents/ caregivers/guardians are able to report a breach of the Code of Conduct to any of the listed supports in the Complaints and Feedback section of the Welcome pack.
Advocacy support
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If you or your child need support or assistance to access our service or any other service or need help with an experience of any harm, violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or discrimination, you can ask us or contact an advocate:
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Advocacy Services
PFC does not endorse or recommend a specific advocacy services but provides the following for your information.
_____________________________________________________
Disability Rights Advocacy Service (DRAS)
www.dras.com.au
email: admin@dras.com.au
ph: 8351 9500
4/80 Henley Beach Rd, Mile End, SA 5031
Free service
______________________________________________________
Disability Advocacy and Complaints Service of SA (DACSSA)
www.dacssa.org.au
email: admin@dacssa.org.au
ph: 7122 6030
Ground floor, 33 Franklin street, Adelaide, SA 5000
Free service
______________________________________________________
Advocacy for Disability Access and Inclusion Inc
www.advocacyfordisability.org.au
email:
ph: 08 8340 4450 or freecall: 1800 856 464
149 Currie st, Adelaide, SA 5000
Free service
______________________________________________________
Lifelong Pathways
Joanne Cregan
www.lifelongpathways.com.au
Ph: 0459 543 356
PO Box 209 Nairne, SA 5252
______________________________________________________
Sam Paior
www.thegrowingspace.com.au
email: info@TheGrowingSpace.com.au
Ph: 1300 476 977
______________________________________________________
www.askizzy.org.au
______________________________________________________
Further free advocacy services can be found at
https://disabilityadvocacyfinder.dss.gov.au/disability/ndap
Complaints & Feedback
Playing for Change : Children’s Occupational Therapy is committed to providing high quality and accessible services which upholds the rights of all its clients and which complies with the Code of Professional Conduct and Practice, as outlined by the Occupational Therapy Registration Board of
Australia/ AHPRA .
Comments, feedback and complaints are valued for the opportunity to improve services.
Clients and other service providers interacting with Playing for Change : Children’s Occupational Therapy are able to provide comments, feedback and /or complaints at any time.
Comments & feedback are thoughts on any aspect of the service and which may or may not be positive.
Comments and feedback are collated and reviewed to help with continuous improvement; whereas complaints are formal and require immediate action.
How to give .....
Positive feedback - may be written or verbal, made directly to Playing for
Change Children’s Occupational Therapy;
Complaints can be made to
- the Director (Sue Robinson) Playing for Change Children’s Occupational Therapy via phone 0427 290 175 or email
playingforchange@internode.on.net,
OR to the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia via Notification form at http://www.ahpra.gov.au/Notifications-and-Outcomes.aspx
OR For NDIS Participants at : https://www.ndis.gov.au/contact/feedback-andcomplaints
or by phoning 1800 035 544
Complaints made to Playing for Change Children’s Occupational Therapy must:
- Be in writing (The Director can type up your complaint over the phone if preferred)
- Clearly explain the circumstances that gave rise to the -complaint
- Provide evidence to support allegations-
- Include all documentation relating to allegations
- Include your full name and contact details
If the complaint is being made by a third party, the person on whose behalf the complaint
is made (the complainant) must be clearly identified and they must agree, in writing, to the complaint being made. For example, a person may complain on behalf of a relative, but only if the relative agrees. In the case of a child, the parent or
guardian must agree.
We will not accept anonymous complaints, nor will we investigate complaints that are
submitted without all of the above information/statements
What happens next?
The Director will assess the complaint against the NDIS NQSC requirements for mandatory notification to the Commission, within 24 hours of the complaint being made.
A letter or email acknowledging receipt of the complaint will be sent within 5 working days.
Depending on the severity of the complaint, one or more of the following options may apply:
- Meeting between complainant and OT involved to resolve the issue together – failure to reach a resolution will result in one of the following;
- Referral to an external mediator and/or the NDIS NQSC
- Referral to AHPRA for investigation via http://www.ahpra.gov.au/NotificationsanOdu-
tcomes.aspx.
We undertake to listen to your complaints, understand your preferred solution and work together for a mutually acceptable resolution.
A Code of Conduct applies to all personnel engaged in work at Playing for Change and is in addition to the Code of Ethics which applies to occupational therapists and the regulations for registered OTs via AHPRA and the NDIS Code of Conduct which applies to all NDIS workers.
Breaches of any of the codes of conduct will result in the worker being provided with additional training, supervision, and or being removed from duties if appropriate, while the breach is investigated by appropriate authorities (eg AHPRA 1300 419 495/ https:// ahpra.my.salesforce-sites.com/notification and/or NDIS NQSC : 1800 035 544
https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/providers/incident-management-and-reportableincidents)
and further consequences as guided by these authorities.
As the treating therapists at Playing for Change: Children’s Occupational Therapy, we undertake to maintain a Child Safe Environment by:
- Providing well maintained equipment and taking adequate safety precautions;
- Providing first aid as required
- Monitoring risks and incidents and taking action as needed;
- Providing consistent, respectful behaviour guidance during therapy sessions;
- Ensuring that any physical contact with a child is appropriate to the skill level and support required for therapy goals;
- Setting clear boundaries about appropriate behaviour between ourselves and the children and young people in our organization – boundaries help everyone to understand their roles
- Maintaining up to date knowledge to fulfill our obligations as a Mandated Notifier of harm of risk of harm to children and young people through completing annual training in both Child Safe Environments Safe Environments: Through Their Eyes and 3 yearly training in the RAN-EC training program.
- Reporting regarding the reasonable belief that a child or young person is or maybe, at risk of harm are to me made to the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on 13 14 78.
- Ensuring the parent or caregiver is present during therapy sessions and that children
or young people are not left alone for therapy sessions – or when working in schools, childcare centres or preschools, working within line of sight of centre staff
- Welcoming and acting on feedback from children, young people and their families through our feedback and complaints system.
OTs and staff must not:
- engage in rough physical games
- develop any ‘special’ relationships with children and young people that could be seen as favouritism such as the offering of gifts or special treatment
- do things of a personal nature that a child or young person can do for themselves, such as toileting or changing clothes
- discriminate against any child or young person because of age, gender, cultural background, religion, vulnerability or sexuality.
