Child safe at Westgate basketball

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Westgate Basketball Association is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. We support the rights of the child and will act without hesitation to ensure a child safe environment is maintained at all times.

• Our association is committed to child safety.  We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.
• We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.
• We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.
• We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
• Our association is committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
• Our association has robust human resources and recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers.
• Our association is committed to regularly training and educating our staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
• We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
• We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments. 
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Child Welfare Officer
Westgate Basketball Association has appointed a child welfare officer.

For any child safety concerns, please contact Linda Woods on 0404 851 478 or email admin@westgatebasketball.com.au​

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The new Victorian Child Safety Standards (Victorian Government legislation as of January 1, 2017) now applies to sporting organisations that operate and provide sporting services to children within Victoria (including National Sporting Organisations). There are several different requirements which make up the standards, and which sports have been required to comply.

The standards relate to child protection within our Association and affiliated Clubs, and include requirements to have practices, procedures and policies in place. Basketball organisations should be continuously reviewing their compliance with the standards, as well as checking if the culture and environment within their organisation is supportive and protective of children.

The Standards apply to organisations as a whole, not only the areas that work with children. This includes:

• Board of management/committee members
• All paid staff (CEO, Executive, employees)
• All volunteers (coaches, officials, administrators, scorers etc)
• All students on placement
• Any contractors that are engaged.

Our governing body Basketball Victoria encourages all of its affiliated members to review their culture, processes and practices against the Child Safety Standards and make any changes that are required on a regular basis.

The Standards also contain new requirements regarding the Working with Children Check from 1 January 2017. For further information regarding the new Working with Children Check requirements go to: http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/

Remember: Child safety is not an add-on or one-off exercise. It is a legal requirement that your organisation will need to be compliant with as of 1 January 2017. Having policies and procedures in place is not enough. It’s about creating a culture and environment within sport that is supportive and protective of children.