Child-safety our priority 

St Luke’s Anglican Church, Frankston is committed to child safe practice. The care, the safety and the welfare of children are embedded in policies and practices which are intended to reflect a commitment to zero tolerance of child abuse.

 

When Jesus uttered his beautiful words, ‘let the children come to me and do not hinder them’ (Matt 19:14) he set the benchmark for us. We want to continue to be a Church where children and families are welcome and participate fully. We want to be an open community where people of all ages gather and interact. We want to be a Church where children and young people are fully engaged and have every opportunity to flourish and grow. We want them to be able to learn freely about the good news found in Jesus’s life, death and resurrection and be transformed as the Holy Spirit works in them. We want to be a safe place and to put no barriers in place that will harm or hinder children and young people.

 

In all our actions and programs, we seek to maintain high ethical standards and work in accordance with child safe practices and child protection reporting guidelines. The participation and empowerment of all children is a consideration in decision-making, as we seek to provide a safe and nurturing environment where children are respected and listened to.

 

The Church has 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. We are committed to preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.

 

We support and respect all children. We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, as well as the safety of children with a disability.

 

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is implementing all the Victorian Government’s standards for continuing to grow as child safe organisation. See the Child Safe Standards and Governance (https://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/governance/child-safety/) page on their website. Under standard 2 you can find our child safe policy. And under standard 3 you can find our code of conduct. Please be assured that all our staff and volunteers are appropriately recruited and screened including Working with Children Checks, Police Checks and commitment to the Diocese’s Child Safe Code of Conduct as required.

 

Everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as checking that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate. Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the Kooyoora Office of Professional Standards, the Department of Health and Human Services and Victoria Police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.  

 

Important contact numbers

 

Police

000

 

 

Child Protection

1300 360 391

 

 

Kooyoora

1800 135 246