Key information to consider
Play Matters Australia (PMA) strives at all times to promote the safety, protection, and wellbeing of children and young people and has a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to all forms of child abuse. In order to uphold this approach, PMA Team Members, inclusive of:
- Board members,
- all PMA employees,
- volunteers of PMA,
- contractors (including temporary contractors) and
- work experience students
will commit to the identification, management, and mitigation of risk of child abuse to all children and young people across all environments, people, and programs.
How to respond to a child’s disclosure or allegation of Child Abuse?
If a child is in immediate danger or life-threatening situation, call the police or ambulance on 000.
When responding to disclosures or allegations of child abuse by a child, all Team Members must adopt a child-centred approach which prioritises the best interests of the child.
Record:
- If the child is not in immediate danger or once the child is safe, as soon as possible after the disclosure, record the information using the child’s words.
- Be sure to record any observations about the child’s mood or demeanor.
- Contact the Customer Experience team immediately and they will help you work through the process
- Document the observation/disclosure using the Record of disclosure of alleged child abuse form, facilitators portal to make a record of this disclosure. The information on the form will be sent to the Manager P&C and the CEO.
Full details of all staff obligations can be found within the Disclosure or Concern About Child Abuse Procedure.