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Child Safety Policy

Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young persons both in the community and through our service and program delivery, and operations.

BCHS adopts zero tolerance to child and young person abuse or neglect. All children and young people accessing our services, programs and sites have the right to feel safe, be safe, and be treated with dignity, respect and equality.

BCHS is accountable for children and young people’s safety and wellbeing through legislation(including but not limited to mandatory reporting requirements, reportable conduct requirements, ChildSafe Standards, the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) and Family Violence InformationSharing Scheme (FVISS)). Through this legislation we are required to report any cases of observedor suspected risk or harm to a child, children or young people when a reasonable belief is held that achild or young person’s health and wellbeing is at risk.

BCHS will respond to risk, safety and wellbeing needs in accordance with this policy, BCHS’ Family and Domestic Violence Policy, Child and Young Person’s Safety and Wellbeing Procedure, andInformation Sharing Scheme Procedure, as well as other relevant legislative obligations.

BCHS commits to supporting child and young person safety and wellbeing in line with Victoria’s ChildSafe Standards.

The BCHS Child Safety Officer provides a single point of contact for children, parents, staff and volunteers who are seeking advice or support regarding the safety and wellbeing of children associated within BCHS.

The officer ensures child safety is prioritised and that any allegations or concerns are recorded and responded to consistently and in line with legal requirements, policies and procedures

To contact the officer please write to Julie Cairns via

Find our full Child and Young Person’s Safety and Wellbeing Policy here.