Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools Early Years Education (MACSEYE) and the Catholic Church are committed to providing an environment where all children & young people attending our program to be SEEN, HEARD and INVOLVED.
MACSEYE and the Catholic Church are committed to the safety and well-being of children and in creating and maintaining a child safe organisation.
MACSEYE and the Catholic Church has a mission-driven moral and legal responsibility to create nurturing environments where children are respected and heard, where they are safe, and feel safe. We acknowledge that preventing child abuse requires proactive approaches across policies, procedures and practices consistent with the requirements of the Victorian Child Safe Standards.
Our Child Safe Statement of Commitment applies to all board members, employees, volunteers, work experience students, relevant contractors and stakeholders.
MACSEYE is committed to:
- Embedding Child Safety Principles across all areas of our organisation.
- Ensuring the rights of children to feel safe and be safe at all times.
- Valuing, respecting and including children's voices and perspectives.
- Fostering opportunities for each child to be included, participate, express their views and learn and develop.
- We have zero tolerance of child abuse and are committed to actively contributing to a child safe environment where children are protected from abuse or harm.
- Taking all reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of children at all times.
- Actively managing risks including fulfilling our duty of care and legal obligations to protect children and prevent any reasonable, foreseeable risk of injury or harm.
- Taking a continuous improvement approach to the way we identify and respond to risks of harm, encourage reporting and improve responses to allegations.
- Actively engaging and sharing information with relevant authorities to promote the wellbeing and safety of a child or a group of children, consistent with their best interests.
- Engage with community agencies on early intervention and prevention strategies and programs for children.
- Creating and encouraging an inclusive and welcoming environment for Aboriginal children and their families by acknowledging and respecting Aboriginal peoples, communities, cultures and values.
- Valuing cultural safety and inclusion as protective factors while being sensitive to how these factors may impact child safety, particularly children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and children of all abilities.