Children's Action Plan launches guidelines; trials Viki, AISA and The Hub
Wed 11 Mar 2015
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has launched two new guidelines for organisations and agencies working with children. The guidelines ...
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has launched two new guidelines for organisations and agencies working with children. The guidelines support the new requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 which introduced standard screening and vetting of the "children's workforce."
Developed by the Ministry of Education and Child Matters on behalf of the Children's Action Plan Directorate, Safer Recruitment, Safer Children guides employers on selecting safe people to work with children. Child Matters says the guidelines "provide a practical and easy-to-follow pathway for organisations to choose safe and appropriate people to work with children – also known as ‘screening and vetting’."
The guidelines Safer Organisations, Safer Children advise organisations how to develop high quality child protection policies to identify and respond to the needs of vulnerable children. This guideline is intended as a living document and will be reviewed when required.
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said "By far the majority of our children’s workforce is safe and conscientious but we know predators target opportunities to be around children – these guidelines provide practical steps to help organisations to manage against that risk."
The guidelines were launched in Hamilton on 10 March 2015. A Hamilton Children's Team is currently being set up. This will be the first large urban team, planned to support 1400 vulnerable children and families. The team will be trialling the Vulnerable Kids Information System (Viki), the Approved Information Sharing Agreement (AISA) and The Hub. Submissions on the proposed AISA are published on the Children's Action Plan website.
Media
Schools face more stringent workforce requirements, Press Release: NZPA, Scoop, 15.05.2015
NZMA has major concerns over vetting rules for health professionals, NZ Doctor Online, 12.05.2015
Guidelines launched to curb child predators, Stuff, 11.03.2015
Children’s workforce guidelines available, Children's Action Plan, 10.03.2015
Safer children’s workforce guidelines launched, Beehive, 10.03.2015
Launch of children’s workforce guidelines, Beehive, 10.03.2015
Safer Recruitment, Safer Children, Child Matters, 10.03.2015
Consultation over staff vetting prompts questions from primary care, NZ Doctor Online, 17.10.2014
Image: Pixabay