Speech by Anne Tolley MP
It is a great pleasure to be with you here today as we celebrate an important milestone in progressing the Government’s Children’s Action plan with the launch of two new guidelines for people working with children.
Safer Recruitment, Safer Children will help organisations choose safe people to work with children, and Safer Organisations, Safer Children will help organisations develop child protection policies.
Every child has the right to be free from abuse and neglect. The sad truth is some children don’t feel safe and are subject to abuse and/or neglect, sometimes by the very people are employed and trusted to keep them safe.
These guidelines will help the children’s workforce to keep vulnerable children safe and support all New Zealand children to thrive, achieve and belong.
One of this Government’s top priorities is to reduce child abuse through:
- better screening of children for vulnerability
- full assessments of the needs of vulnerable children,
- more support for frontline workers and communities
- better results for our vulnerable children and their families.
Guidelines: Child Protection Policy – Safer Organisations
Children’s workers and their employers are absolutely vital to strengthening our safety net around vulnerable children.
Over the coming years, the children’s workforce changes signalled in the Children’s Action Plan and the Vulnerable Children’s Act will affect about 370,000 people working with children in this country.
Children’s workers do a good job addressing the needs of some vulnerable children, but they don’t always do this in a consistent or connected way. And whilst the vast majority of our children’s workers are safe and conscientious, we know that predators will seek to work and be around children and we must have robust safeguards in our workforce.
The Vulnerable Children Act 2014 requires certain state sector agencies and government funded organisations to have child protection policies that to identify and respond to child vulnerability, including possible abuse and neglect.
These government agencies are already working with their sectors to implement this new child protection legislation and policies. The new guidelines I’m pleased to launch here today form a crucial part of that effort.
Congratulations to everyone who has helped to develop Safer Organisations, Safer Children – It has been a huge collaborative effort from government agencies and community.
Please find full speech and further information here: http://beehive.govt.nz/speech/launch-children%E2%80%99s-workforce-guidelines
