Child Safety and Safeguarding

Safeguarding Children and Young People is very important to our game, both within our events and clubs and also in our outreach activities such as the Sporting Schools program.Strong policies are in place. We are developing our procedures and systems constantly to see that those policies are being implemented properly.But ultimately it comes down to our flying disc sports communities. We need to educate ourselves. To make sure we are aware of what we should do and to help keep others on track. Most importantly, we need to raise our concerns if and when we see or hear something involving a child/young person that doesn’t seem right.

Policies

AFDA has adopted the AFDA Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy developed by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA). This policy applies to all flying disc sports disciplines in Australia, including both Ultimate and Disc Golf.  And it applies to all levels of the sport from Australia’s national teams down to local grassroots teams and clubs.

It is also important to remember that the definition of a “child” includes everyone aged under 18 years of age, including older adolescents who may seem mature but who still need adult care and protection.

The policy covers those children/young people when they are playing in adult teams not just in junior teams. Please see SIA’s Young Athletes in Open AgeSport fact sheet.

If you have a child-related role or you are a parent of a child you need to take some time to become familiar with the policy.

Education

Sport Integrity Australia has developed a set of online courses to educate sports participants on safeguarding children and young people.

The principal course to undertake is the Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport Induction course which can be found in SIA’s e-Learning course catalogue.

If you already have a SIA e-Learning account you can enrol in the Safeguarding course and get started straightaway.  If you don’t have a SIA e-Learning account already then set one up and get started.

(Note that if you previously have done a Play By The Rules Child Safeguarding course that course is now outdated and you should do the new SIA course.)

SIA Resources

Sport Integrity Australia has also developed a range of information resources to help people understand their obligations and how to apply them.

SIA’s Child Safeguarding Safe Practices Booklet is a handy guide providing practical and tangible actions that can and should be followed by anyone involved in the delivery of programs, services or activities to children participating in sport.

SIA’s Guide to Managing High Risk Activities provides guidance for ensuring child safe practices are embedded into higher risk activities involving children and young people such as travel for events and overnight stays.

SIA’s Electronic and Online Communication Booklet provides a details on how organisations, appointed officials, parents and athletes should manage communications safely.

SIA’s Photography and Filming Children and Young People in Sport Booklet outlines the steps clubs and organisations should take to safeguard children and young people from the inappropriate use of their images.

AFDA Resources

AFDA is developing Ultimate and Disc Golf-specific resources which are becoming available over the next few months.

Safeguarding Complaints and Reports

To find out about making a complaint or report about a matter related to safeguarding children and young people go HERE.