Information for young people under the age of 18 involved with Jesuit Social Services

This page is to help you find information to help you feel safe and well.

All staff and volunteers at Jesuit Social Services are expected to keep you safe.

We also have a Child Safety Officer to assist staff do this.

You can contact the Child Safety Officer if you feel unsafe or want to provide feedback about us and you don’t want to discuss these things with your worker / your program.

If you are in danger right now you should contact police on 000.

What we are doing to look after you

We have policies that tell staff & volunteers how to behave when they work with you.

They also tell staff what kind of behaviour is not okay.

This includes a Child Safe Policy and a Code of Conduct. You can see the Child Safe Policy here: https://jss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/6.1.29-Child-Safety-v4-May-2022.pdf

We have processes that tell staff what to do if there is a child safety problem. For example, if you tell us that you have been hurt, our processes make sure we investigate and follow up your concerns.

We talk and listen to you about our services so we can learn how to improve them. And we run surveys and exit interviews to get your feedback.

We have posters that remind you that you have a right to feel safe and how to contact us if you don’t.

Our commitment to you

We will:

• Treat you with respect and behave appropriately towards you
• Protect you from harm or abuse
• Respect you, welcome you and not make assumptions about you

We will:

• Support you to speak up and talk about what is important to you, and listen when you do
• Always listen, take you seriously and follow up if you speak up about harm or abuse (sometimes we must report this to police or Child Protection)
• Look out for risks to you safety and do what we can to reduce these risks

We will:

• Learn about, respect and support your culture and cultural background
• Support you connection with your family and community
• Talk with you and work together with you and your family

Reporting harm, abuse and other child safety and wellbeing concerns

There are laws in Australia to keep you safe.

These include laws to make sure organisations like ours treat you appropriately.

If someone has harmed or abused you, including a member of our staff or volunteers you should report this. You can ask someone, such as a friend or another staff member, to help you report this.

You can report this to:

• Child Safety Officer, Jesuit Social Services 9421 7600 or by email https://jss.org.au/feedback-and-complaints/
• Police 000
• Child Protection
• New South Wales Children’s Guardian 8219 3600
• Northern Territory, Children’s Commissioner 1800 259 257
• Victorian Commission for Children and Young people 1300 78 29 78

You do not have to have been harmed to contact us

You can also contact us if you feel unsafe, have a complaint or just want to provide feedback about how we could do things differently.

You can do this by talking to your worker, or asking to speak to the program coordinator or manager.

Or you can speak to the Child Safety Officer either by calling 9421 7600 or by completing this complaints/feedback form: https://jss.org.au/feedback-and-complaints/