Tag Archives: Duty of Care

ChildSafe

Podcast 022: Is your workplace ChildSafe?

Posted on by
Is your workplace ChildSafe?
  To support the podcast, you can donate here.

Is your workplace ChildSafe?

In this episode of the Ultimate Youth Worker Podcast ‘Is your workplace ChildSafe?’ Aaron speaks with Neil Milton about how we as youth workers can support young people by being ChildSafe. Neil Milton is the General Manager of ChildSafe. Neil has worked as a youth worker in schools, churches and Not for Profits across Australia. He has also worked for World Vision and has his own street clothing business helping prevent youth suicide. Neil is passionate about making sure children are protected from abuse and harm and that organisations know their responsibilities in regards to child safety. Neil is a public speaker, motivator and he enjoys exercising and hanging out with his wife and kids.

In todays episode Aaron and Neil speak about the work of ChildSafe Australia and their mission to serve organisations and individuals working with children and vulnerable people, with the goal of improving their well-being and safety. We take our commitment to child safety very seriously at Ultimate Youth Worker and have used many of the resources from ChildSafe to help us in making our commitment tangible.

ChildSafe is “a harm prevention charity for the promotion of the prevention and control of behaviour that is harmful or abusive to children and young people when in the care of an organisation”. Children and young people deserve the best endeavours of an organisation towards their safety. This involves more than good intentions, or the assumption that harmful incidents will not happen. Organisations working with children are under increased community scrutiny in relation to screening workers, risk management and the quality of care they offer.

You can find more information about Neil on LinkedIn.

Today’s resources

Here are links to some articles and training that have bearing on todays podcast.

Thanks for Listening!

     
To support the podcast, you can donate here.

To share your thoughts:

  • Share this cast with a friend or colleague.
  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Share this show on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest.

To help out the show:

  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help the podcast and I read each one.
  • Subscribe on iTunes.
  • Do the online ChildSafe Training

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

Preventing child abuse, how can we do it?

Posted on by

There are 42 articles in the Convention of the Rights of the Child that are predominately centred around the idea that parents and governments are responsible for the physical and emotional safety of children. The convention states that children have a right to feel safe from any type of harm. As parents, mentors, teachers, youth workers or anyone else who is in a position of authority, it is our responsibility to uphold this right. Unfortunately, children are still being harmed.

It’s hard to believe that in a country like Australia, there is still a frightening amount of children experiencing child abuse each year. In Australia between 2016–17, 168,352 children received child protection services, a rate of 30.8 per 1,000 children aged 0–17. Of children receiving child protection services in 2016–17:

• 119,173 were the subject of an investigation (21.8 per 1,000)

• 64,145 were on a care and protection order (11.7 per 1,000)

• 57,221 were in out-of-home care (10.5 per 1,000).

Specifically in Victoria, 11,077 children were the subject of substantiated investigations, and 11,111 were the subject of investigations that were not substantiated.

The chart below indicates that rates of child abuse have either remained the same or increased over a five year period between 2011 and 2016. Of particular note are the rates of child emotional abuse, which are gradually increasing each year.

Why the increase in rates of emotional abuse?

The increase of rates of emotional abuse could be attributed to the fact that emotional abuse of children became more well recognised after the Royal Commission into Family Violence, and therefore more heavily reported on. Whereas historically, emotional abuse was not always as obvious and was often difficult to identify (compared to physical and sexual abuse).

The Royal Commission into Family Violence was conducted from 2015-2016 and its’ aim was to prevent family violence, improve early intervention, support victims, make perpetrators accountable, better coordinate community and government responses as well as evaluate and measure strategies, frameworks, policies, programs and services. It was established following a series of family violence related deaths in Victoria, most notably – 11 year old Luke Batty – who was killed by his father in February 2014 following a long history of violence perpetrated against his mother, Rosie Batty.

According to the Royal Commission into Family Violence;

The Royal Commission highlighted this issue within the family violence service system and developed recommendations for change. This could explain the increased rates of reported emotional abuse from 2014-2016.

So how do we prevent child abuse? This is a very loaded question and I can’t expect any one person to have the answer. For this reason I’ve asked some professionals within the Ultimate Youth Worker community to share their thoughts on this important topic. They’ve shared their experiences and wisdom from several different perspectives.

The child protection perspective:

  • What do you see as the main factors in the prevention of child abuse? How can we help parents and families to avoid inter-generational abuse?

“When thinking about preventative approaches to child abuse I think it’s constructive to recognise the use of primary, secondary and tertiary services as the platform for better ensuring the safety and well-being of children and reducing the risk of inter-generational abuse and neglect.

All interventions need to be grounded in an understanding of the complex and compounding issues associated with abuse and neglect including (but not limited to); AOD, family violence and mental health factors. The focus should be on the delivery of psycho-education to increase community and public awareness around risk and protective factors for children, their development and healthy family dynamics.

It should also involve the development of intensive programs, strategies and interventions that target already vulnerable families giving them maximum opportunity to break the cycle of violence. Furthermore, these programs must be culturally specific, relatable and engage therapeutic supports and rehabilitation programs to reduce the risk of future harm to families already challenged by the experience of violence.

In some instances, this needs to be balanced with the use of mental health interventions, legal prosecutions and criminal proceedings where necessary and appropriate. This is in order to reduce risk of recidivism and ensure greater responsibility and accountability for those perpetrating harm.”

(Lani, social worker)

The young person’s perspective:

  • What are some of the most common behavioural traits that you see in young people that have experienced abuse or family violence?
“Not trusting adults and going through an extended phase of “testing” when they meet a new adult. A young person might put on different masks at different stages of the testing phase. Initially, they might be very nice, then become very quiet and reserved. Once they feel that you are safe to be around they can often escalate, testing you with all different kinds of challenging behaviours.
One of the most challenging things young people who have experienced violence and abuse face is low self worth and self esteem. They often don’t believe they can be good at anything, so you need to find little things that demonstrate their strengths and reinforce these things.
It’s important to support these young people by consistently being there with positive reinforcement and a protective environment.”
(Nadav, youth worker)

The family/parent perspective:

  • What’s your experience of working with families where abuse has occurred? 

“Most of my contact is with the mother, some of whom are not Australian citizens. These women hold tremendous strength and resilience where their visa status is unknown, access to government income is little or non existent, access to affordable housing is not an option and their rights to their child/ren are questioned by child protection and challenged by the family courts. In some cases, where returning to their country of origin will place the family in danger from relatives, they are overlooked by our family violence refuge and housing systems.

In the face of so much adversity, it is these women that continue to prioritise their child/ren’s safety and continue to parent their children as best they can with little to no resources.

Many women we work with, both CALD and Australian born often don’t understand that they have been experiencing family violence. A large part of our work is assessing immediate safety and risk. We work from a client centred, trauma informed and strengths based framework.

However there is an enormous amount of work (educative model) to explain and unpack their experiences of family violence. We start to introduce these concepts to the women. As we are a crisis service, we hand this over along with the case plans to the refuge for the ongoing family violence case management of the women and children. From there they are linked into group work and victim-survivor advocacy.

It is quite shocking sometimes when speaking to women where there is no understanding that the violence is abuse and a criminal act. It’s about providing information and options and allowing them the space to reflect on their experiences and shift their understanding.”

(Cindy, social worker)

The child’s perspective:

  • How can we help children in the prevention of child abuse?

– Create a safe space within schools and support services that children can feel comfortable within if they need to disclose abuse.

– Encouraging children to speak out if something has happened to them.

– Educating school staff and other professionals (early child care workers, social workers, GPs, nurses, psychologists) to look out for signs of harm/abuse and train them how to navigate a disclosure of abuse.

– Making books available in your service or classroom that promote body safety. Such as books by Jayneen Sanders.

– Having story books available in your service or classroom that discuss family violence.

– Therapeutic work with children and families.

(Sammy, social worker)
It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a multi-faceted approach to keep children safe from harm. This was beautifully highlighted in the responses above. Thank you to all of our members who shared their thoughts and experiences with us today. This isn’t an easy topic to write about and we appreciate the wealth of knowledge our members have to share.
This article isn’t intended to be a definitive answer on how we protect our children from harm. It is intended to start a conversation based on the knowledge of people who deal with this issue on a daily basis. We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

At Ultimate Youth Worker, we are committed to being a child safe organisation that recognises, respects and promotes children’s rights. Read more about our commitment in our blog. Thank you for taking the time to visit us today, make sure you visit our social media pages and join in the conversation.

Further Reading:

https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/66c7c364-592a-458c-9ab0-f90022e25368/aihw-cws-63.pdf.aspx?inline=true

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/domestic-violence/family-domestic-sexual-violence-in-australia-2018/data

Jessy Hall

Jessy is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Ultimate Youth Worker. Jessy has been working as a youth worker since 2014 in a variety of different roles. His passion for youth work began whilst volunteering on a YMCA program for young indigenous leaders, after being inspired by the strength and passion of the young people on this program he immediately began his studies at Chisholm Institute of TAFE where he completed a Diploma of Youth Work. Since then, Jessy has expanded his knowledge and skills in the field by working in residential care facilities, being part of an Australian first evidence based foster care program (TFCO) and partaking in various trainings in youth mental health and other relevant areas to his work.

Jessy currently lives in Melbourne but is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime and drive around Australia in a four wheel drive with his partner. He plans to work along the way and explore the different opportunities available for youth workers in Australia. Jessy has dreams to one day start his own organisation dedicated to developing the next generation of socially engaged and passionate young people.

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn

Mandatory reporting of abuse for youth workers may be a thing of the past.

Posted on by

We have spoken a number of times about the duty of care that youth workers hold to report abuse. In Victoria, youth workers are currently not mandated by legislation to report abuse. However this looks like it will change very soon. In a move to enact recommendations of the Victorian enquiry into child sexual abuse two pieces of legislation are set to be tabled. These pieces of legislation will require all adults to report abuse under threat of jail time if they do not.

See the news article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-25/failure-to-report-child-sexual-abuse-will-lead-to-jail-term/5343960

We at Ultimate Youth Worker applaud the Victorian government for this move and hope that it comes with the substantial resources required to follow up on the reports to come.

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

Hot potatoes for youth worker’s: I was sexually abused.

Posted on by
There have been many times in my career that I have been stopped in my tracks by something that has been said to me by a young person. None of them have had the effect on me that dealing with an allegation of sexual abuse has. Whether you are a youth minister, a chaplain, a street outreach worker or a case manager it is highly likely that you will deal with this at one stage in your career. According to the Centre’s Against Sexual Assault here in Victoria 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men are survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
I do not remember the first disclosure that was made to me but over the past decade or so I have had dozens. From young people in child protection custody to children from well to do families I have been on the recieving end of a number of quite horrific disclosures of abuse and neglect. The one thing I do remember is that if it wasnt for my training and the ammount of role plays that we did I would not have been ready to deal when the young person said they were sexually abused.
Recently I have been training chaplains in how to deal with a disclosure of sexual abuse and I thought it prudent to share this with you. Here are a few thoughts to help you in your response.

  1. Remember your duty of care. Any disclosure of abuse needs to be taken to the appropriate authorities. You are there for their safety first and foremost.

  2. Make sure that they are currently safe and that they will continue to be safe. If they disclose that they are being abused at home and that it happens every night then they need to be protected now… not in a couple of weeks.

  3. Listen to their allegation. If you have already spoken to them about your duty of care and they continue then they genuinely need to get it off their chest. Listen intently so that you can make notes later.

  4. Refer them to the police and child protection. In most developed states and countries the police and child protective services are the ones tasked with investigating abuse claims. You are not an investigator, you are a confidant.

  5. If it is possible, contact the young persons parents and involve them in the process of referral and healing.

  6. Finally make notes. you may be called on to give evedence in a court case so as soon as is practicable write down a detailed description of what was said and what you observed from the young person.

Above all of this you must comply with your states and countries legislation. If you are required to report issues of sexual abuse you MUST do it. We at Ultimate Youth Worker believe that we all have an ethical requirement to report even if we are not mandated. 

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

Are we to soft on young people exhibiting sexualised behaviours: Youth work dilemma.

Posted on by
Today I was speaking with a group of people from within the education and human services sector about working with young people who exhibit sexually abusive behaviours. What we mean here is young people aged over 10 and under 16 who sexually abuse others. When having this discussion it became apparent that there were two different opinions in the room. The Education view was to intervene early and deal decisively with the behaviours at the earliest point possible. The human services view was to deal with the behaviours only when they became problematic.
 
One view was early intervention and preventative. The other was critical intervention. As someone who has worked in the human services I struggled with the heavy handed approach of the education  sector. One case they spoke of had a child suspended after rubbing himself against a fellow classmate. The human services also struggled with this. They commented that this would not even be an issue that they would look at.
 
After listening to this discussion I started to think that perhaps we are allowing young people to exhibit sexual behaviours to  early. When children under 10 are regularly having sex and children even younger are experimenting with their bodies and each other have we as a society already lost the battle? Young people by nature will experiment with their sexuality, but are we as youth workers to soft on them when they exhibit inappropriate behaviours?

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

What is youth work without innovation and risk?

Posted on by
As a youth worker in the current neo-liberal regime we are told to play it safe, cover your arse and don’t do anything that could get you in trouble. We are living in a world of risk aversion! We see our young people as always at risk. We are at risk of losing our job. Our organisation is at risk of losing funding. There are risks everywhere and it is our job to minimise these risks.
 
When I began as a youth worker camps and daytrips were a staple of almost every youth service. A bit of a wrestle at a Friday night youth group wasn’t unheard of. Leaving a male youth worker alone with a group of young people was seen as ok. I remember going on a snow camp where the campsite we were staying at unexpectedly ended up with a mud pit after a torrential downpour. That mud pit ended up as our very own wrestling ring and young people and leaders alike wrestled to their hearts content and washed it off with a dip in the local dam. 
 
 
In our current risk averse way of doing things we are at-risk of doing nothing to support our young people lest we end up getting in trouble. Its a vicious cycle. Youth work was innovative and ahead of the curve. Today it seems sterile and unimpressive. Aside from a few canny outlaws the whole service sector is becoming bland.
 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

– Mark Twain

Youth workers are innovators! We improvise, adapt and overcome. We have big ideas and some of them require risk. Calculated risks can bring great rewards. I don’t want any youth worker I work with to get twenty years into their career only to look back and believe they haven’t achieved. I want explorers. I want dreamers and I want discoveries. We are in one of the most exciting times known to the human race and if our work is bland we have no one but ourselves to blame. Make your work exciting!  

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

Youth work organisations shirk their responsibility

Posted on by

Organisations must care for their staff

This morning I got to have breakfast with one of my amazing mates. Over the healthiest option I could care to find (a double shot latte and a three stack of pancakes and maple syrup) we discussed the ins and outs of the youth sector. Particularly we spoke about the stress that comes with the job. We also spoke of the ability that some roles have to help youth workers burnout. anecdotally we believed that the average youth worker lasts two years and if you are in a role like resi-care you are lucky to last six months.
 
After we had chewed the fat for a while mainly bitching about how hardly done by we are as youth workers our attention turned to the organisations who employ us. There is a duty of care that organisations owe to their staff which we at Ultimate Youth Worker believe is being allowed to lapse. Many years ago unions fought for the eight hour work day. In my career I have never worked an eight hour day. Sleepover shifts circumvent OH&S legislation. Staff are exposed to vicarious trauma and poorly debriefed. Youth workers are forced to work within bureaucratic frameworks that require more work and less reflection. 
Self care is an organisational responsibility
The average youth worker drowns in bureaucracy and its worse if they don’t look after their self care

Many of the staff that we come across at Ultimate Youth Worker want to do their job to the best of their ability and they all say that they could use more support from their managers. Most managers we meet would love to support their staff but are drowning in paperwork and their own lack of support to be able to help anyone. Then when all hell breaks loose we crucify the staff and managers for not doing their job right. If there is not time to reflect and maintain self care what do we expect!!!

Organisations that value their staff develop them as much as they develop their young people. Managers carve out time for professional development, supervision and the overall welfare of their staff. Organisations actively develop policy and procedures to support their staff to do their job effectively and without to much vicarious trauma. Organisations REQUIRE professional development of their staff and demand that their managers support their staff as whole people not just staff.   
 
We don’t get paid enough to do the job and get treated like crap. Organisations need to take responsibility for their staff wellbeing, for sustainability of the sector and for their own reputation. Funding bodies are not immune from their responsibility either!

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

Do you have a code of ethics???

Posted on by
Working with young people has led me to be in some dicey situations throughout my career. I have worked with young people who use drugs like candy, who have been so abused they have no boundaries and those who have no fear of the future and live like it. I have been in flop houses, under bridges in the middle of the night, in the middle of resi brawls and in situations that would make sailors blush. It is in these times that I wonder what my lecturers would have told me about my situation and a code of ethics.
 
When the chips are down and we are in one of those situations your old lecturer told you not to get into the only thing you have to rely on is a code of ethics. Whether it is a personal code or a professional code it guides your behaviour in those sticky situations.
 
So what code do you live by??? Do you have a personal code that you live by??? Put another way, what gets you out of bed in the morning. What do you believe so intrinsically that keeps you on the right path?
 
What about your organisation? Do they subscribe to a particular code of ethics??? have a look at a few codes and see what they involve… YACVic, AASW and APS are just a few. Does your nation or state have a code of ethics your orginisation could or should follow???
 
A lot of questions this week. over the next few weeks we will unpack this a bit. In the meantime you can read some of Howard Sercombe’s work on codes of practice.
 
 

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

What’s left in your top draw while your on Christmas holidays???

Posted on by
Every year in the lead up to Christmas I get so excited about the time off that I have coming up that everything takes its slow excruciating time to get completed. Projects need to be wrapped up, budgets reconciled and my desk tidied so that everything looks neat. In the final throes of my work week before Christmas I begin to be overwhelmed by the growing mountain of work which hasn’t been able to be completed. It is around this time that I sweep my desktop into my top draw and hope it all works out until next year. 
 
 
 
The danger of this way of ending things is that after all that work building relationships our young people end up as a burden to us getting to our holiday. We are in such a rush to get out of the office (and sometimes rightfully so) that any interruption or worry that come from our young people is seen as the end of the world. But what would happen to your young person if while you are on holiday they get thrown out of home, or they are caught up in a family violence, or they become pregnant, or, or, OR! What would happen if those worrying behaviours came to the fore? What if while you are living it up with family or at the beach or in the mountains their life begins to crumble? What did you do in the last few weeks before you went on holidays to provide for them in their time of need… the one Murphy said would happen when you weren’t there.
 
Throughout the world there are many different ways of handling this situation, from having someone in your team covering your cases to employing an independent agency to take over. Perhaps you work in a church setting and most families will be away as well who is there to help? Another pastor, a deacon or another family? The point is you need to have a plan in place for the young people who rely on you and your counsel. If your organisation has a plan great, follow it and hope all goes well while you are sipping a Mai Tai. If not you need a plan. Here is our plan!!! Its not fool proof, but it has worked well for us in the past.
 
  1. Assess risk
    • Write a list of your young people and use the basic traffic light system to rate how at risk you think they are (GREEN = No Risk, YELLOW = Some Risk, RED = High Risk). If your not sure about a case chat with your colleagues.
    •  If necesary you may even need to do a formal assessment. You may do a K10 or an  AISRAP assessment or if further assessment is required get them assessed by a qualified health professional. 
      •  
       
  2. Impliment a safety plan
    • For those who are assessed as YELLOW give them a couple of names, numbers or online supports they could contact eg. lifeline, kids help line or counselling online (You will need to develop a list of contacts in your area that meet this criteria)
    • If you assess a young person as RED you could do the same as with a YELLOW, however you also need to up the ante. You need to make sure that you have a conversation with the young person stating your concern. Ask them to make a list of five people they could speak with or go to if there was an issue that arose while you were away. Ask to refer them to a specialist organisation such as a mental health, drug and alcohol rehab or family violence service if you believe the risk to warrant ongoing supervision. Take them to their General Practitioner and discuss the options with them. If necesary you may even make a statutory report. Make sure you document all the steps you have made as to cover your backside if anything goes wrong… because even the best laid plans can go awry.
     
     
    The most important thing is to make sure that what ever is left in your top draw will survive the holiday break. Just as you would not leave a piece of fruit in the top draw you need to be sure the things you leave in the top draw will be ok while you are away. Once you have attended to all the cases needed and ensured that you have done the best you can to make sure nothing and no one is left un-aided you are able to have a good break. Knowing you have set plans in place for your clients helps you switch off and gives you the freedom to enjoy your break without worrying and thinking about what else you should have done. You cannot ensure anyone’s safety fully but you can put in place plans to protect it as best you can.
     
    Now that the draw is clean, left with just the keys you want kept safe, have a great break and we will see you after Christmas … We are having a break as well. No post next tuesday the 25th.
     

Merry Christmas and enjoy some family time.

 

If you haven’t yet, sign up for our newsletter to find out all the goings on at Ultimate Youth Worker. (Sign up here)

You can sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right, or click here.

You can also leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter.

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube

What is a youth workers Duty of Care: Reporting abuse

Posted on by
Over the past few weeks I seem to have had a number of people ask about ethical practice and duty of care in youth work. Many of these discussions have come about from grey situations arising or where multi-disciplinary teams where at work. I have been asked this question by young and old, qualified and unqualified, veteran and newbie from youth worker’s all over the globe. What this question really boils down to is what is my ethical duty when something happens that I believe is morally questionable??? The short answer is it depends on a number of factors!

Know your legal responsibility.

Here in Australia we have a number of different legislations in different states which cover the discussion of a youth worker’s ethical duty of care and legal responsibilities to report abuses when supporting young people. Some are very stringent and others do not require youth workers to do anything. In the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania the legislation’s are fairly robust and clear about the requirements required of people in a youth work position. In the Northern Territory they have a very broad definition of who is mandated to report by saying “any person with reasonable grounds”. In Western Australia a very clear list of professionals is listed however youth workers are not required to report. In my home state of Victoria only doctors, nurses, principals of schools and teachers, and police officer are mandated to report abuse. Youth workers are listed in the legislation but not enacted as mandatory reporters.
 
Throughout the globe different countries require different actions from youth workers the best bet is to contact your local youth peak body or government department for clarification. What this means for each individual youth worker is a matter of legal interpretation and your own moral compass.
 

Know your own values.

Even though youth workers are not mandated to report abuse in Victoria The team here at Ultimate Youth Worker would argue that we have a moral requirement to report abuse to the authorities. But where does this lead??? What do we report on??? Abuse!!! Physical, Sexual, Emotional and Neglect. But this can lead to some difficulties with youth work theory and practice. What is the central theoretical framework for youth work practice? We would argue RELATIONSHIP. We know this is contentious and we will get some negative feedback, but we develop our RELATIONSHIP with young people as a means to support them as a whole person. But is the RELATIONSHIP more important than a young persons safety and protection from abuse???
What is OK? If a parent smacks their 13 year old is it reportable? What if it was with a belt? or a baseball bat? When does a smack turn to a beating? When does a beating become abuse? What about sex??? Is it OK for a young person to have sex? What about age differences? Is two years OK? What about four? How about 20? What if the young person is 12 and they are drunk? What if a young person tells you that they have to cook their own meals at home? What is they do everything? For a youth worker there is no black and white, there is only differing shades of grey.
When young people are navigating the storms and stresses of adolescence it is messy. For one young person in a particular situation a youth worker will act one way. For another, they will act completely differently. Professional discretion and practical wisdom are key to the practice of a youth worker who is not mandated to report abuse. All this being said it comes down to a judgement call. What does your gut tell you??? Is it OK for a father to beat their teen till they bleed? Is it OK for a 12 year old to have sex with a 16 year old? Is it OK for a young person to be left to their own devices because a parent is neglecting them? Your answer will determine your course of action.

Ask your colleagues.

Have a conversation with your colleagues around the issue at hand. Use your peer consultation network. Ask what they would do! Take their advice. Peer consultation, unlike a chat about the weekend around the water cooler, describes a process in which critical and supportive feedback on style and worker identity is emphasized while evaluation of practice is not. Consultation, in contrast to supervision, is characterized by the youth worker’s, “right to accept or reject the suggestions [of others]” (Bernard& amp; Goodyear, 1992, p. 103).
Call your local child protection office and ask for a secondary consultation. Ask them what your responsibility is and what you could do from there. Find online casino bonuses here. Use every network you have to discuss the issue and see what options are open to you.

What is my duty of care?

If you are not mandated it is really up to you! If your organisation doesn’t have a policy it is really up to you! If you have a reasonable belief that a young person is being abused it is really up to you! RELATIONSHIP is important, but never at the expense of the young persons safety.
We will continue to develop the idea of our duty of care as youth workers of the course of this blog. Reflect on your practice and that of others you have seen. If you have questions and you will (We still do) leave a comment below or get to us on the social networks.

If you haven’t yet, sign up for our newsletter to find out all the goings on at Ultimate Youth Worker. The form at the top right of this page is all you need to do.

You can also sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right.

 And by all means leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter. We will get back to you.

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestYouTube