Athletics Hawkes Bay Gisborne - Guidelines For Safe Practice

GUIDELINES FOR SAFE PRACTICE

WHY is this important?

Coaches, officials, team managers and club administrators are uniquely placed to see what is happening with children and young people. You have a vital role to play in their future and you can have an impact that lasts a lifetime.

Childhood sporting experiences should be positive, and it is our responsibility to provide an environment that is safe, positive and enables children to flourish.

Who is this guidance for?

This resource is relevant for all adults involved in sport delivery with children and young people. When working with children and young people in sport, we need to be aware of the position of trust we are in. There is a power imbalance between us as a person in authority and those who look up to us. We are role models, and we need to acknowledge this and have clear guidelines with personal and professional boundaries.

When engaged with athletic activities, you should always conduct yourselves professionally around children and young people. We also need to be able to recognise and respond safely to signs of abuse and neglect of children and young people.

While we aim to provide a safe environment and have the necessary preventative measures in place, we acknowledge that concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing may still arise. These guidelines are part of a collaborative approach to creating safe environments for both children or young people and team managers and other volunteers.

All adults, regardless of their role, should have completed the Athletics NZ accredited coach, community coach, community volunteer or officials membership process before being appointed.

Good Practise Guidelines

As an adult, it is your responsibility to establish and maintain clear professional boundaries with children and young people in sport. The following outlines good practice and how to establish boundaries in a range of situations. Please read and understand these guidelines, and If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Athletics NZ Child Protection Officer. Always act, and be seen to act, in the child’s or young person’s best interests within the framework of the rules.

Do not intimidate, harass, bully, humiliate, threaten, pressure, or undermine a child or young person
Ensure that language is age appropriate when talking to children and young people
Create a safe and open environment for children and young people that also reduces the risk to officials and other volunteers
Recognise that as an adult you hold a position of trust and authority. Never abuse that trust to establish an unsafe emotional connection with a child or young person. It Is particularly important to avoid any activity that could be considered grooming a child or young person. Avoid situations that may lead to questions being raised around your conduct.

Demonstrating a technique

If you need to demonstrate a technique with an athlete:

ALWAYS ask permission and advise where you will be touching them first. Children and young people have a right to refuse.
Physical contact should always take place in an open or public environment and not in secret or out of sight of others.
Be mindful of how you celebrate success. Do not use any unnecessary, unwanted or inappropriate physical contact. A congratulatory hug should be side to side.

Photographs and video

Capturing photos and videos of children and young people is an established way of celebrating achievements and promoting the activity or sport. Coaches use photographs and videos to assist with coaching and skill development and team’s use photographs and videos to provide memories of the experience for both athletes and their parents and whanau. However, there are some important considerations when it comes to photographing and videoing children.

Key guidelines include:

Written consent must be obtained from parents or caregivers before any filming or photography of children under the age of 18 can take place. Verbal consent alone cannot be accepted. If you are working at a club or school, please check if there are any children or young people who are not allowed to be photographed, otherwise be sure to check with them.
Do not publish photographs with the full name(s) of children unless you have written parental consent and you have informed the children, parents, or caregivers and whānau how the photograph will be used. This includes blogs and websites
Photography in changing rooms, toilets and showers is not allowed under any circumstances
Images should focus on the activity or technique, rather than individual children or young people.
Make sure that any official photographer at the event is also aware of what competition number(s) should not be included in photographs.

Supervision

Children should not be left without reasonable supervision. Children under the age of 14 should not be left unsupervised, except in clearly defined circumstances and with the knowledge and permission of the children’s parents. For example, going for a run in a controlled area with a set return time.

Be aware that you need to do your best to supervise everyone, for example, positioning your body to enable you to see as widely as possible or using space where the children won’t be out of sight for long periods of time. If working with young children, consider using bibs or a vest that will help to identify where the children you are responsible for may be. Counting children and young people frequently will help effective supervision, a buddy system can work well also.

Immediately address any rough, bullying or sexually inappropriate behaviour in group coaching sessions.

When working with children under 14 it is good practice to ensure you are not the only adult present. Ensure you have an appropriate ratio of adults to children, including enough adults in case someone has to deal with an emergency or gets sick. Having whanau stay for the session ensures that assistance is available if required and minimises the chances that you will be left alone with a child.. For mixed gender activities there should be an equal mix of adult supervisors.

It is safe working practice to avoid being alone with a child as much as possible. For example, if a child follows you into the sports shed or changing rooms, move yourself as soon as possible out of that one-to-one situation. It may be helpful to have some rules in place in advance, for example, stating that children can only come into an enclosed space with you two at a time. If one-to-one situations are unavoidable, take precautions such as leaving a door open, or telling another person what is happening.

Consider the start and end of each session. Try and make sure you have two children left at the end if no other adults are present. Perhaps a family may have to wait for the last child to be picked up before they go. It’s okay to ask and make that a boundary.

Keep your personal life separate

Be mindful that you are a role model for the athletes you interact with. Some information about your personal life is inappropriate for children to be exposed to. Maintain a friendly but professional manner at all times. This extends to social media. We recommend coaches and team managers do not add children or young people under the age of 16 as ‘Friends’ on social media. If social media is your main form of communication with athletes, it is more appropriate to add the child’s parents and loop them into the communication. To avoid confusion it is best practise to avoid the giving or receiving of gifts between coaches and athletes. Don’t engage in activities such as babysitting, private coaching or tutoring of athletes under 14 that could be considered grooming.

Changing Rooms and Toilets

All children must be safe in changing facilities where they may be particularly vulnerable to bullying and abuse. Responsible adults will keep children safe and respect appropriate boundaries.

Thinking about how you can effectively meet the needs of all children and young people is important. It is important to consider the facilities that are available, who can access them and whether the environment is safe for children and young people.

We know that children and young people are particularly vulnerable in changing areas. Due in part to various stages of dress/undress and because they are often less supervised than at other times.

There is a risk of child-to-child/young person-to-young person problems, such as bullying if the changing room is left unsupervised.

The following procedures can help to reduce the risk of misconduct or abuse in changing facilities:

Children/young people should be encouraged to use changing facilities as a small group if other members of the public have access at the same time as you.
Changing facilities should not be used by adults and children/young people at the same time. Where this is unavoidable, there should be access to separate changing, showering and toilet areas. Under no circumstances should adults be undressed in front of children/young people in changing rooms.
If disabled children and young people need to use changing facilities, make sure they are accessible and that the disabled child or young person and their parent, caregiver or whanau are involved in deciding if and how they should be assisted. Make sure the child can consent to the assistance that is offered.
The use of mobile phones and/or photographic equipment with video recording capabilities is not acceptable under any circumstance in changing facilities.
Where no changing facilities are available, children/ young people and their parents, caregivers or whānau should be made aware of this prior to the activity taking place.
Any adult should be discouraged from entering changing facilities at the same time as a child unless it is absolutely necessary.

Alcohol and Drugs

Under no circumstances should adults consume alcoholic beverages or be under the influence of drugs when supervising children or young people and must not offer alcohol or drugs to children or young people under any circumstances. Coaches and team managers need to be aware that as supervising adults, they may be called upon at any time to attend to any number of issues. Having alcohol or drugs in your system can affect judgement and expose volunteers to unnecessary risk. Advice on nutritional supplements should be done in consultation with parents / caregivers.

Signing children out

Clubs have a responsibility for the children and young people in their care that includes discharging that responsibility to an appropriate adult, therefore signing children in and out makes it clear who has the duty of care over the child. There are many cases where children wander off alone or get a lift with an inappropriate adult, such as a parent with a protection order that prevents them from having access to their child.

If you are coaching at a club, be sure to have a process in place with the club leaders. For example, following your session, all children return to a gathering point at a certain time where parents and caregivers can collect and sign their children out.

When working with teenagers and young people in a training squad environment, ensure you have written parental permission advising that they are allowed to travel home by themselves, or with a named person.

Travel

Adults should not provide transport to children without the specific written permission of the child’s parents/caregivers. Travelling alone with a child exposes you to risk. If permission from a parent/caregiver is granted, the child should sit in the backseat. Any person transporting children or young people as part of club travel must have a full clean driver’s license and their vehicle showing a current WOF.

When travelling with teams made up of children, the team manager should be sure to have a process in place for every location throughout the trip that ensures children are safe, supervised and accounted for.

Have all team administration sorted prior to travel

Before departing on a trip with children or young people, managers should know who they are dealing with. Parents/caregivers should sign a consent form giving permission for their child to attend the event. Make sure that the following information for each child or young person is completed:

Contact details for parents/caregivers and another emergency contact.
Any medical, dietary, mobility or religious requirements that can impact the child or young person’s health and wellbeing while on the trip, and awareness of any medical treatments that may be necessary.
If a medical condition has been indicated, ensure they have sufficient medication for the whole trip plus a little extra. If they need an EpiPen, make sure it has been supplied and you know where it is and how to use it.
Approved medical treatment if needed without immediate parental consent, such as taking painkillers, or emergency procedures as required.
Parental or caregiver consent to photographs and videos being taken of the child or young person. Or if the parent or caregivers declines to give consent then this must be known too.
Any concerns that the parent or caregiver may have about the child or young person attending this trip. Including any care and protection orders that may be in place.

Note: The above list is not exhaustive.

Overnight Stays

Overnight and weekend away events offer valuable team experiences for children and young people but these activities need to be managed responsibly to ensure children and young people are safe guarded and parents / caregivers are confident that their child’s wellbeing is central to the event.

Motels, hotels, hostels and campgrounds place children and young people in a public environment which poses a greater risk to children and young people that must be assessed and action taken to reduce that risk.

Do the windows and doors lock properly? Consider using accommodation with internal access only.

If possible, negotiate with the accommodation provider for the whole team to stay in one floor or wing. If this is not possible, groups of similar ages should be clustered in rooms near each other with at least two supervising adults.

Violent and adult only movies should be disabled on televisions.

Minibars should be unavailable in rooms where children or young people are.

Where teams are staying in venues which serve alcohol, children should always remain accompanied by two adults. For instance, when children are put to bed, two adults should remain in their own rooms close at hand. Children should know not to open the door to people who are not part of their team.

Rooming arrangement standards will be mandated:

Children and young people sharing rooms should be of a similar age and must be same gender.
Everyone needs their own bed; sharing a bed is not approved of.
Privacy to get changed and use the bathroom.
Team meetings to be held in a communal area or accommodation conference/meeting room preferably

Be clear with your team members where they should be and what areas are not accessible to them. Children should not be wandering alone in common areas where the general public may also be enjoying the accommodation.

Athletes, team managers, parents and/or caregivers will be informed of the standards and details of the team accommodation including; who their child or young person is sharing a room with, the address and contact of the accommodation, and the contact number of the team manager and/or volunteer also staying at the accommodation.

All children and young people should be given a code of conduct of expected behaviour. This should include who they can talk with if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable while away or travelling and how they can get hold of these people (for example, a number to text, or face-to-face contact).

Ensure all activities relate to the event or your planned programme. Do not detour to other venues that weren’t stated to parents/caregivers.

When considering your team managers and volunteers try to ensure there is an appropriate level of skill or knowledge for the activities being planned. At least one adult should hold current first aid certification.