The safety, welfare and wellbeing of children, young people and people with disability is of the utmost importance to CareSouth.

CareSouth is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children, young people and people with disability we work to support. This is the responsibility of everyone at CareSouth.

We have a detailed Safeguarding Commitment Statement and a Code of Conduct which guide the behaviours and work of everyone at CareSouth. This Statement and Code is authorised by our CEO and our Board of Directors.

We also have policies and procedures in place which help us to prevent any risks to child safety and build a strong culture of safeguarding. These seek to safeguard children, young people and people with disability from:
• emotional and psychological abuse
• sexual abuse and exploitation
• physical abuse
• exposure to family violence
• neglect

Everyone at CareSouth, from our Board members, to the CEO, staff, carers and volunteers, and contract workers must abide by our Safeguarding Commitment and Code of Conduct policies and procedures. Each person involved in CareSouth work has access to copy of our Safeguarding Commitment and Code of Conduct, and has to sign that they understand and will adhere to these.

All Managers, staff members and volunteers must also abide by all of our safeguarding policies and procedures. These policies and procedures support:
• our practice around direct work with children, young people and people with disability (behaviour, actions and job roles and responsibilities),
• our recruitment, checking and appointment of staff, volunteers and carers,
• how we supervise and monitor anyone who does contract work for CareSouth,
• how we uphold the rights of children, young people and people with disability, including rights to privacy and to being heard,
• how we support and respond to any abuse that is seen, or we hear about.

They give clear instructions to staff and managers about what they must do when they see or hear about abuse of a child, young person or person with a disability. We take seriously any concerns that are raised by children, young people, people with disability or their families. We keep anyone who brings a report of abuse to our attention up to date about what happens next.

We regularly check our policies and procedures to make sure that they support this culture and that our practice at all times upholds safety for children, young people and people with disability. We will listen to the voices of children, young people and people with disability as we improve and update our policies and procedures. Everyone at CareSouth is kept up to date when our policies or procedures are changed.

As part of our safeguarding culture and practice, everyone at CareSouth is trained in Safeguarding Children. We support ongoing training and access to extra safeguarding information.

We also support cultural safeguarding, respecting and upholding the traditions and practices of children, young people and people with disabilities who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, migrants or refugees.

Our commitment to safeguarding helps us to meet our obligations under the laws and standards that govern our work in NSW and the ACT.

We are proud to include our commitment to safeguarding on our website and social media, our job advertisements and the employment contracts that our staff must sign.

Safeguarding is part of what we do, everyday