Child Safety Policy

SAS Statement of Commitment 

SAS places students in homestay that are under the age of 18. SAS recognises its responsibility and is committed to child safety, protecting children from harm and being a child safe organisation.

SAS is committed to:

• Promoting and protecting the best interests of children;
• Safeguarding children who are living in homestay
• The safety, participation and empowerment of all children;
• Preventing child abuse and identifying risks early, and removing and
  reducing these risks, including risks presented by physical and online
  environments;
• Regularly training and educating SAS staff on child abuse risks; and
• The cultural safety of children from culturally and linguistically diverse
  backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a
  disability.

SAS supports and respects all children, as well as our staff and homestay hosts. All children, regardless of their gender, race, religious beliefs, age, disability, sexual
orientation, or family or social background have equal rights to protection from
abuse, harm or maltreatment.

SAS has:

• Zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be
  treated very seriously and consistently with our policies and procedures;
• Legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we have reasonable
  concern about a child’s safety, or reasonably believe that a child has been
  abused or harmed, which we follow rigorously;
• Stringent recruitment practices for all staff and homestay hosts;
• Policies and procedures in place to achieve these commitments.

Everyone working at and hosting students for SAS is responsible for the care and protection of the children within their care and reporting information about suspected child abuse or harm of children and young people. SAS is aware of the Victorian State mandatory reporting obligations and associated legislation. Child protection is a shared responsibility between SAS, all schools/institutes, students, and homestay hosts.

If you would like more information on Child Safety please feel free to contact SAS on 9485 1900 or saccomm@student-accommodation.com.au