Policy 5 of 6
Child Safety Policy and WWCC Register
To protect children and young people involved with Street Buffet, and to make clear what is expected of every adult in our organisation.
ADOPTED
This policy was adopted by the board of The Schaffa Foundation, recorded as adopted on 22 September 2026. It is reviewed at least every two years, and sooner if the law changes or an incident shows a gap.
Our commitment
Children and young people have a right to be safe with us. We take that seriously whether a young person is volunteering with us, attending a service with a parent, or present in the public space where we operate.
We are committed to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and to the NSW Child Safe Standards. We have zero tolerance for child abuse of any kind, and every concern is taken seriously and acted on.
CHECK THIS AGAINST CURRENT REQUIREMENTS
Child safety obligations in NSW are detailed and they change. Before adopting this policy the board should confirm its requirements under the Child Safe Standards, the Working With Children Check scheme and, if applicable, the Reportable Conduct Scheme, and should consider whether the organisation is required to register as a reportable conduct entity.
Where children come into contact with us
- Young people volunteering with us, including students completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, school service programmes or university placements.
- Children attending a service with a parent or carer.
- Children present in Tom Uren Square and the surrounding area while we are operating.
Working With Children Checks
Every board member, and every adult in a role that involves supervising or assessing a young volunteer, must hold a current NSW Working With Children Check. This includes site leaders and anyone allocated as an assessor for a young person completing an award.
Checks are verified with the Office of the Children’s Guardian before the person starts in the role, and re-verified when the check expires. Nobody begins in one of these roles on the strength of a number alone.
The register of who holds a check, their WWCC number and its expiry is not published here. It contains real people’s personal identifiers and is held in the Foundation’s governance system, visible to the board and available to auditors and funders on request.
KEEP THE REGISTER CURRENT
An expired check is the same as no check. The register is reviewed at every board meeting and any expiry falling before the next meeting is actioned then.
Young volunteers
We welcome young people who want to volunteer, and we recognise that for many it is their first experience of this kind of work.
- A volunteer under 18 must have the consent of a parent or guardian before their first shift, and we record that consent.
- We hold a parent or guardian contact for every volunteer under 18.
- A young volunteer is not left alone with an adult who is not their parent or guardian. Supervision happens in the open, as part of the team.
- During any task that brings a young volunteer into direct contact with the people we serve — serving a plate, handing something across the table — their parent or guardian stays within direct sight and reach for the whole task, not simply present at the service generally.
- This sits alongside the checks above, not in place of them. The site leader remains responsible for running the shift safely for everyone on it; a parent or guardian is responsible for their own child at the tables.
- If a parent or guardian needs to step away, their child moves to a task that does not involve direct contact with the people we serve — setup, pack-down, sorting — until they return.
- Communication with a young volunteer about their volunteering goes through our systems or copies in a parent or guardian. Adults do not contact young volunteers privately.
- Young volunteers are rostered to tasks appropriate to their age, and are never given responsibility for managing a difficult situation.
- Nothing that identifies a young volunteer is published without the written consent of a parent or guardian.
Raising a concern about a child
- If a child is in immediate danger, call 000.
- Tell the site leader or a director straight away. Do not investigate it yourself and do not question the child.
- Write down what you saw or were told, in the words used, as soon as you can.
- A director reports the concern to the NSW Child Protection Helpline (132 111) where the threshold for risk of significant harm is met, and to police where a criminal offence may have occurred.
- Any concern about the conduct of a person in our organisation towards a child is reported to the Office of the Children’s Guardian where the Reportable Conduct Scheme applies, and the person is stood down from all contact with children while it is dealt with.
Reporting is not optional and does not depend on the wishes of the person raising it, on proof, or on how senior the person of concern is. A concern raised in good faith never disadvantages the person who raised it, even if it turns out to be unfounded.
Training and review
Every volunteer is told about this policy when they join. Site leaders, assessors and board members are briefed on it before taking up the role, and again whenever it is materially changed.
This policy is reviewed at least every two years, and after any incident.