The Children and Young People Safe Practices exist to identify and prevent behaviour that may be harmful to children and young people participating in sport. The Practices are defined in our Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy, so compliance with them is compulsory (as well as being a vital step in protecting children in sailing).

In this series of articles, we'll look at some of the Practices and give some practical tips on implementing the Practices around your club. All of these tips come from the Children and Young People Safe Practices Do's & Don'ts booklet published by Sport Integrity Australia.

This article focuses on professional boundaries, which are an essential part of the child safeguarding toolkit. Professional boundaries ensure that the relationship between a Person in a Position of Authority and a child or young person does not move from a professional one to a personal one, which can be harmful or exploitative of the child and/or their family.

Do

• Treat all children and young people equally, regardless of gender, culture, race or disability.
• Be identifiable (uniform/name badge) in your official role when delivering programs or activities.
• Ensure interactions with children and young people are focused on learning and development and relevant to the sport.
• Model professional physical and emotional boundaries.
• Respect the child or young person’s needs or concerns, and respond appropriately.
• Engage with children and young people in a manner that would be seen by a reasonable observer as maintaining reasonable boundaries.

Don’t

• Provide any form of support to a child or young person, or their family, which is unrelated to the scope of their role (unless there is an existing social, personal, or family relationship).
• Engage in social activities with the child or young person outside the scope of your role.
• Develop any special relationships with children or young people that could be seen as ‘favouritism’.
• Wear your uniform or name badge when not undertaking an official role.
• Give personal gifts or special favours to a child or young person other than official awards.
• Share overly personal information with a child or young person (for example, financial or relationship problems).
• Ask or infer that a child or young person keep secrets, such as asking them not to tell their parent/carer when you have communicated with them.
• Treat the child or young person as an ‘adult’ under guise of maturity.
• Create an emotional dependency between yourself and the child or young person.

The Child and Young Person Safe Practices are a helpful set of practical guidelines to help keep everyone safe.

To read the Children and Young People Safe Practices Do's & Don'ts booklet, click here.
If you need to report a breach of the Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy, click here.
If you have any questions about Safeguarding, contact your local Club Support team.

By Michael Arnold, National Officiating and Integrity Lead.