Child Safety and Wellbeing Statement
We support the rights of children and young people and are committed to providing a safe and supportive service environment directed at ensuring the safety and well being of all participants.
We create and promote child safe and child friendly environments by implementing strategies that minimize risk and harm.
Our code of conduct for interacting with children and young people includes language, behavior management, supervision of children, physical contact, relationships, bullying and harassment, photography, technology and social media.
We are committed to responding immediately to a disclosure or suspicion of harm to a child.
Child safe environments don’t just happen they require ongoing planning, commitment and maintenance.
Our Guiding Principles
Our guiding principles at Burragun Aboriginal Cultural Services Australia: We endorse the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child. In support of children, families, youth, communities, and institutions we believe children deserve and need the following:
Resources to build resilience and strength in family relationships in partnership with the community and social institutions, working together with our Elders and the local Indigenous community.
Ensuring that there are appropriate pathways to redress past experiences of neglect and abuse of all children.
Committing ourselves to advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families at all levels of representation.
Education of communities to accept responsibility for the care and protection of all children and their families.
Access to opportunities in society for all children and their families at the personal, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual levels.
Ethics Statement
Regarding our business activities we will conduct ourselves in line with the following principles:
Respect and care for all people, caring for ourselves and respect and care for country.
Role modelling the revival of our cultural practices in everyday family/community life including at work by openly sharing/expressing our cultural & spiritual beliefs & practices and openly speaking our languages.
Respecting all people equally regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or religious beliefs.
Conducting ourselves with a professional attitude to work.
Taking only what we need from country and leaving nothing but footprints behind.
Acknowledging the environment/ country and our ancestors and our people.
Asking for spiritual guidance from country, creators & the ancestors.
Ensuring that there is balance between men’s business and women’s business and that both sexes have a say in the direction of our cultural business.
Practicing reciprocity (giving back) to our people, our community and especially to the environment.
Role modelling positive relationships including promoting violence free families and positive parenting.
Respecting people’s right to self-determination – Ensuring that all people involved have a direct say in things that affect our lives including in program design, content & delivery.
Modelling positive behaviors in our lives, walking our talk, being the change, we want to see in the world.
Ensuring that the creation of our products cause as little impact on the environment and that we aim to minimise the impact through conscious decisions, we seek best practice for example: printing on recycled paper only with vegetable-based inks; utilising solar power where possible, when using native timber we do not kill or cut down trees but only take a branch without killing the tree or use a tree that is already dead or has fallen down or has been knocked down.
Knowing that we cannot be perfect, being honest when we make a mistake thereby leading by example a willingness to be accountable to ourselves and others and forgiving of ourselves and others.
As Australians we have a shared history and although our history is stained by the mistakes of our for-bearers we must try to move forward together united peoples.
You are part of our Dreaming Story, it is your conscious choice as to what role would you prefer to play.
