Soccer des collines code of conduct for protecting children
Introduction
The Club de Soccer des Collines (CSC) has developed the following Code of Conduct to guide our employees/volunteers in their interactions with children. The safety, rights and well-being of children we serve are at the core of our daily programs. We nurture supportive relationships with children while balancing and encouraging appropriate boundaries.
Why a Child Protection Code of Conduct is important?
CSC is committed to ensuring all children are protected and safe. A Code of Conduct is an important part of creating safe environments for children. The safety, rights and well-being of children participating in our programs is a priority for the board and the technical committee.
The intent of the Code of Conduct is to guide our staff/volunteers in developing healthy relationships with the children involved in our programs and to model appropriate boundaries for children.
Treating Children With Dignity and Maintaining Boundaries
All staff/volunteers must:
- Treat all children with respect and dignity
- Establish, respect, and maintain appropriate boundaries with all children and families involved in activities or programs delivered by the organization
It is important to monitor your own behaviour towards children and pay close attention to the behaviour of your peers to ensure that behaviour is appropriate and respectful and will be perceived as such by others.
All your interactions and activities with children:
- should be known to, and approved by the board and/or technical/discipline committee, where applicable, and the parents of the child
- tied to your duties, and
- designed to develop the child’s skills in Soccer
Always consider the child’s reaction to any activities, conversations, behaviour or other interactions. If at any time you are in doubt about the appropriateness of your own behaviour or the behaviour of others, you should reach out to secretaire@soccerdescollines.com, they are the club’s certified contact with regards to child safety, they can guide you and answer any related questions.
Examples of unacceptable behaviour toward a child:
- embarrassing
- shaming
- blaming
- humiliating
- putting them down
General Rules of Behaviour
Unless witnessing direct sexual assault in which case it should be reported to Police immediately, staff/volunteers of the organization must not:
- Engage in any sort of physical contact with a child that may make the child or a reasonable observer feel uncomfortable, or that may be seen by a reasonable observer to be violating reasonable boundaries.
- Engage in any communication with a child within or outside of duties with the child, that may make the child uncomfortable or that may be seen by a reasonable observer to be violating reasonable boundaries.
- Engage in any behaviour that goes against (or appears to go against) the organization’s mandate, policies, or Code of Conduct to Protect Children, regardless of whether they are serving the organization at that moment
- Conduct their own investigation into allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal or inappropriate behaviour – it is a staff/volunteer’s duty to report the matter to secretaire@soccerdescollines.com and not to investigate.
What Constitutes Inappropriate Behaviour
Inappropriate behaviour includes:
- Inappropriate Communication. Communication with a child or his/her family outside of the context of duties for the organization, regardless of who initiated the exchange. For example:
- Personal phone calls not tied to duties with the child
- Electronic communications (email, text message, instant message, online chats, social networking including “friending”, etc.) not tied to duties with the child
- Personal letters not tied to duties with the child
- Excessive communications (online or offline)
- Inappropriate Contact. Spending unauthorized time with a child outside of designated duties with the organization.
- Favouritism. Singling out a child or certain children and providing special privileges and attention. (for example, paying a lot of attention to, giving or sending personalized gifts, or allowing privileges that are excessive, unwarranted or inappropriate.)
- Taking Personal Photos/Videos. Using a personal cell phone, camera or video camera to take pictures or videos of a child, or allowing any other person to do so, as well as uploading or copying any pictures you may have taken of a child to the Internet or any personal storage device. Pictures taken as part of your job duties are acceptable, however, the pictures are to remain with the organization and not be used by you in a personal capacity.
Inappropriate behaviour also includes:
- Telling sexual jokes to a child or making comments to a child that are or is in any way suggestive, explicit or personal.
- Showing a child material that is sexual in nature, including, signs, cartoons, graphic novels, calendars, literature, photographs, screen savers, or displaying such material in plain view of a child, or making such material available to a child
- Intimidating or threatening a child
- Making fun of a child
Inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated, especially as it relates to the well-being of the children involved in activities or programs delivered by CSC.
Whether or not a particular behavior or action constitutes inappropriate behaviour will be a matter determined by CSC having regard to all of the circumstances, including past behaviour, and allegations or suspicions related to such behaviour.
All employees and volunteers involved with the Club need to get familiar with the Guidelines for Adults and Teenagers Interacting with Children in Sport published by Commit to Kids and available here:
https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_CoachingAssocCanada_Interacting_en.pdf
Reporting Requirements
All staff and volunteers must report suspected child sexual abuse, inappropriate behaviour or incidents that they become aware of, whether the behaviour or incidents were personally witnessed or not.
What, where and how to report:
- All allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behaviour (for example, child sexual abuse) that a staff/volunteer witnesses first-hand, must be promptly reported to police and/or child welfare and also to secretaire@soccerdescollines.com
- To ensure the protection of all children in our care, all allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behaviour that a staff/volunteer learns of or hears about must also be promptly reported to secretaire@soccerdescollines.com. They will in turn engage the board, technical or discipline committee and the Police and/or child welfare and will work with them to determine if the allegation or suspicion requires further investigation.
Keep in mind that you may learn of potentially illegal or inappropriate behaviour through the child or some other third party, or you may witness it first-hand. Examples of the type behaviour you may learn of or witness and that you must report as set out above includes:
- Potentially Illegal behaviour by a Staff/Volunteer of the organization
- Potential Illegal behaviour by a third party, such as a Parent, Teacher, Babysitter, Coach, etc.
If you are not sure whether the issue you have witnessed or heard about involves potentially illegal behaviour or inappropriate behaviour, discuss the issue with secretaire@soccerdescollines.com who will support you through the process.
Remember: You have an independent duty to report all suspicions of potentially illegal behaviour witnessed first hand directly to police and/or child welfare.
Follow up on reporting
All allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behaviour will be dealt by CSC with following guidelines established by Commit to Kids: https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_StepsForReportingChildAbuse_CAC_en.pdf
When an allegation or suspicion of potentially illegal behaviour is reported, police and/or a child welfare agency will be notified. CSC will follow up internally as appropriate.
All allegations or suspicions of inappropriate behaviour will be dealt by CSC with following guidelines established by Commit to Kids: https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_StepsForReportingInappropriateConduct_CAC_en.pdf
When an allegation or suspicion of inappropriate behaviour is made, CSC will follow up on the matter to gather information about what happened and determine what, if any, formal or other disciplinary action is required.
In the case of inappropriate behaviour, if:
- multiple behaviours were reported
- inappropriate behaviour is recurring, or
- the reported behaviour is of serious concern
CSC may refer the matter to a child welfare agency or police.
