Child Protection Policy

Papamoa Beach Family Practice has a commitment to child protection and his policy has been developed in observance of relevant legislation including current versions of:

• The Children’s Act 2014
• Children, Young Person’s and Their Families Act 1989
• Care of Children Act 2004
• Domestic Violence Act 1995
• Privacy Act 2020
• Victim’s Rights Act 2002
• Domestic Violence Act 1995
• Human Rights Act 1993
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC)

Policy Statement

As an employer, Papamoa Beach Family Practice is obligated to ensure that Child Protection knowledge is current and policies/practices are in place to keep children and young people who access services safe and taking steps to best ensure that abuse and neglect, both actual and potential, along with general concerns about child wellbeing and vulnerability are identified and appropriately responded to within the practice.  This policy provides guidance for staff on how to identify and respond to concerns about the wellbeing of a child, including possible abuse or neglect.  Whether it is inside or outside work, as family members, friends, neighbours or workmates, we all have opportunities to support parents and keep children and young people safe.

Scope

This policy applies to all employees of and contractors, trainee doctors and nurses, and volunteers working on behalf of, Papamoa Beach Family Practice who work directly or indirectly with Tamariki/children and their whānau /families.

Accountability

As Papamoa Beach Family Practice is a service provider contracted by the WBOP PHO we shall meet our contractual obligations and will keep a copy of our child protection policy on our website.
All employees responsible for contracted services for Tamariki/children and Rangatahi/young person and their whānau/family are to be provided with adequate training to ensure that they understand and implement the obligations under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 (the Act).

Designated Person (DP) for Child Protection

As of 15/03/2026, the designated person for child protection is Keri Carter (Nurse Lead). In her absence, advice can be sought from any GP director on site.

The practice DP holds the responsibility for child protection for the practice, for ensuring child protection is a key focus, and that appropriate protocols and procedures, such as child protection policy implementation, staff training, and support is in place. Responsibilities include:

• Being a source of advice, guidance and support for staff who may have child protection    concerns;
• Ensuring the Child Protection Policy is reviewed regularly (at least every 3 years);
• Ensuring that staff are informed of any changes;
• Ensuring required staff have received and recorded regular child protection training;
• Ensuring practices and procedures within the organisation have a child protection lens applied;
• Overseeing the maintenance and confidentiality of child protection records and documentation.

Note that the responsibility for maintain police vetting and safety check for staff remains with the Practice Manager (Adele Hedges).

Definitions of Abuse

Given the link between family violence, intimate partner violence and child abuse, it is also important to understand these terms:

Other Important Definitions

Key Children’s Services (relevant to this policy)

The Children’s Act 2014

The Children’s Act 2014 strengthens the safety of children in New Zealand by:

• Ensuring health providers adopt child protection policies
• Making sure individuals in the health workforce have the core competencies to recognise and act on a child who may be vulnerable to abuse
• Achieving higher quality safety checking across the entire children’s workforce in New Zealand. Under the Children’s Act 2014, specified organisations (which include general practice), are required to conduct safety checks of all team members they employ or engage and to have these safety checks updated every three years.

Papamoa Beach Family Practice conducts our own safety checks. The designated person responsible for ensuring safety checks are current is Adele Hedges (Practice Manager). Safety checking must always be done in accordance with existing legal protections such as the Privacy Act 2020 and the Human Rights Act 1993. Refer to Appendix One for Requirements for Safety Checking.

Safer Recruitment and Safety Checks

Papamoa Beach Family Practice undertakes a safer recruitment strategy when seeking new employees. Key aspects of this include:

• Identity Confirmation by way of dual communication methods (usually phone and email), and requesting copies of current certified professional registration for all clinical staff.
• Face to face Interviews (or very occasionally video interviews where required) conducted by a minimum of two interviewers (at least one who has knowledge of Child Protection initiatives) across one or two interviews.
• Interview Questions regarding conflict management and whether the applicant has any known professional, legal or child protection barriers to undertaking employment and how they would manage a situation where a child or young person disclosed abuse.
• Professional Registration confirmation is sought from the relevant professional organisation, licensing authority or registration authority that the proposed employee is a current member of the organisation or registered by the authority.
• Referee checking: A minimum of two referees are sought and questions are also asked of each referee with regards to conflict management and whether there are any known legal or child protection barriers to undertaking employment. Referees must not be related or be part of the individual’s extended family.
• Orientation to Child Protection Policy at time of onboarding. All non designated people for child protection are advised to refer directly to the nurse manager (Keri Carter) or a GP director if disclosure of, suspicion of, or evidence of child abuse or neglect is received or observed.
• Risk Assessment is undertaken to consider whether the (potential) team member poses a risk to the safety of children if employed or engaged by evaluating all the information provided.
  Decision making is reasoned, based on evidence, and to put the child at the centre. Decision makers also need to consider whether they need to seek outside expert advice and further referees, and to raise any issues with team members.
• NOTE: Responsibility for safety checking rests with the employing or contracting organisation, who must exercise due diligence when relying on checks undertaken by others.

Safety Checks for Current Employees

Periodic rechecking every three years is required and must cover: confirmation of any changes of an officially recorded name, updating the checks with the relevant professional registration body or licensing authority, a fresh New Zealand Police Vetting, and a risk assessment based on these checks.

Safety Checks for Contractors

If a self-employed person or sole practitioner is contracted by an organisation or individual that is funded by a state service to provide regulated activities, the funded organisation or individual is required to ensure that a safety check of the practitioner is completed. This situation includes self-employed or sole practitioners who have formed separate legal entities and are employed or engaged by Papamoa Beach Family Practice.

Training and Professional Development in Child Protection

All team members must complete induction training with an in-house clinician (who has completed the recommended Fundamentals of Child Protection training and/other child protection training within the past three years) to decrease the incidence of child abuse and neglect.

Induction training should include information on:

• barriers that may prevent us from helping tamariki in need
• potential signs of child abuse and neglect
• how to respond effectively if abuse or neglect is recognised or disclosed
• legal and best practice frameworks which support an organisation to address any concerns
• how to deal with child protection concerns, including documentation and reporting to the nurse manager (Keri Carter) or in her absence a GP director.

Clinical team members responsible for keeping up to date with developments in child protection, with ongoing continuing professional development (CPD), refresher training, and taking opportunities to engage in updates on child protection practice are strongly encouraged. This helps ensure that everyone maintains current knowledge of best‑practice responses, legal obligations, and emerging issues affecting tamariki and whānau.

By signing this policy, staff acknowledge that they have received up to date induction and/or internal/external child protection training updates at the time of signing.

Confidentiality and Information Sharing

The Privacy Act 2020 and the CYPF Act allow information to be shared to keep children safe when abuse or suspected abuse is reported or investigated. Under sections 15 and 16 of the CYPF Act, any person who believes that a child has been, or is likely to be harmed (whether physically, emotionally or sexually), ill-treated, abused, neglected or deprived may report the matter to Oranga Tamariki or the Police.  Provided that the report is made in good faith, the person making the report is protected from civil, criminal or disciplinary proceedings.

Recognising Child Abuse or Neglect

Child abuse and neglect can take many forms. While there are different definitions and categories of abuse, it is not so important to be able to categorise the type of abuse or neglect. It is, however, important for staff to consider overall wellbeing, family/whānau’s circumstances, child characteristics, or parental characteristics that can be evidence of increased risk (including family/whānau/intimate partner violence).

It is normal for staff to feel uncertain, but the important thing is to be able to recognise when

something is wrong, especially if a pattern is notices or there are several signs triggering concern.

Signs of Abuse

Signs of Neglect

Responding to Suspected Abuse or Neglect or Other Concerns

Staff who have a concern about child protection or suspect abuse/neglect are obligated to report their concerns. If a staff member has general concerns about a child then they should discuss the case with a colleague – preferably the DP (Keri Carter) but otherwise a GP director for input about whether the concern warrants formal reporting or whether it the child and their whanau/family need support to access help in the community to reduce the risk for child abuse/neglect (e.g. HIP, Health Coach, School Social Worker, Strengthening Families or Whanau Ora).

All staff should know how to contact the New Zealand Police and Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Children) to make a report of concern.

• If a child is in immediate danger, then the staff member should phone 111 to request Police.
• If there is no immediate danger, but a child has disclosed abuse or there are concerns about abuse or neglect, then a phone call should be made to Oranga Tamariki on 0508 326 459 for advice.
• A follow up email report may be required to be sent to contact@ot.govt.nz.

When a child discloses abuse

1. LISTEN to the child – Disclosures by children are often subtle and need to be handled with particular care, including an awareness of the child’s cultural identity and how that affects interpretation of their behaviour and language.
2. REASSURE the child – Let them know that they are not in trouble and have done the right thing in sharing this information with you.
3. ASK open ended prompts – “what happened next?”
4. DO NOT:
   • Interview the child (beyond open ended prompts)
   • Make promises that you cannot guarantee (e.g. promises the you will keep them safe)
5. If the child is visibly distressed then provide appropriate reassurance and try to engage in appropriate activities under supervision so that you can action next steps.

If a child is in immediate danger

1. Call 111 and request the Police immediately.
2. As soon as possible, formally record the disclosure. This must include:
   • A ‘word for word’ documentation of what the child said.
   • The date, time and who was present at the time of disclosure.

Recording and notifying Oranga Tamariki/Child, Youth and Family of suspected child abuse or neglect

Key Considerations for Recording a Suspicion of Child Abuse or Neglect

Formal recording of suspicions should include:

• Anything said by the child
• The date, time and location
• Names of any other staff present or involved
• Clear identification of factual concerns or observations that have led to the suspicion of abuse or neglect (see tables in Recognising Child Abuse or Neglect)
• Any actions taken by yourself or Papamoa Beach Family Practice as an organisation
• Any other relevant information that may help inform future actions.

Decision Making

No decisions about child protection should be made in isolation. Any concerns should be discussed with the DP (Keri Carter) or the child’s primary GP provider.

Storing of Information

All relevant documentation/reports must be kept securely to ensure confidentiality is maintained. This is achieved by inputting information directly in to the child file on the PMS. Information from external sources should be scanned directly in to the patient file by the DP (Keri Carter) as soon as possible. The clinical notes and scanned documents can be marked confidential if required with an alert to be set to advise other staff that there is a child protection report on file. Confidential notes can be accessed by the DP (Keri Carter) at any time.

Informing Parents or Caregivers

Making the decision to inform parents or caregivers of a suspected or report of a suspected case of child abuse or neglect must be discussed with the DP (Keri Carter) or the child’s primary GP provider.

Consideration must be made with regards to the safety of the child should the parent or caregiver be made aware of suspicion or report and the impact this may have on their seeking of health  care in the future.

Notifying Oranga Tamariki/Child, Youth and Family

Oranga Tamariki should be notified promptly if there is a concern that a child has been, or is likely to be abused or neglected.

• The preferred method of initial notification is via phone call to the Oranga Tamariki Intake Social Worker on 0508 326 459 so that the nature of concerns can be discussed and appropriate responses/actions advised.
• A follow up email notification to contact@ot.govt.nz may be required.

Oranga Tamariki, otherwise known as the Ministry for Children or Child, Youth and Family is responsible for:

• Looking in to a situation to find out what may be happening.
• Establishing whether their service needs to work with the child and whanau/family.
• Establishing whether the whanau/family need to be put in tough with community organisations who can provide support to reduce risk for child abuse/neglect.

When a concern does not amount to a notifiable suspicion

When a concern is identified that does not meet the threshold for suspicion that should be notified to Oranga Tamariki or the Police, it may be harmful to the child and their whanau/family to make a report to the above mentioned organisations. In these situations, it may be advisable to link the child and their whanau/family in with community based resources (e.g. Strengthening Families, Budgeting Services, Mental Health Services). The primary GP provider or Health Coaches linked to Papamoa Beach Family Practice can support with these processes as required (to refer to Health Coaches, send a task via Medtech Evolution PMS to ‘HC’)

Concern involving a colleague

Concerns involving a staff member must be notified immediately to the DP Keri Carter (Nurse Manager).

Where there is a concern about colleague/staff member involvement in child abuse or neglect, addressing the needs of the child must be the first priority and appropriate steps for notifying relevant authorities undertaken.

Maintenance of the privacy of the staff member (implicated or suspected) in the workplace must be ensured if concerns are not verified.

Papamoa Beach Family Practice will, as an organisation, act in good faith when managing disclosures or suspicions involving a staff member. Appropriate advice may be sought from an employment law specialist as part of managing disclosures or suspicions. The staff member implicated (or suspected) is entitled to a support person and/or representation by their union representative and/or any legal representation of their choosing to be present at any meeting. The staff member implicated (or suspected) may be stood down from duties while investigation takes place. There will be no negotiation entered in to with an employee who is implicated or suspected of child abuse or neglect with regards to voluntary resignation in exchange for cessation of disciplinary action or future references (to do so would not align with the promotion of a culture that values child protection).

Associated Policies

• Privacy Policy
• Maori Health Plan
• Collection and Storage of Documents Policy

Appendix One: Requirements for Safety Checking.