Vulnerable Children Act
The Vulnerable Children Act has been passed by Parliament. The Act:
Agencies must ensure their contracting and funding arrangements with organisation that provide children’s service have a child protection policy and also a vetting/screening process for employees. This includes proof of identification, police and background checks, risk assessment and periodic re-assessment (every three years). People with certain convictions will be unable to be employed to work with children unless an exemption is obtained.
The list of regulated services is broad and extends not only to government services but also services that receive government funding such as counselling services, medical services, after school care, home-based services. Certain people are identified as core workers if they have particular responsibilities and work alone with children. The regulated services can be found in the first schedule of the Vulnerable Children’s Act which can be found here.
A Child Protection Policy template is on the following page. An electronic version can be found online at the Ministry of Health website.
- Requires Ministries of Education, Health, Justice, Social Development and the Police to jointly develop and report on a plan for vulnerable children;
- Creates a requirement for Ministries, and organisations or individuals who are contracted to them, to have child protection policies in place;
- Introduces new requirements to ensure there is a safe children’s workforce;
- Amends other legislation, for example Children Young Persons and their Families Act and Kiwisaver Act.
Agencies must ensure their contracting and funding arrangements with organisation that provide children’s service have a child protection policy and also a vetting/screening process for employees. This includes proof of identification, police and background checks, risk assessment and periodic re-assessment (every three years). People with certain convictions will be unable to be employed to work with children unless an exemption is obtained.
The list of regulated services is broad and extends not only to government services but also services that receive government funding such as counselling services, medical services, after school care, home-based services. Certain people are identified as core workers if they have particular responsibilities and work alone with children. The regulated services can be found in the first schedule of the Vulnerable Children’s Act which can be found here.
A Child Protection Policy template is on the following page. An electronic version can be found online at the Ministry of Health website.
