Department of Immigration and Border Protection

For Official Use Only

Child Safe Environments that Enhance Wellbeing Detention Environments

SUPPORTING MATERIAL

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Background The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (the Department) is committed to taking measures to ensure the safeguarding of children in our care and promoting the positive development of children and families . This is achieved by building an environment that is child safe and child friendly, and encompasses a range of strategies that help children and families to develop their full emotional , social and physical potential .

This guide is designed to be applied flexibly across relevant departmental programmes and services with the focus on held detention and community detention. Different approaches and strategies will need to be adopted to accommodate the various programmes, which impact on children .

Who can use this guide? This guide is intended to support all departmental staff and contracted service providers involved in the support, care and welfare of children and their families in immigration detention.

Child safe environments Creating child safe environments is more than simply minimising the risk of danger to children . It is about building environments which are child safe, child friendly and enhance wellbeing.

Children should feel safe, protected, respected, valued and encouraged to reach their full potential wherever they reside.

Creating child safe environments in Australia's immigration programmes is a process that involves:

• active participation and shared responsibility to promote the positive development of children and families between those who manage or operate detention centre environments and the parents, carers or legal guardians of the children within these environments

• active contribution and shared responsibility to promote the positive development of children and families within community detention environments

• informing children of the standards of treatment they are entitled to and encouraging them to speak up on issues of concern

• incorporating and implementing a range of child safeguarding strategies, protective behaviours and initiatives into immigration facilities and community detention case coordination

• identifying vulnerabilities of minors who arrive in Australia without a parent or legal guardian, and working with state and territory child welfare authorities (SCWAs) and contracted service providers to deliver welfare, supervision and support services to unaccompanied minors

• allocation of appropriate provided accommodation in community detention.

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Guiding principles The principles that underpin the development of child safe environments, and child and family wellbeing, are based on the United Nations' Convention on the Rights ofthe Child (Convention)1. The Convention emphasises the following:

• All children have equal rights to protection from abuse and neglect.

• Best interest considerations are afforded to children in our care as a primary concern .

• All children should be encouraged to fulfil their potential and inequalities should be challenged .

• All children should be encouraged to participate fully in cultural and artistic life, and have appropriate and equal opportunities provided for cultural , artistic, recreation and leisure activities.

• All children have the right to be given information about decisions and plans concerning their future.

• Organisations are to take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from all forms of abuse, neglect or negligent treatment while in their care.

• Organisations have a duty of care to children under/in their care.

How to develop a child safe environment Broadly, a child safe environment is achieved through a number of strategies including, but not limited to:

• developing guidelines and processes that clearly outline how to respond to child protection or child safeguarding issues

• identifying potential risks and dangers to children and managing those risks

• an understanding by those in 'child-related positions'2 of the different types of child abuse

• ensuring that:

o departmental staff and contracted service providers who interact with children undergo relevant jurisdictional child protection and criminal history checks (see the Department's Child-related Employment Policy)

o relevant job advertisements clearly state/define the Department's commitment to maintain child safe environments

o all relevant departmental staff and contracted service providers in child-related roles understand, comply with and are supported to complete all internal and external mandatory reporting obligations they may have

o all school-aged children in immigration programmes and immigration detention in Australia have the opportunity to access education in accordance with Australian community standards and the Commonwealth, state or territory laws in which they are accommodated, regardless of their immigration status .

1 United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights November 1989, Convention on the Rights of the Child: Adopted and opened for signature ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25

2 A role where usual duties of the position involve or are likely to involve direct contact with children and young people that is not incidental. These positions include IBP workers or contracted service providers who provide services, including health and social services, or those who supervise children and young people in an immigration programme or children and young people in immigration detention. In South Australia this includes IBP workers and contracted service providers who have ongoing access to children's sensitive or personal information.

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Physical environment

A child safe environment is developed or created by ensuring the safety of children in the physical places that they spend time . A physical environment that is child safe is one where environmental risks (including unsanitary conditions and injury risks) are minimised, including:

• a child's physical (food, safe accommodation, personal hygiene, medical care), emotional (support, nurturing) and developmental (education) needs are met

• a child is free from abuse and neglect, including exposure to family violence

• parents, legal guardians and/or primary caregivers are enabled , where possible, to meet the basic needs of their children, manage their children's behaviour and engage in family rituals

• parents, legal guardians and/or primary caregivers are consulted on decisions that affect their children, for example, decisions on food choices, health care , education and activities.

An assessment of the environment relies on a judgement about harm and how the environment may contribute to the risk of harm for a child . Child safe physical environment considerations include:

• safety and security in recreational areas such as playgrounds in immigration detention facilities

• access, control, lighting and design of shower and toilet facilities in immigration detention facilities

• monitoring visitors and, in particular, those who interact with children in immigration detention facilities

• appropriate security that prevents children from being isolated

• adequately illuminated indoor and outdoor areas that enable observation of activities and discourage victimisation attempts

• allocation of appropriate accommodation in community detention that is in alignment with Australian accommodation standards.

Questions that can be factored into existing physical environment risk management and mitigation procedures include:

• What are the environmental risks for children in held and community detention?

• Are there any places in the immigration detention centre environment that create a risk for children?

• Are there access points in an immigration detention centre environment where children can be harmed?

• Are there areas within an immigration detention facility where children may be isolated or are at increased risk of harm?

• What protective and support mechanisms are in place or need to be developed to keep children safe?

• How do we ensure the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied minors while they are awaiting status resolution outcomes?

• What support mechanisms are in place or need to be developed to keep community detention accommodation arrangements at required reasonable accommodation standards?

Mental health and social wellbeing

Mental health is defined as a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community3 .

3 World Health Organization Mental health : a state of well-being

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Promoting mental health

Broadly, mental health can be promoted by:

• creating living environments that include basic civil , socio-economic and cultural rights4

• fostering the mental health of all members of the family in immigration detention arrangements (including community detention). The mental health of parents or primary caregivers in particular can have significant impacts on the behaviour, cognitive development and mental health status of children .

Promoting stable care/social arrangements for children

Stable care/social arrangements for children can be achieved by:

• promoting stability for children and families to minimise any disruption to the child 's connection to family, guardians and education/school

• promoting and providing access to parenting programmes and activities, where applicable

• providing family strengthening activities

• providing school age children access to a curriculum based educational programme in accordance with the requi rements of the state or territory in which they are accommodated

• building life skills in children and young people, and provide them with psychosocial support in schools and community settings

• promoting continuity of care between departmental programmes.

Adopting safe and protective work practices

A child safe environment includes practicable, safe and protective workplace practices .

Appropriate venues/locations

• Choose open and visible locations when working with children .

• Make sure you are not alone with a child .

• When working one-on-one with children, obtain authorisation from a parent, carer, legal guardian or the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Delegate (IGOC Delegate) (in cases where the child is under the Minister's guardianship) .

Professional boundaries

• Avoid forming an inappropriate relationship (for example, befriending a child or young person on social media) .

• Be aware of what you say and how it might be interpreted .

• Minimise physical contact with a child as much as possible .

• Ensure any necessary physical contact is appropriate physical contact (for example, administering first aid to children who are hurt).

Professional boundary violations represent a breach of trust, a failure to meet a duty of care to children, and a failure to adhere to the requirements of the Australian Public Service's Code of Conduct. Further information is contained in the Department's Appropriate Interaction with Children guide.

4 World Health Organization Mental health : strengthening our response

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Managing privacy expectations

• Keep in mind that children often assume a high level of confidentiality when disclosing serious issues of a personal nature or reporting harassment or bullying.

• Foster a careful balance between service provision and the duty of care obligations for the safety and wellbeing of the children .

• Provide support for children to understand how and why the Department collects, uses and discloses their personal information.

Promoting the participation of children

Developing child safe environments requires the participation of children. When children are respected and valued , they are much more likely to speak up about issues of safety and wellbeing. If children feel they cannot express themselves in the immigration detention environment, there is a risk that any harm that occurs may remain undiscovered and ongoing. The following practical strategies can be adopted :

Communicating with children Practical suggestions Good outcomes Establish what safety ./ Ask children when they feel ./ Children's insight and means to children safe and when they feel responses will inform the child

unsafe. safe policy, code of conduct

./ Ensure the physical and complaints management

environment is safe, warm process reviews.

and friendly towards ./ The Department will be alerted children . to any physical danger in the

environment.

Educate children about ./ Run informal education ./ The children will understand their rights sessions on the Convention thei r basic human rights and

on the Rights of the Child. also understand they need to ./ Teach children that with meet their responsibilities .

every right they enjoy, they ./ The children will know the need to meet its difference between a 'right' and corresponding a 'want' . responsibility .

./ Undertake activities on rights versus wants.

Encourage children to ./ Ask children what is ./ There will be guidelines for staff develop their own code acceptable behaviour and and volunteers about their of conduct unacceptable behaviour. interactions, expected

This includes behaviour of behaviour and relationships adults towards children, of with children . children towards adults and of children towards children .

./ Formulate a code of conduct using 'DO' and 'DO NOT' or 'WE WILL' and 'WE WILL NOT' .

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Further information If you require further information, please contact REDACTED

This guide should be read in conjunction with the Department's Child Safeguarding Framework.

References Information for this guide came from the following:

Australian Institute of Family Studies, An information exchange for practitioners policv makers service providers and researchers working with children. families and communities.

Department for Education and Child Development SA, Child Safe Environments.

Play by the Rules, Maintaining appropriate boundaries.

Schore, A & Schore, J 2008, Modern Attachment Theory: The Central Role of Affect Regulation in Development and Treatment Clinical Social Work. val. 36. pp. 9-20.

United Nations Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child.

World Health Organization 2014, Mental health: a state otwell-being.

World Health Organization 2016, Mental health: strengthening our response .

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