Child protection policy
safety is our top priority
Your child’s safety is our top priority!
Since we place great importance on creating a safe space where our participants feel comfortable, we have developed our own child protection policy for the young austria camps & project weeks. In December 2022, in close consultation with the specialists association Selbstbewusst in Salzburg, we began to engage intensively with the topic of child protection. Key elements in the development process of our child protection policy included a comprehensive risk analysis, an assessment of existing measures, and a detailed analysis of our feedback and complaints system.
The result of our work is a child protection policy specifically tailored to our camps and project weeks, which addresses, the following priorities:
APPLICATION PROCESS
We make sure to sensitize our counsellors to the issue of child protection right from the application process. All of our counsellors undergo a multi-stage selection process and must have an impeccable reputation, which must be verified each year by a current criminal record certificate for child and youth welfare.
CODE OF CONDUCT
As part of our child protection policy, we have developed a code of conduct for our counsellors that provides clear guidelines for interacting with our participants. This code forms the basis for working at our young austria camps.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TRAINING
All of our counsellors receive intensive training during a multi-day counsellor seminar before starting their camp assignments. Child protection is one of our key focus areas in this training. To ensure quality and to further raise awareness among our counsellors, we also offer training sessions on child protection throughout the year. In addition, we evaluate and update our child protection policy annually to be as well prepared as possible for the upcoming camp season.
TARGETED INTERVENTION MEASURES
The core of our child protection policy is a detailed and targeted action plan that provides our counsellors with clear guidelines on how to proceed should any concern or suspicion of endangerment to a child’s well-being arise at camp, despite all preventive measures. In developing this plan, we worked closely with the specialist department “Selbstbewusst” and oriented ourselves toward officially recognized child protection guidelines.
CHILD PROTECTION OFFICERS
To ensure that we can provide our counsellors with the best possible support in cases of suspected harm, we have trained child protection officers who are always available as points of contact. Our camp participants can also turn to them at any time with any concerns they may have.
FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS SYSTEM
To ensure that our camp participants can enjoy their time with as little worry as possible, we place great importance on children and young people being able to confide in our counsellors at any time.
As part of our child protection policy, we have expanded our feedback and complaints system to provide children at camp with a low-threshold way to share their concerns with us anonymously. Each of our camps has a “We’re here for you!” box with postcards on which children and young people can communicate any worries or problems. If participants prefer to reach out digitally, QR codes on our child protection posters offer that option. In addition, we provide information about external support services that children can contact if needed.
PROTECTION POLICY FOR STAFF
Because it is very important to us that not only the children and young people, but also all of our staff feel safe and comfortable at all times during camp, we have also developed a dedicated protection policy for employees. Similar to our participants, our counsellors have both internal and external points of contact they can turn to with any concerns.
Our top priority is to provide children and young people with a safe and comfortable environment across all of our young austria programs and accommodations, and to give parents the confidence that their children are in good hands with us!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!
Warm regards from our young austria camps office!
Your young austria team