Volleyball Australia commits to SIA’s Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program

This week marks National Child Protection Week (3-9 September), an initiative that started back in 1987 to engage and educate all Australians to understand they have a part to play in keeping our children and young people safe.

As we are reminded that ‘every child in every community needs a fair go’, Volleyball Australia is pleased to announce it has opted into Sport Integrity Australia’s Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program (SISCIP).

The SISCIP has been developed by Sport Integrity Australia with the support of the National Office for Child Safety and informed through consultations with national sporting organisations, national sporting organisations for people with disability, and state and territory departments of sport and recreation.

The Program reduces risk by supporting sporting organisations to implement best practice safeguarding practices and processes. The Program acknowledges that safeguarding is the collective responsibility of all and that no individual organisation can safeguard, protect and prevent harm to all children and members that participate in sport.

At its core, the Program aims to embed a culture of child safety and member protection across all levels of sport in Australia. The objectives are to:

• build the capacity and capability of Australian sporting organisations to keep children and members safe
• lead a cultural shift which prioritises the safety of children and members, by empowering every level of sport
• enhance organisational capability to respond to child abuse threats
• bolster community confidence that sports are safe for children and members
• enable sports to demonstrate their commitment to child safeguarding and member protection.

Volleyball Australia CEO Andrew Dee says VA’s adoption of the SISCIP further demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to the National Integrity Framework to make volleyball a safe environment for all.

“Volleyball Australia is committed to ensuring that people who participate in our sport are safe. Volleyball is a wonderful sport for kids. It’s non-contact, upbeat and just so much fun, and we are doing everything we can to ensure it is also a safe environment,” Dee said.

“We are committed to reviewing our processes and policies to ensure we’re aligned with the most up to date recommendations from Sport Integrity Australia, and opting into the SISCIP is another example of this.

“We will undergo an audit of our current capabilities in child safeguarding, and with the support of Sport Integrity Australia, develop and implement action plans to improve our safeguarding measures.

“As we recognise National Child Protection Week this week, we encourage our diverse volleyball community to become engaged, educated and empowered to understand the complexity of child abuse and neglect and work together to prevent it.”

Sport Integrity Australia Acting CEO Luke McCann said Volleyball Australia is leading the way in child and member protection by embedding a safeguarding culture across all levels of sport in Australia.

“The fact that Volleyball Australia has shown genuine buy-in as an early adopter of the Continuous Improvement Program shows they are leaders in this space,” Mr McCann said.

“We look forward to working with them further as they move forward with achieving and embedding their safeguarding action plan for a nationally consistent approach to continuously improving practices to keep children and members safe.” 

For more information on National Child Protection Week, head to: https://www.napcan.org.au/ncpw/