Tamariki and rangatahi protection policy
Tamariki and rangatahi protection policy
Last reviewed June 2021
The Children's Act 2014 was part of a series of comprehensive measures brought in to protect and improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children. While we don’t work directly with children, and all contact is via the school or organisation, our tamariki are taonga and we’ve set these guidelines to make it clear to us, our community of volunteers, and our rangatahi leaders, how we should be interacting with them.
As we begin working with rangatahi to deliver projects, this policy also specifies how we awhi and manaaki (support and care for) those young leaders. As they are all 18+, the Children’s Act doesn’t apply to them, but this policy is equally important.
Any operation changes to how we do things should be reviewed against this policy.
This policy should be reviewed every 3 years.
Ensure that any and all data or information provided to Shoebox Christmas by schools or other organisations is kept safe and secure and only provided to the gifter matched with that child.
Ensure that any and all data provided by Shoebox Christmas to any individual not already in possession of that information, does not allow or increase the ability for individual identification of tamariki in a way that puts their personal or whānau safety at risk.
Ensure that any and all data provided by Shoebox Christmas to any individual not already in possession of that information, does not allow or increase the ability for individual identification of tamariki in a way that puts their personal mana or mana of their whānau at risk.
Ensure we have processes in place to ensure the hauora and haumaru (wellness and safety) of rangatahi leaders as they lead and learn over the duration of the year.
All data provided by schools and other organisations to the rangatahi leaders via Pera, is the same as the information available to the public when matched with a child. This is and will continue to be limited to: initials OR first name only of child, gender, class, school, and interests. No other individually identifying information is available to our leaders or public. It is the responsibility of the Project Manager (Pera), to filter this information if surplus detail is given by the school or organisation, before rangatahi leaders have access to this.
Any interaction any member of the trust, people volunteering on behalf of the trust, including project leaders, and members of the public have with children directly, is via the school or group, and under their protection/guidance. As these schools and groups already have processes and policies in place to ensure the safety of the tamariki and young people in their care, these will be applied as per usual. All donors, project leaders, people signing up to take part, and anyone else operating in affiliation or association with the Shoebox Christmas kaupapa, agree that any and all contact with tamariki is via the school/community group and not to be made directly with any children outside of the school’s guidance/protection.
The school/group will also be made aware of this arrangement and asked to not promote or allow direct contact to tamariki outside their supervision.
Haumaru and hauora (safety and wellness) policy for rangatahi leaders taking part in the learn and lead Shoebox Christmas program
Each rangatahi leader or kāhui member has dedicated 1:1 coaching sessions weekly with their coach. This is the first level of tiaki (care).
As a collective, each kaitiaki cohort agrees to support their peers and to be on the look out for signs of poor hauora (wellness) from their peers. This is the second level of tiaki (care), peer-care.
At each wananga, rangatahi leaders/kāhui members will complete a wellbeing check-in using the whare tapa wha framework and where appropriate, coaching and support will follow. If any member of the kāhui doesn't want to take part, they will let their coach know and will have a kōrero about this outside the group. This check-in is the third level of tiaki, self-care.
Each rangatahi member will have a contact person external to the program who they inform about the program, and are able to access when needed. The kaitiaki coach will check that each member has this in place but it is the responsibility of the rangatahi to make this connection and maintain check-ins. The purpose of this is both an external mentor to discuss their goals and progress through the program, and an escalation point, with whom the rangatahi feel safe and comfortable to approach if they have any concerns with the program or the people within the program. Examples may be a parent, other whānau, member of their community, or contact person in their iwi/hapū. The rangatahi will be asked to give the contact details of the Programme Manager to these external mentors as well as give the details of their external mentors to the Programme Manager and agrees to the Programme Manager sharing the high-level details of what they've been focusing on over the past fortnight or month. This external coach/mentor is the fourth level of tiaki, mentor-support.
If they believe it is needed, any kāhui member, the Programme Manager or Coach can escalate hauora or haumaru concerns and request a wananga with the rangatahi leader, their external mentor, and a qualified intermediary and trusted advisor (Alannah Marriot), and the kaitiaki coach or Project Manager if appropriate. This is the third level of tiaki, community-care. This is the fifth level of tiaki, external wānanga.