Child Protection Policy
- Purpose
InTouch Talent Agency values its duty of care to protect the children who are impacted by our work (directly or indirectly) and to act in their best interests. InTouch Talent Agency is committed to the protection of children from harm, abuse and exploitation as expected in the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of the Child. This policy also takes into consideration best practice and requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 in keeping with New Zealand legislation. InTouch Talent Agency will regularly review our Child Protection Policy and procedures, which are outlined below.
- Scope
This policy is intended to apply to all InTouch Talent Agency activities. This policy is applicable to all InTouch Talent Agency personnel. This policy also extends to InTouch Talent Agency partners and associates. This policy does not extend to production teams who are required to have their own specific policy for child protection where children are engaged as contractors.
- Roles and Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of the Director to ensure that InTouch Talent Agency takes every precaution to protect the children and young people we serve and encounter during the course of our work.
- Definitions
Child protection includes prevention of and response to any risk or actual instance of physical, sexual and emotional harm, exploitation or abuse, whether done directly to a child or with communications/technology.
A child is any person under age 18.
Child abuse is defined in The Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1989, as “…the harming (whether physically, emotionally, sexually), ill-treatment, abuse, neglect, or deprivation of any child or young person.”
- Recruitment
Recruitment involves the hiring of staff, contractors, consultants and suppliers in New Zealand and overseas to work for InTouch Talent Agency. InTouch Talent Agency seeks to minimise child abuse risk through every step of the onboarding process by including our child protection commitments in all onboarding documentation and full police checks of all staff working with child photos.
- Interactions with children
InTouch Talent Agency acknowledges the significance of protecting children while represented by InTouch Talent Agency. All staff working for InTouch Talent Agency will receive resources and support to effectively and safely look out for the well-being of children in our agency.
InTouch Talent Agency will publish one photo of each child on our website for the purposes of promotion for paid commercial and production work in the NZ Film Industry, with written consent from the parent who has joined their child to our agency. InTouch Talent Agency will not for any reason publish text, photographs or other forms of information that may cause harm to a child or represent a child in an inappropriate or illegal (harmful, abusive or exploitative) manner. Representation of a child in photo or text from InTouch Talent Agency’s data image bank and from other official InTouch Talent Agency sources will be consistent with InTouch Talent Agency ’s usage guidelines. Please refer to the InTouch Talent Agency’s Photography Guidelines for more information and for InTouch Talent Agency approved consent forms.
- Misconduct
InTouch Talent Agency will promptly investigate all reported actual or suspected breaches of this policy and, where grounds are found to exist, will take appropriate corrective measures and/or report the matter to the relevant authorities. InTouch Talent Agency reserves the right to initiate appropriate action up to and including employment/contractual termination for staff or other representatives, or for volunteers/interns, to sever the volunteer relationship.
- Procedures with Regard to Production Partners
Verification of due diligence and risk management on the part of delivery partners. This includes liaising with our production partners to receive a copy of their child protection policy.
- Incident Reporting
InTouch Talent Agency strives towards incident reporting which is child friendly. If you do have a concern you should immediately follow InTouch Talent Agency’s child abuse reporting procedures.
Who should report?
All staff.
What should be reported?
Any disclosure, concern or allegation from a child, community member, staff or associate regarding the safety, abuse or exploitation of a child (this includes actual, suspected, or risk of abuse or harm to a child)
Any observation or concerning behaviour exhibited by any member of Team InTouch or associated productions that breaches the Production’s Code of Conduct for Working with Children.
When to report?
Child abuse concerns should be raised immediately.
Who to report to?
In New Zealand: Child abuse reports should be made to the director of InTouch Talent Agency.
How should it be reported?
Verbally and by completing the InTouch Talent Agency child abuse incident reporting sheet.
What will happen next?
The Director will review the allegations and then decide upon the next step. This will involve one or more of the following:
Interviewing the person/persons who made the allegations and/or other witnesses to gather more information with which to make a decision about the allegation;
Reporting to local police and or child protection authority when it is suspected or becomes clear that a crime has been committed, or if require assistance to determine the appropriate course of action;
- Reporting to local child protection services as necessary
- Handling the concern internally if it is not a criminal matter
- No further action taken
- Providing support to all stakeholders (including reporter) as necessary