Respond to a child safety concern about a volunteer coach

You are the duty manager at the Summit Community Sport Hub.

Simulated workplaceIntermediate missionCAQA Summit Sport and Recreation

What is going on

A parent has told you at the front desk that a volunteer coach has been messaging their under 12 player privately about training. Morgan Reyes has stood the coach down from child-related duties and opened a confidential entry in the incident register. The child safety policy requires the concern to be reported the same day, assessed against the reportable conduct scheme and the club informed, with the child and family supported and confidentiality maintained. The club has a game tonight and the coach is expected on site. Angela Moreau is the only other person to be told. Everyone involved is upset and the parent wants to know what will happen next.

Morgan Reyes, Customer Experience and Safety Manager
Subject: Child safety concern at the sport hub, confidential

A parent has reported that a volunteer coach messaged their under 12 player privately about training. I have stood the coach down from child-related duties and opened a confidential entry in the incident register. I want you to work with me on the response as the duty manager on the night. Read the child safety policy and the code of conduct, check the coach's record in the Working with Children Check and qualifications register, record the parent's report accurately, and help me plan the support for the child and family and the communication to the club. Nothing goes outside the two of us and Angela.

Your brief

Take the parent's report accurately and respectfully, check the coach's record, help plan the immediate and follow-up response under the child safety policy, manage the coach's attendance tonight without breaching confidentiality, and support the child and family while keeping complete confidential records.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

Read the child safety and wellbeing policy, the code of conduct and the emergency response procedure, and list the reporting steps, the people who must be told and the timeframes.
Meet the parent in a private space, listen without judgement, record what they report in their own words on the incident report form marked confidential, and explain what will happen next.
Check the coach's Working with Children Check verification, child safety induction and code of conduct signature in the qualifications register and record what you find.
With Morgan Reyes, assess whether the concern must be reported to the police, child protection or the reportable conduct scheme, and record the decision and the reasons.
Plan how the coach's stand-down will be managed tonight so that the coach does not attend the game in a child-related role, without disclosing details to other club members.
Plan the support for the child and family, including who will contact them, what they will be told and how the child's views will be heard.
Draft the confidential communication to the club president stating the stand-down and the process, without the details of the allegation.
Update the incident register entry with each action, owner and date, and note the review date.

My notes: what did I enjoy, and what surprised me?

What someone in this role would produce

Confidential incident report form with the parent's report
Register check record for the coach
Reporting assessment and decision record
Stand-down and support plan
Draft communication to the club president

Printing this is a record of what you explored. It is not a certificate or a qualification.