School Policies, Procedures and Contracts

Abuse Prevention Policy

Atlantic Canada Language Academy does not tolerate any kind of abuse. Atlantic Canada Language Academy has a zero tolerance of abuse (verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual) committed by an employee, contract teacher, volunteer, student, or third party.
Atlantic Canada Language Academy mandates employees, contract teachers, volunteers, students, and others to report any kind of abuse and disciplinary penalties for those who commit such acts. No employee, contract teacher, volunteer, student, or third party, no matter his or her title or position, has the authority to commit or allow abuse.

Specifications for Minors

All children have the right to safety and protection. Atlantic Canada Language Academy does not tolerate child abuse and takes the issue of child protection very seriously. It is essential that Atlantic Canada Language Academy personnel recognize the problem of violence against children, the impact it has, how to prevent it, and what to do in order to protect children when violence is suspected or known. Child abuse involves any form of physical, emotional and/or sexual mistreatment, or lack of care that could cause physical injury or emotional damage to a child, whether done in person or through the use of technology (including but not limited to computers, the Internet, cell phones, cameras, web cameras, and other media). All forms of child abuse, actual or attempted, are considered unacceptable.
Atlantic Canada Language Academy is dedicated to taking the necessary steps to ensure that Atlantic Canada Language Academy personnel are made fully aware of and understand the importance of ensuring child protection, and adhere to this policy and the responsibilities it establishes for them, both organizationally and job related. Child protection entails responsibilities and activities undertaken to prevent or to stop violence and abuse against children. All concerns raised under our child protection policy will be dealt with promptly and will be treated seriously and sensitively.

Abuse

Physical Abuse is an act intended to cause feelings of physical pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.

Sexual abuse includes sexual molestation, sexual assault, sexual exploitation or sexual injury. Any incidents of sexual abuse reasonably believed to have occurred will be reportable to appropriate law enforcement agencies or regulatory agencies.

Verbal/emotional abuse is a negative defining statement told to the victim or about the victim, or by withholding any response, thereby defining the target as non-existent. This may include bullying (which often has a physical component) to gain status as superior to the person targeted and to bond with others against the target.

Prevention

1. Recruitment processes include procedures to deter and prevent potential child abusers from entering the organization. All employees, volunteers, interns and contractors must follow the same screening as it relates to Child Protection. All employees, contractors, interns and volunteers must provide a satisfactory police background clearance to work with Atlantic Canada Language Academy.
2. Employees working with juniors have signed a declaration that they are fit to be working with such students
3. When working with a student one-on-one, the door to the room is to be left open.
4. An employee cannot take junior students to a place/destination outside the usual venue of the program without prior approval of the program supervisor.
5. An employee cannot be alone in a private setting with a junior student without the knowledge and approval of the program supervisor. Reporting Procedure.

It is mandatory for employees, contractors, interns and volunteers to report any witnessed, suspected or alleged incident of child abuse or violation of the child protection policy.

If you are aware of or suspect abuse taking place, you must immediately report it to the HR Manager. If the suspected abuse is to an adult, you should report the abuse to an ‘Adult Protective Agency’ and if it is a child who is a victim then you should report the suspected abuse to the ‘Child Welfare Agency’ by telephone or in person. Appropriate family members in care of children should be notified of alleged instances of (sexual) abuse.
The alleged instance of sexual abuse should be notified to Atlantic Canada Language Academy’s insurance agent.

• Who must report: Every person with responsibility for the care of children is required to make a report. Generally, this covers anyone dealing with the care or supervision of children. Specifically it covers every teacher, staff, other school official, and parents/guardian.
• What requires a report: A person is required to report when he/she has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has been or may be subjected to abuse or neglect, or observes a child being subjected to conditions or circumstances which would reasonably result in abuse or neglect.
• To whom must the report be made: The alleged incident must be reported to the Human Resource Manager. When an allegation of child abuse has been made against one or more employees or volunteers, and the matter has been reported to the Human Resource Manager, an investigation must be commenced immediately.

Responding to Reports

The Director(s)(s) of the school take the lead in responding to accusations or reports of suspected maltreatment.

Before a Report of Maltreatment Is Made

If a parent or staff member voices concern to a Director(s) about a child being abused, even if the situation is not considered to be possible maltreatment, the Director(s) needs to respond quickly. The Director(s) should follow several steps, including:

• Meet with the “reporter” to hear the concerns and to collect details about the incident. Document what is said and agreed upon during this meeting, and let the parent know what steps will be taken.
• If appropriate, meet with the child to discuss what took place. The Director(s)(s) should be very general and low-key and should use open-ended, rather than leading, questions (e.g., “How did you hurt your arm?” rather than “Did your teacher grab your arm too hard when you wouldn’t listen?”).
• Meet with the staff person separately to hear the account of what took place. If this is a case of inappropriate behaviour, but not abusive, the Director(s) should review the program policies. It is important to define the consequences that will occur if the teacher’s or any other staff member’s behavior does not improve during a specified period of time. The Director(s) should then observe the individual’s behavior over time, document improvements or the lack thereof, and respond accordingly.
• If appropriate, arrange separate meetings with the staff person and the parent to review each account of the incident and to clear up any miscommunications or misunderstandings. The Director(s), the teacher/staff, and the parent should reach some agreement on how the child’s behavior will be handled in the future.
• Make a report to Child Welfare Services if the Director(s) suspects at any time during these discussions that maltreatment has occurred.
• If the parent or a staff member, however, alleges that any sexual abuse or serious physical abuse took place, the Director(s) must report this to Child Welfare Services and should not talk with the alleged perpetrator.

After a Report of Maltreatment Is Made

Once a report of suspected child abuse by a teacher/staff member has been filed with Child Welfare Services or with other authorities by a parent, staff, or the Director(s), the Director(s) should respond as follows:

• Cooperate fully with the investigation and respond quickly to the authorities’ requests for information.
• Work with Child Welfare Services or law enforcement to decide when to talk with the staff person who has been accused of abuse or neglect. Despite feelings of loyalty to staff, it is crucial that the Director(s) remember she is not trained in how to investigate allegations, and any involvement by the Director(s) or other staff could jeopardize the investigation by Child Welfare Services or law enforcement. For instance, while the rights of the accused must be protected, if another staff member notifies the alleged perpetrator of an impending accusation, it may provide enough time to hide possible evidence or to pressure a colleague or a child to recant.
• Advise program staff, including the accused, to cooperate fully with Child Welfare Services and to provide the requested information. All staff should be reminded about professional practices and program policies regarding confidentiality and should be instructed not to discuss the specific allegations with the media, with parents, or with others. Doing so may affect the case, for example, by creating rumors.
• As program policy requires, place the accused staff person on administrative leave or reassign her to tasks that do not involve direct contact with children.
• Have the accused staff member refer all questions about the allegation from non- Child Welfare Services sources (e.g., the media) to the Director(s).
• Talk with the Child Welfare Services caseworker to find out if the agency is notifying other parents of children in the program about the case. Child Welfare Services may do so in order to determine if other children make or corroborate claims of maltreatment.
• Handle all media requests for information and explain to the staff how the requests will be managed. This should occur in consultation with Child Welfare Services in order not to jeopardize the investigation or to break confidentiality. The report of alleged child abuse or neglect within a school is newsworthy, and the Director(s) should cite the organization’s policy about protecting the confidentiality rights of the child, the child’s family, and the accused teacher/staff member. The Director(s) also should be prepared to give information about how the safety of all the children in the program is being protected.
• Keep Child Welfare Services authorities informed and pass on any pertinent information received from teachers, staff, parents, or other children.
• Offer or provide counseling or support services to other staff members during the investigation.

Investigation and follow up

Atlantic Canada Language Academy takes all allegations of abuse seriously and promptly and thoroughly investigates whether abuse has taken place. Atlantic Canada Language Academy will use an outside third party to conduct an investigation. If Atlantic Canada Language Academy has a trained internal investigation team in place, the team will be used to investigate the incident. Atlantic Canada Language Academy will cooperate fully with any investigation conducted by law enforcement or other regulatory agencies. It is Atlantic Canada Language Academy objective to conduct a fair and impartial investigation.

Atlantic Canada Language Academy will make every reasonable effort to keep the matters involved in the allegation as confidential as possible while still allowing for a prompt and thorough investigation.

Upon completion of the investigation, disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment or expulsion from the program and criminal prosecution may ensue.

The Accused Person’s Response

A child care provider who is accused of maltreating a child should take the following steps:

• Document immediately any pertinent information, including a description of the incident and a list of witnesses.
• Ask others who were present to document their accounts of what happened, but take care not to pressure others to recant or to alter their accounts.
• Write a description of the relationships with the child, the family, or the colleague making the accusation. For instance, have there been previous disagreements over practices in the past? Has the family expressed concern about the treatment the child has received?
• Keep a copy of these statements and give one to the Director(s).
• Prepare to meet with the representatives of the agencies involved, which may include, law enforcement, and licensing authorities. It may be necessary for the staff person to hire legal counsel.
• Clarify his/her job status during the investigation. If the program policy is to place an accused staff member on administrative leave, the teacher/staff member should find out from the Director(s) when or under what circumstances she will be allowed to return.
• There also are situations when a parent or staff member suspects the Director(s) of child maltreatment. In such instances, the concerned parent or staff member should contact Child Welfare Services or law enforcement.

Anti-retaliation

Atlantic Canada Language Academy prohibits retaliation made against any employee, contract teachers, volunteers, students and others who reports a good faith complaint of abuse or who participates in any related investigation. Making false accusations of abuse in bad faith can have serious consequences for those who are wrongly accused. Atlantic Canada Language Academy prohibits making false and/or malicious abuse allegations as well as deliberately providing false information during an investigation. Anyone who violates this rule is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination or expulsion from the program.

After the Investigation Is Completed

Once the investigation has been completed by the authorities, the results may indicate that maltreatment occurred, may clear the accused staff member/teacher, or may be inconclusive. If the Child Welfare Services investigation clearly indicates that maltreatment occurred, the program’s response must be to terminate the teacher/staff member’s employment. If the results are inconclusive, the program will have to make a judgment based on the children’s well-being, the concerns of parents and staff, and the program’s liability if allegations are made in the future. If the staff member is cleared of any wrongdoing, the program will need to support the individual upon returning to work with the children and families.