CRITERIA FOR POLICE CHECKS FOR ROTARY CLUBS AND MEMBERS
CRITERIA FOR POLICE CHECKS FOR ROTARY CLUBS AND MEMBERS
It is the duty of all Rotarians, Rotarians’ spouses, partners, and other volunteers to safeguard to the best of their ability the welfare of and to prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse of children and young people with whom they come into contact.”
For the full (and very useful) RI Manual and Guidelines see ttps://www.rotary.org/myrotary.
What does this mean for you?
Firstly there is a requirement for all Clubs to appoint a Youth Protection Officer (YPO) and inform John O’Connell the District Youth Protection Chair john.oconnell@advicefirst.co.nz of their name and contact This is just a title for a role in the club to monitor that clubs and Rotarians follow appropriate guidelines set by RI for all activities involving more or less supervision of activities with children and young people under 18 years age. The YPO is probably also the best person to monitor the Police Clearance/vetting process through the District Police Vetting contact John Grigg – grigglehome@gmail.com. Perhaps in smaller clubs this role can be undertaken by the President or Secretary.
Secondly the club role is to ensure that RI guidelines (and NZ law) are followed for any club activities involving young people e.g. Rotary exchanges, RYLA, RYPEN, RYDA, Childrens Xmas parties etc. Supervision of these activities require all or some Rotarians and supervising adults to have been cleared through police Vetting processes. Whether all or some adults require clearance depends on the level of contact e.g. RI Exchange host families require all adults in a family home to be cleared. Clearance for these adults are valid for 3 years before needing re-vetting for continued hosting.
Other activities with children and young people require at least some of the supervising adults to be cleared and these clearances will remain valid for up to 10 years (unless otherwise reviewed).
The higher level of "vulnerable children" vets have a currency of three years and then if the applicant is still involved they will need to be re-vetted.
Each club should maintain a record of the date of each vetting approval given to their members. John Grigg may be able to help clubs with any queries they have on earlier clearances through District 9940.
Since the introduction of the Vulnerable Children’s Act I understand there has been a very large number of applications which may mean that a clearance within 20 working days i.e. 1 month may NOT be achieved so consider in your club who needs a clearance and apply to John Grigg early.