ESSC - Child Protection Code of Conduct

The Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club has developed the following Child Protection Code of Conduct to guide our employees/volunteers in their interactions with children. The safety, rights, and well-being of the children we serve are at the core of ESSC’s daily programs. The Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club nurtures supportive relationships with children while balancing and encouraging appropriate
boundaries.

WHY A CODE OF CONDUCT IS IMPORTANT?

The Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club is committed to ensuring all children are protected and safe. A Code of Conduct is an important part of creating safe environments for children. The safety, rights and well-being of children participating in our programs is a priority in the daily operations of the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club. The Code of Conduct intends to guide the Club’s staff and volunteers in developing healthy relationships with the children involved in sports programs delivered by ESSC, and to model appropriate boundaries for children.

TREATING CHILDREN WITH DIGNITY & MAINTAINING BOUNDARIES

All staff/volunteers must:
● Treat all children with respect and dignity.
● Establish, respect, and maintain appropriate boundaries with all children, families and friends involved in activities or programs delivered by the organization.

It is important to monitor your behavior towards children and pay close attention to the behavior of your peers to ensure that behavior is appropriate and respectful and will be perceived as such by others.

All of your interactions and activities with children should be:

• Known to ESSC and the parents of the child.
• Tied to your duties and designed to develop the child’s skills within ESSC programming.

Always consider the child’s reaction to any activities, conversations, behavior, or other interactions. If at any time you are in doubt about the appropriateness of your behavior or the behavior of others, you should discuss it with the Technical Director of the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club or any of the board members via email format or schedule a 1on1 meeting with any of those  individuals.

Examples of unacceptable behavior toward a child:

• Embarrassing them.
• Shaming them.
• Blaming them.
• Humiliating them.
• Putting them down.

GENERAL RULES OF BEHAVIOUR

Staff/volunteers of the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club must not:

• Engage in any sort of physical contact with a child that may make the child or a reasonable observer feel uncomfortable, or that may be seen by a reasonable observer to be violating reasonable boundaries.
• Engage in any communication with a child within or outside of duties with the child, that may make the child uncomfortable or that may be seen by a reasonable observer to be violating reasonable boundaries.
• Engage in any behavior that goes against (or appears to go against) the organization’s mandate, policies, or Code of Conduct to Protect Children, regardless of whether they are serving the organization at that moment.
• Conduct their investigation into allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal or inappropriate behavior – a staff/volunteer must report the matter to the designated person, Child Welfare Agency, or law enforcement, not to investigate.

WHAT CONSTITUTES INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR?

Inappropriate behavior includes:

1) Inappropriate Communication.

Communication with a child or his/her family outside of the context of duties for the organization, regardless of who initiated the exchange. For example:

o Personal phone calls, not tied to duties with the child.
o Electronic communications, (email, text message, instant message, online chats, social networking
including “friending”, etc.) are not tied to duties with the child.
o Team group chats are permitted, however, there must be a minimum of 2 Adults involved with the
chat group. For example, Head Coach and Team Manager or a Parent.
o Personal letters, not tied to duties with the child.
o Excessive communications (online or offline) This code is intended as an example only. Groups must
adjust for use, considering any existing policies, local legal and licensing requirements.

2) Inappropriate Contact

o Spending unauthorized time with a child outside of designated ESSC duties.

3) Favoritism

o Singling out a child or certain children and providing special privileges and attention. For example, paying a lot of attention to, giving, or sending personalized gifts, or allowing privileges that are excessive, unwarranted or inappropriate.

4) Taking Personal Photos/Videos

o Using a personal cell phone, camera or video to take pictures of a child, or allowing any other person to do so, as well as uploading or copying any pictures you may have taken of a child to the Internet or any personal storage device.

o Pictures taken as part of your job duties are acceptable (i.e., game action, team photos etc.), however, the pictures are to remain with the organization and not be used by you in a personal capacity.

5) Inappropriate behavior also includes:

o Telling sexual jokes to a child or making comments to a child that are or is in any way suggestive, explicit or personal.
o Showing a child material that is sexual, including, signs, cartoons, graphic novels, calendars, literature, photographs, screen savers, or displaying such material in plain view of a child or making such material available to a child.
o Intimidating or threatening a child.
o Making fun of a child.

Inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated, especially as it relates to the well-being of the children involved in activities or programs delivered by the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club.
Whether or not a particular behavior or action constitutes inappropriate behavior will be a matter determined by ESSC having regard to all the circumstances, including past behavior, and allegations or suspicions related to such behavior.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

All staff and volunteers must report suspected child sexual abuse, inappropriate behavior or incidents that they become aware of, whether the behavior or incidents were personally witnessed or not.

Where to report:

1) All allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behavior (for example, child sexual abuse) that a staff/volunteer witnesses first-hand must be promptly reported to the police and/or child welfare.
2) To ensure the protection of all children in our care, all allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behavior that a staff/volunteer learns of must also be promptly reported to the police and/or child welfare. Police and/or child welfare will determine whether the allegation or suspicion requires further investigation.
3) All allegations or suspicions of inappropriate behavior (see above examples), that a staff/volunteer learns of, or witnesses first-hand must be reported to the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club’s Technical Director and/or any member of the ESSC Board by email.

Keep in mind that you may learn of potentially illegal or inappropriate behavior through the child or some other 3rd party, or you may witness it first-hand. Examples of the type of behavior you may learn of or witness and that you must report as set out above includes:

a) Potentially Illegal behavior by a Staff/Volunteer of the organization.
b) Potential Illegal behavior by a 3rd party, such as a Parent, Teacher, Babysitter, Coach, etc.

If you are not sure whether the issue you have witnessed or heard about involves potentially illegal behavior or inappropriate behavior, discuss the issue with the Technical Director or board member who will support you through the process.

Edmonton Strikers Soccer Members/Club Technical Director:

Club President - email: presidency@edmontonstrikers.com

Club Registrar - email: registrar@edmontonstrikers.com

Technical Director - email: techdir@edmontonstrikers.com

Remember: You have an independent duty to report all suspicions of potentially illegal behavior directly to police and/or child welfare.

FOLLOW UP ON REPORTING

When an allegation or suspicion of potentially illegal behavior is reported, police and/or a child welfare agency will be notified. The Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club will follow up internally as appropriate.
When an allegation or suspicion of inappropriate behavior is made, the sports organization will follow up on the matter to gather information about what happened and determine what, if any, formal or other disciplinary action is required.

In the case of inappropriate behavior, if:

• Multiple behaviors were reported.
• Inappropriate behavior is recurring, or
• The reported behavior is of serious concern the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club may refer the matter to a child welfare agency or the police.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR CHILD PROTECTION

Guidelines for Adults Interacting with Children in Sport:

https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_CoachingAssocCanada_Interacting_en.pdf

Reporting Sexual Abuse and Misconduct:

https://www.commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_CoachingAssocCanada_Misconduct_en.pdf

Steps for Reporting Child Abuse:

https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_StepsForReportingChildAbuse_CAC_en.pdf

Steps for Reporting Inappropriate Conduct:

https://commit2kids.ca/pdfs/C2K_StepsForReportingInappropriateConduct_CAC_en.pdf