Introduction
HomeworkHub has developed the following Code of Conduct to Protect Children including our students and volunteer tutors to guide all parties involved in their interactions with children. The safety, rights and well-being of children we serve are at the core of our daily operations.
Treating Children with Dignity and Maintaining Boundaries
All parties must:
- Treat all children with respect and dignity.
- All volunteers above 18 years of age must provide a valid vulnerable sector police check
- Establish, respect, and maintain appropriate boundaries with all children and their families involved in HomeworkHub activities or programs.
General Rules of Behaviour
- Be tolerant to unacceptable language or behaviors such as embarrassing, shaming, blaming and humiliating.
- Engage in any communication with a child outside of volunteer duties Engage in any behaviour that goes against (or appears to go against) HomeworkHub’s policies and Code of Conduct to Protect Children.
- Conduct their own investigation into allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal or inappropriate behaviour – it is a parent or volunteer’s duty to report the matter to the designated party, not to investigate.
What Constitutes Inappropriate Behaviour
- Inappropriate Communication. Communication with a child or his/her family outside of a volunteer context, regardless of who initiated the exchange. Inappropriate communication includes personal phone calls, emails, text messages, online chats and personal letters etc.
- Inappropriate Contact. Spending time with a child or the child’s family outside of designated volunteer activities.
- Filming personal videos or taking pictures of a child during tutoring sessions. Using a personal cell phone, camera or video to film or 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.
- Telling sexual jokes to a child, or making comments to a child that are or is in any way suggestive, explicit or personal.
- Showing a child material that is sexual in nature, 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.
- Intimidating or threatening a child.
- Making fun of a child.
Reporting Requirements
- All allegations or suspicions of potentially illegal behaviour (for example, child sexual abuse) must be promptly reported to police and/or child welfare.
- All allegations or suspicions of inappropriate behaviour (see above examples) must be reported to the HomeworkHub Admin team.
Follow up on Reporting
When an allegation or suspicion of potentially illegal behaviour is reported, police and/or a child welfare agency will be notified. HomeworkHub will follow up internally as needed. If inappropriate behaviour is confirmed, HomeworkHub will terminate the relationship with the alleged party immediately.