MEMBERSHIPS:

As a volunteer run, not-for-profit organisation we need members to volunteer to help to keep things running. Members are therefore required to complete four duties per year (usually one 1.5hr duty per term) alongside a committee member. If a member is unable to commit to four duties per year when signing up, a $40 levy will be charged alongside the membership fee, and are expected to complete 1 duty a year. 

Yearly membership fees are determined on the size of the family.  Each child can borrow 4 items at a time. 

 

	VIP MEMBER   (4 duties a year)	Volunteer Member   (1 duty a year)
One child	$30 (4 items)	$70
Two children	$40 (8 items)	$80
Three+ children	$50 (12 items)	$90
Grandparent memberships	- same cost, but grandparents are not expected to complete duties unless they wish to

Maternity Leave - Duty members are exempt from duty for 6 months after their baby is due.

Care of Toys

• We request members treat Toy Library Toys with all reasonable care. Please return the toys clean and in their containers or bags. Please bring toys inside after use outside. We sometimes suggest Toy Library toys are kept separate from your own toys and packed away after each use to avoid loss or damage.  Toy pieces must be counted and returned in a complete set. Government regulated toy cleaning guidelines are available on the Member's homepage.  When returning toys, you must sign to state you have cleaned the toys.

Late toys

• All toys have a loan period of 4 weeks and it is required that they are returned clean and in good condition. If you need to renew toys, please message or email. If toys are late there is a fine of $1 per toy per week that it is late.

• Any lost pieces will incur a fine of $2, which is refundable when the piece is located and returned to us. This includes the containers and bags the toys are stored in.

• We recognize that sometimes accidents do happen; therefore if an item is damaged beyond repair or completely lost then a significant donation towards the replacement of this item is requested - this cost will be discussed at the next committee meeting.

Helmet Waiver

• There are dangers and risks inherent with bicycle and scooter riding.  Thus, bicycles and scooters must be used with protective helmets at all times.  It is not the Toy Library's responsibility to provide helmets, but we do have some available for loan.  For insurance purposes, we require all members to sign a 'helmet waiver', which states that the Toy Library of Kilmore takes no responsibility for any injury, death or property damage that may occur while using the loaned toys.  When you sign, you are agreeing to assume responsibility for supervising the activity and for any injury or damage that may result from the activity. 

 Child Safety Policy and Code of Conduct

• All staff, volunteers and committee members of Toy Library of Kilmore are required to observe child safe principles and expectations for appropriate behaviour towards and in the company of children, as clarified in our Child Safe Policy. All personnel of Toy Library of Kilmore responsible for supporting the safety, participation, wellbeing and empowerment of children.  When joining as a member you must sign to agree that you will abide by the Child Safe Code of Conduct.

• You are not able to leave children in the care of others in the Toy Library.  Some toys are large and can be challenging to get from the Toy Library to your car despite our best efforts to package toys adequately.  We ask that you bring another adult, leave children safely at home, or devise other means of ensuring your children are in your care at all times.

There are dangers and risks inherent with bicycle and scooter riding.  Thus, bicycles and scooters must be used with protective helmets at all times.  It is not the Toy Library's responsibility to provide helmets, but we do have some available for loan.  For insurance purposes, we require all members to sign a 'helmet waiver', which states that the Toy Library of Kilmore takes no responsibility for any injury, death or property damage that may occur while using the loaned toys.  When you sign, you are agreeing to assume responsibility for supervising the activity and for any injury or damage that may result from the activity. 

 

Toy Library of Kilmore-WAIVER, RELEASE AND INDEMNITY FOR BICYCLE AND SCOOTERS

The Toy Library of Kilmore("Provider") is pleased to make bicycles and scooters available to subscribers ("the Service").

As a subscriber to the Service you acknowledge that there are dangers and risks inherent with bicycle and scooter riding (the “Activity”) to which any child under your supervision ("Your Child") may be exposed.

The Provider does not provide protective clothing or bicycle helmets and it is your responsibility to ensure that YourChild wears a helmet at all times and is otherwise appropriately attired when participating in the Activity. You agree that Your Child will participate in the Activity at your own risk. You also agree to voluntarily assume responsibility for supervising the Activity and any injury, death or property damage you or Your Child may suffer or cause as a result of participating in the Activity.

To the maximum extent possible at law, you (both in your personal capacity and on behalf of Your Child) agree to release, hold harmless and indemnify the Provider and its respective officers, employees, servants, agents and contractors (the “Indemnified Persons”) against all actions, claims, suits, costs, expenses, demands and damages suffered or incurred by the Indemnified Persons or any one or more of them by reason of, or in respect of, or in any manner whatsoever arising out of, or caused by, your use of the Service or Your Child's participation in the Activity.

You agree that you are subscribing to the Service on theexpress condition that the Provider:(a) will, under no circumstances be liable or responsible in any manner whatsoever for any death, loss, accident, damage or injury to you, Your Child or any of your servants, agents, contractors, visitors or invitees or any other person whatsoever (“Related Party”) which may happen as a result of your use of the Service or Your Child participating in the Activity; and(b) will not incur or be under any liability whatsoever to you, Your Child, or to any Related Party forany loss, damage or injury to or in respect of any of your property or of any Related Party’s property.

The Provider is not liable to you, Your Child or any Related Party in respect of any indirect or consequential loss. For the avoidance of doubt, ‘consequential loss’ means loss or damage arising from a breach of contract, tort (including negligence), under statute or any other basis in law or equity of an indirect or consequential nature including, but without limitation, loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss or denial of opportunity, loss of goodwill, loss of business reputation, future reputation or publicity, damage to credit rating and indirect, remote, abnormal or unforeseeable loss, or any similar loss whether or not in the reasonable contemplation of the parties

 

Toy Library of Kilmore - Child Safe Policy and statement of commitment

Toy Library of Kilmore - Child Safety Policy and statement of commitment

Our commitment to child safety 

Our organisation is committed to child safety.

We want children to be safe, happy, and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers, and embrace all children regardless of their abilities, sex, gender, or social, economic or cultural background.

We are committed to the safety of all children, including the cultural safety of Aboriginal children.

We have zero tolerance of child abuse and racism, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.

We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously. 

Our organisation has robust recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers.

We have policies, procedures and education in place that support our staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments. 

If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.

Our staff and volunteers

This policy guides our staff and volunteers on how to behave with children in our organisation. 

Children should never be left unsupervised in the care of toy library staff or volunteers. Parents/guardians should always supervise their children at the toy library. Wherever feasible toy libraries should implement the ‘two-person rule’ – ensuring there are two people present when the toy library is open.

All our staff and volunteers must agree to abide by our Code of Conduct, which specifies the standards of conduct required when working with children.

Our organisational culture aims for all staff and volunteers to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns. Education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility. All staff receive training on our code of conduct.

Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the relevant government department or police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.

Training and supervision

Training and education are important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility. We train our staff to identify, assess, and minimise risks of child abuse and to detect potential signs of child abuse.

New employees and volunteers will be supervised regularly to ensure they understand our organisation’s commitment to child safety and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as checking that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate (please refer to our Code of Conduct to understand appropriate behaviour further).

Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the relevant government department or police depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.

Recruitment

We take all reasonable steps to employ appropriately skilled people to work with our members. We develop selection criteria that clearly demonstrate our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities.

We carry out reference checks and working with children checks for any paid staff members to ensure that we are recruiting the right people. Please see  www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/  for further information

Fair procedures for personnel

The safety and wellbeing of members is our primary concern. We are also fair and just to personnel. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and based on evidence. 

We record all allegations of abuse and safety concerns using our incident reporting form, including investigation updates. All records are securely stored.

If an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised, we provide updates to children and families on progress and any actions we as an organisation take. 

Privacy

All personal information considered or recorded will respect the privacy of the individuals involved, whether they are staff, volunteers, parents, or children, unless there is a risk to someone’s safety. We have safeguards and practices in place to ensure any personal information is protected. Everyone is entitled to know how this information is recorded, what will be done with it, and who will have access to it.

Responsibilities

Our organisation takes our legal responsibilities seriously, including:

• Failure to disclose: Reporting child sexual abuse is a community-wide responsibility. All adults who have a reasonable belief that an adult has committed a sexual offence against a child under 16 must report that information to the police.
• Failure to protect: People of authority in our organisation may commit an offence if they know of a substantial risk of child sexual abuse and have the power or responsibility to reduce or remove the risk, but negligently fail to do so.
  • Any personnel who are mandatory reporters (e.g. teachers, doctors) must comply with their duties. 

Risk management

Organisations are required to protect children when a risk is identified (see information about failure to protect above). In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children.

We have risk management strategies in place to identify, assess, and take steps to minimise child abuse risks, which include risks posed by physical environments (for example, any doors that can lock), and online environments (for example, no staff or volunteer is to have contact with a child in the organisation on social media). 

Regular review

This policy will be reviewed every two years and following significant incidents if they occur. We will ensure that families and children can contribute to the review. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities, culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.

Allegations, concerns, and complaints

Our organisation takes all allegations seriously and has practices in place to investigate thoroughly and quickly.

We work to ensure all families, staff and volunteers know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse or are a victim, and if they notice inappropriate behaviour.

We all have a responsibility to report an allegation of abuse if we have a reasonable belief that an incident took place.

If an adult has a reasonable belief that an incident has occurred, then they must report the incident. Factors contributing to reasonable belief may be:

• A child states they or someone they know has been abused (noting that sometimes the child may in fact be referring to themselves)
• Behaviour consistent with that of an abuse victim is observed
• Someone else has raised a suspicion of abuse but is unwilling to report it
• Observing suspicious behaviour. 

 

Toy Library of Kilmore - Code of conduct

 

All staff, volunteers and committee members of our organisation are required to observe child safe principles and expectations for appropriate behaviour towards and in the company of children, as noted below.

All staff, volunteers and committee members are responsible for supporting the safety, participation, wellbeing and empowerment of children by:

• always adhering to our child safe policy and upholding our statement of commitment to child safety at all time
• taking all reasonable steps to protect children from abuse
• treating everyone with respect
• listening and responding to the views and concerns of children, particularly if they are telling you that they or another child has been abused and/or are worried about their safety or the safety of another
• promoting the cultural safety, participation, and empowerment of Aboriginal children and children with culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds
• promoting the safety, participation, and empowerment of children with a disability
• ensuring that adults are not left alone with a child
• supporting children to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights
• reporting any allegations of child abuse to our Child Safety Officer and ensure any allegation to reported to the police or child protection
• reporting any child safety concerns to our Child Safety Officer or the President
• if an allegation of child abuse is made, ensure as quickly as possible that the child(ren) are safe

Staff and volunteers must not:

• develop any ‘special’ relationships with children that could be seen as favouritism (for example, the offering of gifts or special treatment for specific children)
• exhibit behaviours with children which may be construed as unnecessarily physical (for example inappropriate sitting on laps). Sitting on laps could be appropriate sometime, for example while reading a storybook to a small child in an open plan area)
• put children at risk of abuse (for example, by locking doors)
• engage in open discussions of a mature or adult nature in the presence of children (for example, personal social activities)
• use inappropriate or racist language in the presence of children
• express personal views on cultures, race or sexuality in the presence of children
• discriminate against any child, including because of culture, race, ethnicity or disability
• have any online contact with a child or their family (unless necessary, for example providing families with e- newsletters)
• ignore or disregard any suspected or disclosed child abuse.

By observing these standards you acknowledge your responsibility to immediately report any breach of this code to Toy of Library of Kilmore leadership team. If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.

I agree to adhere to this Code of Conduct: Name: ……………………………… Signature: …………………………………… Date: ……………………………………