by Tara Winkler
Best answer is: NO.
3. Do you allow visitors to interact with children?
Best answer is: NO.
If the answer is YES, ask the following questions:
• How are these visitors vetted? How can you be 100 per cent sure the visitors interacting with children are not predators? (Tip: ask yourself if you would feel okay about a stranger having the same access to your children.)
• Is the interaction for the benefit of the child or the visitor? (Remember: policy should be drafted only in the best interest of the child, even if interaction does help with fundraising. It is worth noting, though, that it may be necessary for some organisations to allow visitors to observe operations for monitoring, evaluation, and transparency purposes. However, such visits should be kept to a minimum, respect the privacy and dignity of the beneficiaries, create minimal disruption to activities and adhere to a strictly professional agenda.)
4. Do you have volunteers working for the organisation in roles that have direct contact with children?
Best answer is: NO.
If the answer is YES, ask the following questions:
• Do these volunteers have relevant, professional qualifications and adequate training for the role? (Remember: unskilled volunteers with inadequate training place children at risk of unprofessional and neglectful care practices. A rotation of adults coming in and out of a child’s life contributes to attachment disorders and has negative impacts on a child’s development. Therefore, unskilled volunteers should not be working, playing, or interacting with vulnerable children.)
• Are volunteers adequately screened? (Remember: skilled volunteering for the purposes of capacity building and training of local staff can be a great way to help, but even skilled volunteers should have to provide criminal background checks or a Working With Children Check.)
• Where do volunteers/visitors reside? (Remember: even skilled volunteers should never stay onsite where vulnerable children reside.)
5. Do you have a child protection policy? (Tip: make sure you read it!)
Best answer is: YES!
But make sure you ask the following questions:
• Have all staff been trained on how to implement and abide by the policy?
• Are local and international staff adequately screened before commencing their roles?
• Is there a system in place that allows children to safely and confidentially report complaints and concerns?
Remember: you can be part of the solution
Keep learning by following these links:
• Watch the 2014 ABC Australian Story, ‘The House of Tara’:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRUwbzQipZI
• Become a CCT supporter and help make our work possible!
www.cambodianchildrenstrust.org
• Check out Rethink Orphanages: Better solutions for children:
This Australian network, of which I am a founding member, is working to prevent the unnecessary institutionalisation of children by shifting the way Australia engages with overseas aid and development.
www.rethinkorphanages.org.au
• Check out the Friends International campaigns:
Don’t Create More Orphans: Too often donations don’t help orphans. They create them. Think families, not orphanages.
www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforedonating
Children Are Not Tourist Attractions: Learn why visiting an orphanage is harmful.
www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting
Join the ChildSafe movement: Together, we can all protect children and youth from all forms of abuse.
www.thinkchildsafe.org
• For more information on the situation in Cambodia visit Orphanages, Not the Solution: www.orphanages.no
• For more information on the situation globally visit Lumos:
www.wearelumos.org
Reports and studies referenced in this book:
• Friends International, ‘Achieving Positive Reintegration: Assessing the impact of family reintegration’, 2014:
http://friends-international.org/resources/research/Achieving-Positive-Reintegration-Friends-International.pdf
• Lumos, ‘Ending the Institutionalisation of Children Globally: The time is now’:
http://wearelumos.org/sites/default/files/Lumos%20The%20Time%20is%20Now%20April2014%20FINAL.pdf
• Lumos, ‘Children in Institutions: The global picture’: https://wearelumos.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Numbers.pdf
• National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, ‘The Science of Neglect: The persistent absence of responsive care disrupts the developing brain’, 2012:
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Science-of-Neglect-The-Persistent-Absence-of-Responsive-Care-Disrupts-the-Developing-Brain.pdf
• UNICEF, ‘With the Best Intentions: A study of attitudes towards residential care in Cambodia’, 2011:
www.unicef.org/cambodia/Study_Attitudes_towards_RC-English.pdf
Want to have an exciting adventure in Cambodia, and learn a whole lot of really interesting stuff about development work while you do it?
Check out these guys:
• PEPY Tours
http://pepytours.com
• Ayana Journeys
www.ayanajourneys.com
• Learning Service
http://learningservice.info
Acknowledgements
(In order of importance . . . just kidding!)
Franky, Rosie and Max, my bestest-ever best friends, you have been there for me, by my side, tails wagging, through it all. I’m only in one piece because of you three and your immense, unconditional love.
Lynda Delacey, thank you for being the most patient, supportive and dedicated co-parent of this book. I’m so grateful to have had such a brilliant writer in my corner. However, if I get any criticism, I’ll let them know that that was your bit.
Marnie Walters, for being the greatest friend and ‘over-zealous’ assistant a girl could ever hope for. Thanks for wrestling through this rabbit-hole life with me and helping to midwife this book into existence.
Erin Kirby, CCT would not be the organisation it is today without you. Your shoes are unfillable.
Sue, my darling Mumzie, I would not be here without you. Literally! I won the lottery finding your womb. But, in all seriousness, I am so grateful for all that you’ve done for me: your commitment to truth, transparency and authenticity used to embarrass the hell out of me, but now I want to be exactly like you when I grow up. Thanks also for giving me Noni.
Peter, even though I want to punch you in board meetings sometimes, you really are the best dad in the whole wide world. You have the strongest moral compass and passion for justice of anyone I know and have been the most amazing role model in my life. But you were right; from that first moment you met me; I really have given you hell, but I’m pretty sure you have enjoyed the ride. As they say, I am my father’s daughter.
Noni, thank goodness I have you to walk through this life with. You’re my favourite sister and I’ll love you till the day I die.
Jedtha, it’s a true honour to lead CCT with someone whose kindness and compassion makes the Dalai Lama look like an average guy. Thank you for believing in me when I was just a dumb kid and no one else did. I hope I did you proud in this book.
Sinet and Sineit, you inspire me like no others. Thank you for showing me what it really means to be brave. And to all the kids who are in this book, your names have been changed but you will no doubt recognise yourselves. Thank you for helping me to tell this story. It is my hope that you have been a part of seeing an end to the unnecessary institutionalisation of children around the world and raising greater awareness of the plight of Cambodia’s children. You taught me so much and have made me a better person. I continue to be so proud of all you achieve.
Baz, I am more indebted to you than any other human being on the planet. Thank you for being so wonderfully you. Phoenix rising, baby!
My fellow intellectual hooligan Craig O’Shannessy, you have played such a big role in honing my critical thinking skills and in cultivating my ability to embrace vulnerability. In this way, you’ve shaped my life and the stories in this book in one of the most positive ways possible.
Robert Carmichael, dear friend and author of When Clouds Fell from the Sky, thanks so much for lending me your eyes and brain and especially for fact-checking the curly historical bits.
Leigh Mathews, Anna McKeon, Lauren Henderson, Ange Cook, Jane Wilson, Tessa Pacitii and Mark Pacitti, thank you for taking the time to read and provide your invaluable feedback and guidance.
My amazing ‘fairy god mothers’ Fiona Donato and Trish Doyle, and the wonderful Charlie Teo and Alison Crabb, your support has meant the world to me and to CCT.
Eva Weiner, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful aunty. Thank you for loving me and looking after me like you do.
Rolando Schirato, your unwavering support has helped me through so many tough times. Thank you for being one of the kindest, most generous human beings alive.
Huge thanks to Ben Cheshire, Quentin Davis and the whole team at the ABC’s Australian Story for being the first ones to bring my story to the Australian public and for making it possible for CCT to become the organisation it is today.
Annette Barlow, Stuart Neal, Angela Handley, Ali Lavau and the team at Allen & Unwin—I’m sorry it was five years late. Thanks for not giving up on me.
Mike Dunne, thanks so much for playing such a huge role supporting Lynda financially throughout the process of writing this book with me. She tells me that your satisfaction comes from knowing it’s helping her and CCT. Wish there were more like you out there!
And to all you other crazy cats who have been on this journey with me, to every one of you who has donated, fundraised, advocated, and every one of you who has been a part of the CCT team in Cambodia and Australia, there are simply too many of you to name but you know who you are . . . you have made all this possible. As Simon Sinek says: ’It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.’
To you, reading this book. Yes, you. Hi there! Thanks for reading and getting to the end. Please help me get the message out: The unnecessary institutionalisation of children is one form of child abuse we can end in our lifetime. Please redirect your support to organisations who are working hard to overcome poverty, while keeping families together!
That’s all from me now, folks. So long, and thanks for all the fish!