Kelowna City FC - Reporting Child Abuse
The following policy is an addendum to our ‘Reporting Inappropriate Conduct’ document.
For report incidents of Child Abuse, please follow the steps of our ‘Reporting Inappropriate Conduct’ document. In addition to these steps, if sexual abuse is believed to have occurred, the coach & club have an obligation to report any suspicions of this nature to either law enforcement or a child welfare agency. As well as a professional obligation to report, there is a legal and moral obligation to report. Below is the contact information for reporting, as well as procedures for reporting.
For the purposes of this document, any representative of Kelowna City FC, be they a coach, staff member or volunteer, will be referred to as ‘Staff’. Kelowna City FC may be referenced as ‘KCFC’ for the purposes of this document.
Actionable Steps - Coach/Staff
- If you believe a child is suffering sexual abuse, report it immediately to gm@kelownacityfc.com or finance@kelownacityfc.com for reporting purposes and to ensure correct reporting to outside agencies
- A plan will be made on who will report to the outside agency and the timeline for reporting
- To report abuse, there are the following agencies:
- BC Ministry of Children and Family Development - Reporting Child Abuse
- Call Provincial Centralized Screening at 1-800-663-9122, available 24 hours a day.
- Follow the steps listed at the link above
- If a child is in imminent danger, call 911 or the RCMP detachment in Kelowna (250-762-3300)
- After reporting, follow up will take place with KCFC General Manager or President to ensure correct reporting and follow-up action
- If the sexual abuse complaint is concerning a coach/staff member of KCFC, the coach/staff member will be immediately suspended from all duties pending the results of an investigation by outside sources
- If the complaint is found to have merit, the coach/staff member will be dismissed immediately from the club and the reasons for their dismissal will be reported to both the local governing body (COYSA), the provincial governing body (BC Soccer) and the federal governing body (Canada Soccer). This reporting will be done by the General Manager or President of the club