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SCOPE & APPLICABILITY
This policy has been developed as a foundational guide for all DIF Volunteers. These include but are not limited to Church Oversight Council Members, CORE Leaders, Servant Leaders, and all other Volunteer Team Members.

TEAM MEMBERS

1. The desire to serve originates from the heart of God, it is countercultural and contrary to the natural inclination of persons to think only of themselves. Therefore, we view a volunteer as someone whose heart is being stirred by the Holy Spirit and we want to affirm and join His work in a person’s life.
2. If the desire to serve is born of the Holy Spirit, then service is a gateway to further exploration and experience of the Gospel and becomes a bridge to building relationships with mature believers and a deepening personal walk with Christ.
3. Service provides a self-denying, others-focused activity that can lead to a softer heart to receive spiritual truth.
4. The resulting foundational guide, then, is that DIF welcomes Volunteer Team Members. Volunteer Team Members are differentiated from “Servant Leaders” who have responsibility to speak into the lives of others (see below).
5. Council Members and CORE Leaders are charged with the responsibility to build relationships with Volunteer Team Members and exhort them in personal faith and discipleship. If behaviours that bring a reproach to the Gospel come to light, the CORE Leader of the pertinent team will contact their Volunteer Team Member to exhort, encourage, and pray with them about those concerns. If the issue is not resolved, the CORE Leader will notify a Pastor about the issue at hand and follow-up accordingly.
6. Council Members, CORE Leaders, Servant Leaders and Volunteer Team Members should be open to correction and humble enough to submit to the Holy Spirit to modify attitudes and behaviours so as not to discredit the Gospel or the church.

COUNCIL MEMBERS, CORE LEADERS & SERVANT LEADERS

(*Servant leaders include but are not limited to Praise & Worship Team Leaders; Life Group Leaders; DIF Service Prayer Partners; Kids Leaders; Youth Leaders; and others that the Church Oversight Council deems as having a role of spiritual impartation.)

Building on from the above foundational guidelines for DIF Volunteer Team Members, there are additional expectations for those in Council Member, CORE Leader and Servant Leader positions:

1. The aspiration to Christian leadership is a noble calling, requiring humility and surrender to a higher standard of spiritual, personal, and public scrutiny.
2. The aspiration to Christian leadership broadens the influence of the leader, and therefore, demands extra care to maintaining a testimony that honors the Gospel.
3. Those in leadership positions (as outlined above) will sign this DIF Volunteer Policy, also agreeing to the following guidelines as long as they are serving in a DIF leadership role:
   1. Demonstrate a servant heart (John 13:3-14)
      • Strive to be worthy of the trust and authority bestowed in being affirmed as a leader.
      • Embrace the vision, values, and mission of the DIF; by signing this document, the leader commits to support the DIF Statement of Faith and organizational Constitution.
      • Be accountable to their team members and to one another.
   2. Strive for wholesome speech (avoid swear words, and other offensive language including sexual connotations, or racial, religious, or political slurs). A commitment to integrity and accountability in online communications.
   3. Exercise caution with potentially addictive behaviors/harmful substances. Illegal drug use and/or drunkenness is never acceptable. DIF Council Members, CORE Leaders and Servant Leaders agree to refrain from the consumption of alcohol at all DIF events.
   4. Live a lifestyle of sexual integrity:
      • Extra care in physical contact with those we serve (even gestures of care and concern can be misinterpreted).
      • Sexual purity: sex outside of marriage is prohibited; sexual innuendo and harassment are never acceptable.
   5. Endeavor to align their attitudes and behaviors in a lifestyle befitting the title “Christian” or “Christ-one”—including all the above and in other areas:
      • Honesty and integrity in financial matters. Seeking financial benefit from a church role is never acceptable.
      • Confidentiality in serving. Informing only the Church Oversight Council Members immediately where there are concerns for safety (of the person or others), legal implications, or when information is in the public domain. Disclosure is a serious matter and the assistance of a Council member should be sought.
      • Notification of a Council Member in situations that involve a victim of abuse or a person who may need professional counseling.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS POLICY

1. Any breach of this code involving a criminal offence may lead to a report being made to the relevant authorities.
2. Any breach relating to the harm, or risk of harm, of a child or young person will be dealt with according to DIF’s Child Protection Policy.
3. Any other breach will be considered by the CORE Leader and the Pastor(s) considering the best interests of the volunteer and those we serve and may result in the volunteer being stood down either temporarily or otherwise. The Pastor(s) will notify the Church Oversight Council of any decisions in this regard.
4. All Council Members, CORE Leaders, Servant Leaders and Volunteer Team Members should be open to correction and humble enough to submit to the Holy Spirit and the Church Oversight Council to modify attitudes and behaviors that may discredit the Gospel or the church.

ARTICLE 1.   MISSION STATEMENT

To raise the next generation to walk in the love, knowledge, power, calling and authority of Jesus Christ.

DIF Kids ministries include:

ARTICLE 2.   CORE VALUES
The core values of DIF Kids include:

2.1 A deliberately child-oriented approach to all aspects of ministry and facilities
2.2 Excellence in all aspects of children’s ministry
2.3 A commitment to caring for children individually and long term
2.4 A safe environment for children physically, emotionally and spiritually
2.5 Bible-based teaching without compromise (presented in an engaging, relevant, and enjoyable way)
2.6 Team unity and honour of all church leadership
2.7 All glory and honour given to God
2.8 FUN

ARTICLE 3.   CHILD PROTECTION POLICY

3.1 Da Nang International Fellowship (DIF) desires to provide a nurturing environment to teach and to demonstrate the love of God.
3.2  DIF recognises the responsibility to protect the welfare of children and young people entrusted to the fellowship’s care.
3.3 DIF defines a child or young person as someone under 18 years of age.
3.4  Our Child Protection Policy enables us to provide for good practice and procedures in recruitment of leaders and volunteers which they must adhere to. This not only serves to protect the children in our care, but also gives appropriate guidelines to protect leaders and volunteers, as well as the good witness of DIF.
3.5 We are committed to reporting concerns in regard to the welfare of children to appropriate authorities.
3.6 The information in this document gives practical guidelines for leaders and volunteers to follow in their role with children and young people.
3.7 Any gathering of children or young people must have a minimum of 2 assigned DIF Kids team members present. A group is never to be left unattended at any time.
3.8 Youth helpers are an important part of the team. Youth-aged DIF Kids team members will be given the same opportunities for support and training as adults.
3.9 Doors in the DIF Kids rooms will have windows that allow the room’s activities to be observed easily.

Ratios of Adults to Children

DIF Kids Youth-Aged Team Members

ARTICLE 4.   LEADER/VOLUNTEER CODE OF CONDUCT

As part of the DIF Child Protection Policy you have agreed to uphold integrity with your interactions with others. DIF specifically requires you to adhere to the following protocols whilst in your ministry role:

4.1 You should not be alone with a child at any time, unless this child is your own.
4.2 You cannot take children to the toilet alone. Check the toilets do not have other adults inside before directing the child to go in. Do not assist the child with toileting. If assistance is required, paging of the Parent/Guardian is required.
4.3 You cannot actively seek touching or hugging from children or have children sit on your lap. You cannot wrestle with or tickle children. Children seeking hugs should not be rejected but hugs are to be to the side and not prolonged. You must keep your interactions to commonly accepted public expressions of friendship.
4.4 You may not counsel or pray with children alone. That said, while there may be a need for private conversations with children or youth, DIF Kids team members should have such conversations where others can see, if not hear. At least one other adult should be aware of this. Any altar or follow-up ministry with children must be done in the full view of others. Do not invite a child to your home or visit a child in his/her home unless a parent or authorised adult is present.
4.5 You may not give any physical discipline. You may not hit or yell at any child. Make positive requests of children should you need to. For example: “Let’s do this now” is more positive than “Do you want to do this?” If those attempts fail, Parents/Guardians should be contacted.
4.6 You must not photograph or video children, or upload photos or video of children to any social media or internet forum or share images with others without parental consent.
4.7 You must report any behaviour you think is inappropriate by any other person in regard to children. Child abuse is a crime, and we must not try to cover it up in the hope of not bringing disgrace to the church. You must report directly to the a member of the DIF Council/Senior Pastor(s).

ARTICLE 5.   PROCEDURES

5.1 Registration Procedure

5.1.1 DIF Kids Leaders & Volunteers

5.1.1.1 For new persons wishing to join the DIF Kids team, they must have regularly attended DIF services for a minimum of three months (or less at the discretion of the DIF Council/Senior Pastor(s))
5.1.1.2 All new DIF Kids team members must complete a Volunteer Interest Form and have their application approved by the DIF Council/Senior Pastor(s) prior to commencing service
5.1.1.3 All DIF Kids team members are expected to read, sign and adhere to all DIF policies and procedures prior to their commencement of service
5.1.1.4 All DIF Kids team members must participate in all available training opportunities prior to their commencement of service; hands-on observation and training with experienced DIF Kids leaders; as well as additional training and capacity building times scheduled throughout each calendar year
5.1.1.5 All DIF Kids team members must wear their DIF Kids t-shirt and/or tag each service they are rostered on

5.1.2 Children

5.1.2.1 All children must be checked-in and check-out either manually or electronically, noting the parent/guardian each time.
5.1.2.2 Parents/Guardians of new/visiting children must complete the full Registration Process either manually or electronically prior to the child being accepted into the DIF Kids programs.
5.1.2.3 Parents/Guardians identify any children with special needs/medical conditions/allergies etc at the time of registration.
5.1.2.4 Children can only be checked-out by registered parents/guardians and leave otherwise.
5.1.2.5 No child may leave a ministry area if not under Parental/Guardian supervision.
5.1.2.6 All team must remain until all children are collected.
5.1.2.7 Children whose Parent/Guardian do not come to collect them will remain in the ministry area with two leaders until their Parent/Guardian can be contacted and located. Should this not be possible, children will be given into the care of the DIF Council/Senior Pastor(s).
5.1.2.8 PAGING: Should a parent be required at any point, the DIF Kids team will contact the Parent/Guardian.
5.1.2.9 If a Parent/Guardian does not respond to the first point of contact, a team DIF Kids team member will locate the Parent/Guardian within the service personally.

5.2 Bathroom Procedures

In the event a child or young person in your care requires the bathroom, DIF Kids team members will adhere to the following procedure:

5.2.1 Two DIF Kids team members will go together to direct the child to the toilet.
5.2.2 One DIF Kids team member will remain with the child holding the bathroom door open, while the other DIF Kids team member checks each cubicle in the toilet block to ensure there are no other adults inside before directing the child to go in.
5.2.3 If there are adults in the toilet, wait for them to leave or politely ask them to do so.
5.2.4 Do not assist the child with toileting. If assistance is required, paging of the Parent/Guardian is required.
5.2.5 Nappies/diapers should be changed by Parents/Guardians only.
5.2.6 Toilet blocks should be monitored for people loitering.

5.3 First Aid Procedures

5.3.1 All ministry areas are supplied with an appropriate First Aid Kit. Should a kit need supplies, a DIF Kids team member should complete an DIF Kids Supply Request (available in the Administration Clip Board in your ministry area) and return it to the DIF Production Team to be placed with the counted offering.
5.3.2 In the event First Aid is required, please contact a DIF Council, Pastoral and/or Leadership Team Member.
5.3.3 All First Aid should be administered by a First Aid trained team member, unless it is an emergency situation, in which case DIF Kids should first call the Ambulance Hotline number (115) and then appropriate First Aid should be commenced by the first person available and capable as directed by the hotline.
5.3.4 The DIF Council/Senior Pastor(s) should be informed of any injury or illness that required First Aid.
5.3.5 An Incident Report Form should be completed by those who witnessed the incident and the person administering First Aid. The completed form should be returned to the DIF Production Team to be placed with the counted offering.
5.3.6 Parents/Guardians should be notified by the DIF Kids team and/or Council/Senior Pastor(s) of any incident or First Aid administered during a service immediately at the end of the service for minor incidents, and as soon as possible for serious incidents.

5.4 Responding to Allegations of Abuse Procedure

5.4.1 What is Child Abuse?
DIF defines ‘Child Abuse’ to be a general term used to describe the different ways in which a child’s physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual health are damaged by the actions of another person.

5.4.1 Incident Reporting Procedure: Against DIF Kids Team Members
If a child reports an incident of abuse against a DIF Kids team member, volunteers must follow these guidelines. Under no circumstances should a DIF Kids team member carry out their own investigation into the allegations or suspicion of abuse. The person in receipt of the information should do the following:

5.4.2.1 Look at the child directly and listen carefully.
5.4.2.2 Do not question the child/young person to enable you to obtain more information.
5.4.2.3 Don’t promise to keep any secrets before you know what they are.
5.4.2.4 Finish by assuring the child that you are treating the matter seriously and will let them know what you will do next.
5.4.2.5 Tell the DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s) as soon as possible.
5.4.2.6 Write a detailed account of the conversation in which the child made the allegation. This should be done as soon as possible and contain as much of a “direct quotation” of the words used by the child as the DIF Kids team member can remember. This report should be given directly to the DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s).

In the case where a third party is accused by a child, the DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s) will contact the Parents/Guardians immediately and a process of thorough investigation and appropriate action will be taken. Throughout any investigation, the DIF Kids team member who has been accused will be removed from the ministry roster.

5.4.3 Incident Reporting Procedure: Third Party

In the event a child discloses abuse by a third party to a DIF Kids team member, volunteers must follow these guidelines. Under no circumstances should a DIF Kids team member carry out their own investigation into the allegations or suspicion of abuse. The person in receipt of the information should do the following:

5.4.3.1 Look at the child directly and listen carefully.
5.4.3.2 Do not question the child/young person to enable you to obtain more information.
5.4.3.3 Don’t promise to keep any secrets before you know what they are.
5.4.3.4 Finish by assuring the child that you are treating the matter seriously and will let them know what you will do next.
5.4.3.5 Tell the DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s) as soon as possible.
5.4.3.6 Write a detailed account of the conversation in which the child made the allegation. This should be done as soon as possible and contain as much of a “direct quotation” of the words used by the child as the DIF Kids team member can remember.  This report should be given directly to the DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s).
5.4.3.7 The DIF Council and/or Senior Pastor(s) will follow the rules of reporting as laid out by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The appropriate government department will be contacted per the following information:

Authorities: Department of Labour, Invalids & Social Affairs (Da Nang)
Address: Level 20, Da Nang Provincial Government Administrative Centre
24 Trần Phú Street, Hải Châu District, Đà Nẵng City, VIETNAM
Phone: +84 236 382 7616
Website: http://ldtbxh.danang.gov.vn

ARTICLE 6.   IMPORTANT CONTACTS

For questions or concerns about these guidelines, or need to discuss an issue of concern for a child’s welfare please speak to one of the following people:

ARTICLE 1.   WHY DA NANG INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP (HEREAFTERIN THIS DOCUMENT CALLED DIF) COLLECTS PERSONAL/CONTACT INFORMATION
DIF is a non-denominational church committed to Christian evangelism, discipleship, and community outreach. To accomplish this calling, DIF develops and provides multiple Christian programs, trainings and opportunities to serve. To participate in these programs, trainings and opportunities to serve, DIF collects some information from those persons who want to be involved – enabling it to communicate with them to provide needed information.DIF may collect personal/contact information through, but is not limited to, the DIF website or database.

ARTICLE 2.  INFORMATION TO BE COLLECTED
The information that DIF may collect includes:
2.1.        Contact details (name, address, phone numbers, email, etc);
2.2.        Personal details (country of passport, birthdate, marital status, gender, vocation, place of work, other skills, hobbies, interests, health conditions, food preferences, etc);
2.3.        Family details (information regarding spouses, children, etc).

ARTICLE 3.  USE OF COOKIES
When you visit our website/database a record of your visit may be logged and the following data may be supplied by your browser:
3.1          The date, time and length of the visit to the website/database;
3.2          Your IP address and/or domain name;
3.3          Your operating system (type of browser and platform); and
3.4          The pages and resources you accessed and the documents you downloaded.Cookies are only used to store temporary information about your current visit, and all data stored in them is encrypted.Our website/database may contain links to third party websites, and third-party websites may also have links to our website (for example, Facebook or other social media). Our Privacy Policy does not apply to other websites. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policies of any website you link to from our website.

ARTICLE 4.  CORRECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
DIF takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold and collect is accurate, completed and up-to-date. It is the responsibility of individual persons to provide updates and corrections for their personal contact information to DIF. 

ARTICLE 5.   DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION
DIF does not share your contact information with any government organisation.DIF may make contact information available to some of its leaders and staff, where such have agreed to a confidentiality statement, in order for them to provide pastoral services or manage DIF programs, trainings or service activities/opportunities.DIF does not sell, rent, or give your personal information to any third-party entity. We do not use your information for any purpose outside the scope of communicating with you in the most efficient manner regarding DIF purposes. DIF will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is protected from misuse; loss and from unauthorised access; modification or disclosure.We may use your personal information to deliver services, such as newsletters, events, or provide information that you request.DIF may update the Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes in the policy will be publicised through the weekly Bulletin and the updated policy will be accessible on the DIF website.

ARTICLE 6.   REVIEW
DIF’s Privacy Policy will be reviewed at least every three years by the DIF Church Oversight Council.