General Policies

Child Safety 

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All children who receive services from EMcOT therapists have a right to feel and be safe. The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and we have a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and harm.  ​

Our full child safety policy is currently being peer-reviewed. Once this process is complete it can be made available on request (verbal or written).

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Children have inalienable human rights that adults should know about and help them understand. Download them here.

 

Parents and caregivers should know how to identify child-safe organisations. Want to know more? This brief guide is a good place to start.

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Your therapist is subject to state laws which dictate child safety reporting requirements.  

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Illness 

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If your child is too unwell to attend school then they will likely be too unwell to have a face to face OT session at home. A heads up when it comes to illness in your home is much appreciated and gives us both an opportunity to consider an alternative method of service delivery for that day. If our therapist arrives and determines that you or your child is actively unwell the session will not proceed and cancellation as well as travel fees will apply. This policy protects both our therapists and our immunocompromised clients.​

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Child home visits and Telehealth sessions  

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EMcOT operates a mobile therapy service and does not deliver services from a fixed clinic address/space. We require a parent, legal guardian or a long-term established family member/caregiver to be present in the home for each session to proceed. In the absence of the designated caregiver, the session will not proceed, and cancellation policies will apply if relevant.  

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Parent communication  

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We encourage all parents and caregivers to be active partners in their child’s therapy.

 

Parents are responsible for ensuring any changes to organised times/location are promptly communicated to their therapist and all other relevant parties (including but not limited to other caregivers, school, kinder etc.). 

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Session summaries recapping how your child’s session time was spent can be completed on request and are billed in addition to standard clinical documentation as per your service agreement.  

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Where session summaries have been requested, and following school/kinder visits, your therapist will include both parents into these communications where both email addresses have been provided.  

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Courtesy appointment reminders will be sent to the primary contact provided on your intake form. Where requested appointment reminders can be sent to both parents.  

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Caregiver divorce/separation

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In the case of caregiver divorce/separation, where requested and in the absence of any formal parenting agreements or court orders requiring variations to the following; both parents will be included in communications regarding the child’s therapy (including all appointment times/locations, scheduled meetings and non-face to face work), goals, therapist recommendations and outcomes (as applicable). Invoices will be sent to the parent that signed their child’s therapy service agreement.  

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Parents are responsible for determining which scheduled appointments fall on days they expect to have their child in their care and notify their therapist of same.

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Caregiver conflict and disputes 

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Where caregiver conflict or disputes impact or are anticipated to impact on your therapist's ability to provide services to your child, you will be advised of such and services may be limited or suspended until parents have reached an agreement that enables services to resume. We reserve the right to discharge a family from services in the event that such parental disputes remain unresolved for an extended period, unduly impacts on our provision of services or compromises our ability to comply with our company policies.